Cover Image: A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking)

A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking)

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Member Reviews

A new favorite! This book was absolutely hilarious and had me laughing the whole time! It's relatable, witty, and overall a tun read.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance
сору!

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Reading the stories of people in my age group are always fun for nostalgia. I was not expecting some of content but I appreciated the frank style and no holds barred approach, a niche read.

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This one took me months to finish.. thought there were parts of the essay I liked (made me laugh), this book won't be memorable. Even though it's not one of MY favorites, I think it would be a fun reads for others!

Many thanks to NetGalley for sending me an Advance Reader's Copy.

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I found a lot of this book to be hilarious. The millennial generation is so large that I didn't share many of the experiences relayed in the book, but the references were easy to understand. I'm already suggesting this book to friends.

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Humorous essays about millennials. So many things children did back then that no one worried about but would horrify parents nowadays. The new world of internet access with computers and no filters and questionable chat friends.
#AProductofGenetics #Penguin #Dutton #NetGalley

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Laughing in public
places is cathartic, a
bit embarrassing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


I write haiku reviews on Instagram but am happy to provide more feedback.

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A comical memoir regarding the challenges of a battle-worn millennial woman who, now in her 40s, takes guff from no one. She has some funny recollections of her upbringing, among them the ubiquitous Glamour Shots mall memories & her teacher’s misguided ideas for protecting her class, and (mostly) herself, from escaped animals from a run-down nearby zoo. Her observations are a hoot, She sees life, and its challenges, through a lens of profane absurdity. Her humor adds perspective to obstacles. I enjoyed her irreverent, unique perspective.

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god this was FUN. essays? funny as anything. personal notes? fantastic. humour? on the nose and so well done. tone? so perfect for the essays. i LOVED this so much, and even if it took a while to get into and get up to speed, i actually really am glad i stuck with it.

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Loved these essays and how they so accurately and hilariously capture the ~Millennial Spirit~ (something of which I also definitely maintain myself)😂😅 This was a quick read spanning multiple varied topics, perfect for holiday trips, beach days, or lazy weekends at home!

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I absolutely LOVED this book! It was relatable, witty, and actually had me laughing out loud. I’m definitely marking this as a new favorite.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy!

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This book was fantastic. Each chapter presents as a short essay pertaining to the authors experiences and life lessons. Now, with that, comes some essays that are far more interesting and relatable and some that drag slightly and are less capable of keeping your attention. That said, all of these were pretty close to perfect. Gutierrez is hilarious. I also absolutely loved that this was told from an LGBTQ+ perspective. Gutierrez is a slightly older millennial than me, but our experiences overlapped significantly enough. Very fun lighthearted read.

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I received a free copy of, A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking), by Jess H. Gutierrez, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I did not care for the language in this book at all. I did not enjoy or get into this book at all.

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3.5/5 for me! I thought parts of this book were hilarious - in some of the essays Gutierrez had me laughing out loud. While I’m not an elder millennial, I thought she had a great storytelling ability. The one essay about the EpiPen specifically I want to laugh just thinking about.

It did however take me a few to get into the swing of it. I wish there was a more clear theme combining all the essays - something to tie it together more would have made it even more of a favorite for me. And while I love a short chapter in fiction, some of these were so short that it ended right as I was getting into it. I wouldn’t have minded 25% fewer chapters with the remaining being bulked up.

Overall very enjoyable! I’d certainly read more from her in the future. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

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This one is for the (mostly) proud elder millennials. Reading Jess Gutierrez’ writing is like reminiscing with your best sarcastic girlfriends and trying to make sense of the craziest parts of your life. It’s hilarious and occasionally made me want to vomit. Some of the writing gets a little wordy with all her one liners. They’re funny, but I found myself struggling through parts of it. Loved it anyway and found the last few chapters quite heartwarming.

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I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
I'm Gen X so I'm a little older than this author, but I can identify with a lot of what she talks about in our early '90s childhoods. This is a humorous book and it doesn't hold back talking about drugs, sex, school, etc so it's not the book for you if you are easily offended. I found it to be a lot of fun even if my teen years weren't as wild as Jess. There is also grown-up talk about infertility and the stress of parenting.

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(I was given an ebook advanced copy of this title through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review)

Recently, I had just been thinking about autobiographies and advice books and wondering: who had the right to write one and once they do, who and how do they decide they have the authority to do so? Jess Gutierrez says from the top that she has no authority to offer advice and is merely just sharing her story and tidbits along the way. She describes herself as an elder millennial, whereas I fall on the other end of the millennial spectrum as a 90s baby but there was plenty of relatable overlap and I loved her sense of humor, rawness, realness, snark and a bit of professional dumbassery. It was like reading my friend’s diary to really get to know the real them and how they got to be that way. Gutierrez doesn’t get bogged down in a coming out story or why she has the authority to be writing a book. She just happens to be gay. She just happens to be writing a book. This was a breath of fresh air and a great, easy and good for a laugh read!

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This book did not work for me. After reading the preview, I was intrigued enough to forgo the next book on my tbr for this one but don’t think this one was for me. As one of the “young millennials” (29) the author refers to, I really wanted to relate to her stories, especially her rough childhood (mine was likewise in shitty, rundown towns) but I just couldn’t connect. It felt that the author tried too hard to make trauma funny, which ultimately translated to crudeness to me. I think this may be a hit with the elder millennial crowd.

Thank you to the publisher for a chance to preview this in exchange for an honest review!

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As an elder millennial, I don't think I have ever related to an author more than I did with this book. The experience of a childhood lived in the 80s and 90s, a first computer with Internet access and questionable chat friends, terrible relationships and "maturing" into adulthood yet still not feeling your age are just a few of the hilarious stories the author shares. I read "Cooter Bone" to my husband out loud and we both howled with laughter, tears streaming down our faces. I honestly don't think we will ever forget it and it will likely become a long running joke. Without a doubt, "A Product of Genetics" is at the top of the list for the best humorous memoirs and I will absolutely be buying a physical copy on release day. I genuinely hope so see more of Jess Gutierrez's writing in the future.

**Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.**

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Jess H. Gutierrez's 'A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking)' was a really fun collection of life stories. Each of the stories she told was incredibly funny and sometimes seemed too absurd to be true - coming from someone who's lived a fairly "normal" life in comparison.

I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially for those who want to be introduced to memoirs and non-fiction. However, I have two minor qualms. The first is, the tone of the book felt very much "I'm a cool mom." Gutierrez does not shy away from making jokes and using slang or curse words. This is not to say I have a problem with authors who write in this style, but with every sentence using terms found on Urban Dictionary or a casual "fuck," it felt heavy-handed. My second qualm is that the book, at times, felt like it lacked a common theme or direction. The common thread among these stories was "I've had these crazy experiences that are both comical and questionable." As I said, each of these stories was HILARIOUS and crazy, but I didn't feel like they tied together beyond that. Note that these are both EXTREMELY personal preferences, and it did not stop me from enjoying the book, nor would it stop me from recommending it to others. These are just observations I feel would be helpful for others who like to know more about what they're getting themselves in to.

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Absolutely hilarious and spot on collection of essays about coming of age in the 90s. I spent the entire time laughing (except the end when I burst into tears, gotta say, was not expecting to cry, but here we are.) Gutierrez is witty, weird, ridiculously fun, and endlessly relatable. A voice to watch out for--sign me up to read absolutely anything she comes up with next.

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