The writer is wonderful, I love her Buzzfeed work. This book is a needed piece of work on today’s young people, overburdened without relief in sight. A worthwhile read.

This book was very accessible, and did a good job of distilling a lot of labor theory and history into something conversational and useful. I read it quickly and felt briefly inspired.

But AHP's ideas aren’t new, and I think it would've helped the book to tie them into today’s current political system in a meaningful way. Like how did Bernie Sander's pro-worker rhetoric play to burnt out millennials? How did millennial burnout affect how we vote and who we vote for?

I also think it would have benefited from more of her sharing her own lived experience and less sweeping generalizations about how millennials live. How did she feel about unionization at Buzzfeed, where she worked? Does she feel like a member of the salatariat, teetering on the edge of becoming part of the precariat group she described?

I loved her previous book, but this felt like it was written in a rush to cash out on her viral news piece, and would have been better as less of an info dump and more of a thoughtful, personal take on burnout.

It also just felt like she was skirting on the edge of a pro-unionization, pro-labor sort of a declaration the entire time, but veered away from it because of a desire not to want to get overtly political. Which is foolish to me, because when we talk about work and we talk about mental health, we're talking about politics.

Which isn't to say I don't recommend it! I thought it was a good primer on the thoughts around millennial burnout, and will make a lot of people feel heard. I just wish she had interrogated herself a bit more in the process of writing it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the copy.

This was an interesting read; I have for some time thought that a lot of people are suffering burn out or even keeping up with the Joneses. I believe I’m classed as a millennial, however having taken some time out and travelling aboard, I think this changed the way I thought and behaved. It’s an interesting take on what is considered the norm. Lots of great examples of how people are living their lives.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Full disclosure - I am a huge fan of Anne Helen Petersen. I’ve been a member of her Facebook group for years, I receive her newsletter and I read almost everything she writes. I actually had this book preordered and was thrilled when I was given an opportunity to review it for Netgalley.

Like many other millennials (I’ve just turned 30) I was shocked when Petersen’s burnout article was posted in 2019 because I’d never before seen someone so accurately articulate the experiences of our generation. (It’s useful to note here that I am white, female, cisgendered and relatively middle class - similar in these ways to Petersen herself, a major exception being that I am British). While not a uniquely white, middle class problem (and Petersen is both aware of the privilege of her position and makes many references to other social groups who experience the phenomenon) it does feel specific to this group.

I was really excited to read a longer version of her essay, and I think she does a fantastic job of going into more detail and elaborating on all the elements that have resulted in millennial burnout, from economic factors to technology to the gig economy, to the monetisation of hobbies to societal expectations and the visibility that social media provides. This book is incredibly well-researched, but never feels dry. I really enjoyed the fact that Petersen doesn’t only rely on her own experiences and instead interviews dozens of contributors to add real-world examples to her theories. It also feels personal and relatable without seeming self-indulgent.

Of course, the book was written in a pre-COVID-19 world, and the preface of the book references this. There are many sections of the book that unfortunately feel almost outdated in our current climate (particular the sections on leisure which feel almost cruel as we sit inside with more leisure time than we’ve ever had in our lives). Petersen has written a few pieces about life during COVID-19 and I’d be interested to hear more about how this “new world” relates to her book.

Despite the book being very America-centric, I found myself relating to almost all of it, which is the case with most of Petersen’s work for me personally. I could completely relate to the feeling of being “behind” on culture due to less time to consume the latest must-watch TV show, the feeling of social anxiety and exhaustion at the idea of seeing friends (even when you know it will make you feel better), the constant need to be productive and efficient and the fear of parenthood.

Overall I found this book incredibly relatable and well-researched and I would definitely recommend it to my friends who are experiencing similar burn out.

I enjoy Anne Helen Petersen's writing overall (I've read and enjoyed her other two books as well as a lot of her writing on Buzzfeed) but this book seemed a little too neat. I did enjoy the piece that was the impetus for this book on burnout when it first came out, but this book didn't add TOO much to what was already in the article, just a bunch of anecdotes to flesh out the already-apparent conclusions. Still, it was an interesting read and learning about the origins of our burnout culture was helpful to me. I did find some of the anecdotes to be cherry-picked (especially the section on hobbies - I know lots of adults with regular hobbies that aren't commodified). But overall an interesting read, even if it didn't break any new ground

Overall, I can see myself recommending this book, though I do have personal reservations on it. I'm a millennial who is pretty Online myself, so a lot of the content felt familiar and understandable to me. I think the writer has a great style and voice, and wove research and interviews pretty seamlessly. I think it's broken down and presented well enough that people who aren't millennials can definitely still "get it," and her presentation of Boomers was generous enough that it won't ostracize older readers. I like that the overall takeaway of the book is to work for structural change (particularly via legislation, our government, etc) versus individualistic self-care practices.

All of that said, some parts of the book didn't work as well for me. While I was very glad to see interviews included and to see race, sexual orientation, and so on identified for everyone, I kept thinking about what a different and unique text it would be if it was one of those people writing it. That's not. a slight against the writer, but a bigger picture question of whether or not we need more financially secure, middle-class white people talking about these issues, while giving minor lip-service to people who are marginalized. The "our" and "we" in the book kept reminding me that this was a book by and for the upper-middle-class (or those who want to identify that way, one way or another) which felt disappointing. I was also surprised that in the entire marriage/children section, queer people were minimal, and only one person was raising a child with a same-sex partner. There was also very little attention given to people who are homeless, disabled people, and other marginalizations beyond the more mainstream ones (like race).