I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the audiobook. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Perhaps this should be noted: Trigger warnings for this book include self-harm.

At first, the time period that Mona is living in didn't strike me. I don't know if I'm just obtuse and missed some sort of obvious clue, but the whole time I was thinking, "Wow. This reminds me a lot of when I first started looking for a job because of the recession." And I kept thinking about how if I had this book at that time, it would have probably made me feel a whole heck of a lot better.

And then, as I kept reading, I realized that Mona was also living through the recession, so her struggle was my struggle, and it hit me differently. I thought of myself, fresh out of college, and all the difficulties I went through to get a job. Of course, I didn't have the cast of characters that Mona's world does to really flesh out my story and make it more vibrant. My dating life was pretty tame by comparison, and I was not a viral meme. But, I did know the feelings of doubt and uncertainty. I lived with the frustration of having worked hard for a degree only to not get the interview, or to be laid off very quickly after being hired as a result of budget cuts. In a very small way, I relived a part of my own youth, except now I could look back on everything with a bit more clarity since I'm in an entirely different life situation.

I enjoyed Mona's snark. Sometimes, she could be totally frustrating, but it was easier for me to forgive her since I had a younger version of myself to hold up as a comparison. I liked hearing about her discombobulated family and her own inner conflict. I loved the fact that by the end, she was able to have a beautiful resolution within herself. Usually in American society, we're told to push and push and work as hard as you can for as long as you can because your career defines you. It's nice to see that there's another option.

As for the narrator, she was great and made the book a worthwhile listen.

Mona is having a seriously bad day. She has always been the “golden one” for whom only good things have happened. She graduates, gets her dream job only to have the world enter a recession. Poof, it is all gone. All she worked for, all the expectations she placed on herself and the world and for the first time in her life she is truly adrift. Rudderless as it seems everyone else in her life is living their best lives. She truly has no idea of how to move forward as she always had a plan. We join her on her journey of finding out how to move forward, figure out who she really is, what she really wants and to let it all be okay. Not an easy road for her, but an interesting journey.

Mona at Sea by Elizabeth Gonzalez James is about a woman who is a huge success in school and stumbles when she gets out. Not being able to find a job throws her for a loop. I listened to the audiobook.

A Millennial fresh out of college with a finance degree gets hired by a selective NYC bank and on the day she’s to begin, the bank crashes. It’s 2009 and the novel explores her entitlement and disappointment as she goes viral as “Sad Millennial”, suffers under employment, self harm, poor dating choices, and her parents’ breakup.

TW: self-harm
Mona at Sea tells the story of a millennial woman named Mona who gets laid off in the financial crisis. She has a lot of trouble finding a job, despite high academic achievement. Mona self-harms and has multiple, verbally violent drunken outbursts. Without any evidence, she projects the latter problem on her best friend—typical of this remarkably self-blind protagonist.

Characters make very strange choices that feel underdeveloped for the sake of drama that feels unearned, and therefore absurdly comical. Mona applies to 500 jobs, settles for underemployment, then proceeds to date her boss even though there’s zero reason to think he’s a good match. If it weren’t for the fact that EGJ went through something similar, it would come across as condescending or mocking. It reads like a boomer writing about *those damn spoiled millennials* for no reason (maybe the author is pandering to awards judges).

Mona has obvious self-harm and alcohol abuse problems that are basically treated as a matter of course, which simultaneously devalues both her unemployment struggles and her psychological struggles. Mona seems determined to cling to her lack of self-awareness, doubling down on EGJ’s inexplicable take on millennials. None of her loved ones help at all—both her boyfriend and her mom go so far as to praise her cutting!

Could’ve made better use of “sunk cost” fallacy as a theme. Accidental motif of bagels goes unacknowledged

I am grateful to both the publisher and NetGalley for providing an Audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.