Ryan ChartrandJohn Mayer sings about it and Zach Braff made a movie about it, but is there really such a thing as a “quarterlife crisis”? The authors of the 26 essays in “It’s a Wonderful Lie” prove it exists, with personal testimony about the transition between school and the “real world.”
The foreword describes the quarterlife crisis as “the response to reaching the turning point between young adulthood and adulthood; it is the amalgamation of doubt, confusion, and fear that comes with facing an overwhelming set of identity issues and societal expectations at once.”
Previous generations got married or embarked on a career right out of college, (one author says, “Had I been born a century or even a decade earlier, my twenties would likely have been spent trying to get married, or being married and trying to have babies, or raising babies”) but today’s college graduates are finding themselves in a black hole of sorts.
“It’s as if…we pull over our graduation tassels and suddenly are expected to become equipped emotionally, pragmatically, and financially to make…major decisions…” the book complains, “but that’s not the way it works.”
With graduation fast approaching (or looming, depending on your viewpoint), it’s comforting to know everyone doesn’t have their life completely planned out at the age of 22, as the anthology’s authors reassure their audience. Even those who thought they had their future signed and sealed along with their diploma found that life often takes a different course.
Each of the essays falls into one of five “lies” about life in your 20s, including “I’ll have an amazing apartment and love my job” and “I’ll know myself – and what I want.” These essays contradict each expectation, but end with the message that life’s unpredictability isn’t always negative.
“It’s a Wonderful Lie” often disappoints in substance. It offers a cloud of fluffy pink cotton candy – delicious, but unsatisfying. As a reader I found myself hungry for something a bit more meaty – a book with less personal anecdotes and more helpful advice.
Several essays whine about how confusing it was when Daddy stopped paying the credit card bills. Others dangerously border on a “Cathy” comic strip. Luckily if you don’t like one essay there are twenty five others you might enjoy or be able to relate to more.
That said, “It’s a Wonderful Lie” expresses what the soon-to-be college graduate thinks, but hasn’t yet put into words. One sentence in particular hit me hard. “I missed the feeling of popping into a local bar and knowing that there would be familiar faces inside, the assurance that walking down the street would turn up friends in cafes and bookstores.” If nothing else, this anthology will certainly make the reader reluctant to graduate into the cold hard world the authors inhabit – where you have no friends, a dead end job, a rat-infested apartment and no money to buy food.
“It’s a Wonderful Lie” is in essence 26 warnings about maintaining a practical view of the future. You’re probably not going to become a CEO or get a spacious loft in Soho right out of college, but be patient. The authors stress the fact that life takes time, but things eventually work out for the best.