Harper Collins
March 28, 2017
208 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon
For fans of Grace Helbig and Alexa Chung comes a fresh, hilarious guide to growing up your way from social media influencer and lifestyle vlogger Arden Rose.
In Almost Adulting—perfect for budding adults, failing adults, and eaters of microwave mug brownies—Arden tells you how to survive your future adulthood. Topics include:
-Making internet friends who are cool and not murderers
-Flirting with someone in a way to make them think you are cool and not a murderer
-Being in an actual relationship where you talk about your feelings in a healthy manner??? To the other person???????
-Eating enough protein
-Assembling a somewhat acceptable adult wardrobe when you have zero dollars
-Going on adventures without starting to smell
-How sex is supposed to feel, but, like, actually though
By the end of the book—a mash-up of essays, lists, and artwork—you'll have learned not only how to dress yourself, how to travel alone, how to talk to strangers online, and how to date strangers (in PERSON!), but also how to pass as a real, functioning, appropriately socialized adult
It feels like a lot of Arden Rose's Almost Adulting is about doing what's best for you, really being you but in a responsible way where you still pay your traffic tickets and eat more than Oreos. The book covers things from decorating your apartment to online dating to sex and more.
The strongest parts of this book the beginning and the end where the author is not only helping readers to understand what is a smart way of doing something (keeping your apartment clean, for example) but also providing some ways of actually accomplishing that (change your sheets x often, etc). These more specific ideas keep Almost Adulting from just being another person/book/thing/whatever telling you what you should be doing. (Most who aren't cleaning enough or buying the right things at the store aren't not doing it simply because no one's ever suggested they should. It's about knowing how to go about it.)
The middle of the book seems to lose some of these more specific, helpful bits and feels more specific to the author's life. It focuses more on Arden Rose's life: meeting her boyfriend, the beginnings of their relationship and doesn't seem to cover as much or advise as broadly.
I do think that Almost Adulting has a certain kind of adult (or almost adult) in mind and is geared more towards that person. It seems to best fit someone who had/has supportive parents, who was - at least - relatively financially secure, who is employed, and generally healthy (both physically and mentally). It is still relevant to others but seems to apply most to someone like that. (The author does discuss her mental health and the issues she's faced but sentences like, "Ir's time to understand that you determine yow your body and mind operate at any given time based on what you're fueling it with." [pg 17] are why I say this.)
Almost Adulting covers things you might, technically, already know (eat well, keep things clean, etc) but does a nice job giving some specific ideas for everything from decorating your apartment to finding the right birth control. Whether you're familiar with Arden Rose from YouTube or not (I was not), if you're looking to adult (or just know how), you might want to check out Almost Adulting: All You Need to Know to Get it Together (Sort Of).
(Also? Roasted Brussels Sprouts really are very good, I definitely agree.)
finished copy received, for review, from publisher
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