Marina Shifrin

30 Before 30 How I Made a Mess of My 20s, and You Can Too: Essays by Marina Shifrin. I would like to thank Netgalley and all parties involved for giving me an arc of this book. It was a diamond in the rough for sure! I will be the first to admit that this is usually not my cup of tea. This is not your bucket list kind of book the author does not list 30 things that you have to do before you turn 30. But more a combination of 30 adventures the author has had in her life before she turned 30. I don’t want you to be scared of the idea of the fact that this is essays but It really does read like a charming memoir that makes you want to have your own adventure at any age.
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*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through Goodreads. This is an honest review.*

30 Before 30 is a series of essays that feels more like a memoir, detailing Shifrin’s experience with crossing off all the things she wants to do before she’s thirty, including riding a bike across the Brooklyn Bridge, move to a different country, donate her hair, etc. Each chapter is a different essay focusing on a different item on her list.

The essays have a humorous slant; Shifrin has a uniquely dramatic personality and it’s easy to see that she loves to tell a good story. I found myself liking her at the outset, with her self-deprecation and easy wit; this is one funny and relatable book. There are some experiences that not everyone has gone through, of course, but she tells it in a relatable way, focusing on her crappy boss (we’ve all had those), awkward romances, and weird moments that come along with being a new adult. It’s a quick read, and I love how personal she gets with it; it feels like a no-holds barred tell-all about how she spent her twenties.

Along with the humor, though, is genuine insight and advice for those just starting out in the world; I would definitely recommend this book to someone in their early twenties, because I think they’d get a lot out of it. Even as someone who’s on the cusp of turning thirty, I found this book immensely rewarding, both because I agreed with her advice and because there were stories that are just so relatable for someone who’s gone through their twenties. Her buying an air conditioner and trying to bring it to her apartment herself to prove that she was a Strong Independent Woman was a story that spoke to me so much. One of the best stories, though, was her visiting Russia to see her family and get back to her roots; it was incredibly heartfelt.

If you’re a fan of funny memoirish nonfiction, then definitely pick this up. I had a fun time reading this, and if Shifrin writes another book, I’ll be in line to read that one as well.

Also posted on Purple People Readers.… (meer)