I’d never heard of Lisa Schwartz before I got a request to review her new book, but I was really intrigued when I saw it was called “Thirty-Life Crisis.”
I’ll be turning 30 next year, so this seemed like the perfect time for this book to come into my life. I know I and many other people have gone through some type of quarter-life crisis as we’ve all dealt with so many different things in our lives.
“Thirty-Life Crisis: Navigating My Thirties, One Drunk Baby Shower At A Time” by Lisa Schwartz was exactly the book I needed right now. I feel like I’ve gotten so caught up in how to define myself and I feel like a failure because I haven’t achieved certain things in my life so far, but this book helped me realize that that isn’t necessary anymore.
She talked a lot about marriage and baby names and other expectations on people, but especially women, in their 30s, and I really felt like I was being seen. I got married last year, but I feel like getting married at 28 was so late compared to other people. I feel like I haven’t hit certain milestones by the time I was “supposed to,” but then again, who really has?
This book helped me realize that expectations are just that; they’re not reality. It’d be ridiculous if everyone was going after the same goals and completed them at the same time. How would anything feel special again?
It also helped me realize that we all mess up sometimes, we all fall down, we all have to bounce back from something (or several somethings). Even if someone seems like they have a great and picture-perfect life, it doesn’t mean they don’t also feel lonely or worried or anxious.
No matter what age you are, I think you could benefit from reading this book. This book is the reason that memoirs are my favorite genre because I believe everyone has a really interesting story to share. Lisa is no different in that respect, but she is different in the way she shared her stories. She conquered a lot in this book and really took a chance on sharing so much about her life, but as a reader I really appreciated that.
Even though I didn’t know really anything about Lisa Schwartz before I read the book, I feel like I know her well now (but not in a creepy way, I promise). She was very real, relatable, funny, sarcastic but also serious and emotional at times. Also, I just really love the book cover. Dog + wine = yes please!
