Book: Adult-ishAuthor: Cristina Vanko
Publisher: Tarcher / Putnam
ISBN: 9780143129813
Rating: A
Congrats--you're an adult now!* Your first real job. The first plant you kept alive. The first relationship you kept alive (until further notice). This hand-lettered and illustrated guided journal is a charming and cheeky celebration of what it means to finally be a grown-up (sort of). From the first time you visited home without bringing dirty laundry to the first time you truly felt comfortable in your own skin, the small victories and meaningful milestones in this quirky and insightful journal make it a great gift and a fun experience for anyone winning at adulthood - the good, the bad and the OMG. *Ish
Be sure to check out the penguin page for this book and grab yourself a copy! : http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/544586/adult-ish-by-cristina-vanko/9780143129813/
or if you're in the UK (like me!) : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adult-ish-Record-Your-Highs-World/dp/0143129813
So for those of you who follow my blog may be aware, this book is a little different for. But nonetheless, when an email popped detailing the book I decided that I needed to review a copy - because it sounded like a Wreck this Journal (which I love) meets becoming and adult - and being in my first year of uni and having to live by myself these past 6 months, this felt like it would be witty, hilarious and oh-so-relatable.
As it turns it, it was, and it was so much more. Let's talk a little bit about the premise of this book first. The book is a mix of both thinking and doing, in the sense that each page presents a new 'adult-ish' thought to you, that usually ends with you either thinking about a particular scenario that makes you realise you are no where near being an adult yet, or ends with you picking up a pen and being creative on the page - and I really love books like this. I think they are so much fun, and also act as a sort of journalistic time capsule - which is exactly what this book is.
The whole purpose of the book becomes clearer as you do more and more of it. It's a fun and witty way to document your journey into adult hood, and I'm so grateful that Vanko had the genius to come up with this. I am certain that in twenty years I will look back on this little gem and either laugh or cry at how clueless and young I am right now.
The prompts on all the pages are witty, funny and relatable in the sense that they pick up on both the little quirks of being young and the stereotypes of being an adult, that everyone seems to accidentally fall into. Some pages question the way you handle oreos, whilst another asks you to draw the first houseplant you bought - a subconscious stereotype of being adult that I've already given into. My university flat has multiple houseplants now. Of course some of the pages I simply can't answer yet - like my first set of wheels or looking back on my social media platforms - but I think that's what's so great about this little book. It's going capture my whole journey into adult-hood, both now and through the next few years and into the future - a whole period of my life that realistically would have gone undocumented and forgotten, other than the carefully curated images that would have made it to me instagram.
I also love the art in this book; Vanko's almost candid doodles are both charming and tumblr-esque in their nature and will definitely appeal to late nineties children (like myself) and millennials. It really acts as the finishing touch, the almost marker like drawings really giving it the journalistic feel, that makes you all that more likely to pour your embarrassing escapades into adult-hood down onto the pages.
I think overall, this book is just bucket loads of fun. It has a great voice, talking to you in a way that feels both relatable and satirical, laughing with you at the quirks of being an adult into the 21st century; growing out of teenage slang, falling into the adult-ish stereotypes and keeping you engaged the whole way through. Adult-Ish is quirky, funny, beautifully put together and something I think that I will be able to look back at in twenty years that'll remind that being adult can also be fun.
Now if you've made it this far, I also have kindly been given some pages from the book, by the publisher, that I'm allowed to share with you - so you can see for yourself how fantastic this book is and why you need to have it in your life so much. Also, if you want to grab a copy here is the link to the penguin page where you can grab it from the different retailers: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/544586/adult-ish-by-cristina-vanko/9780143129813/
OR if you're in the United Kingdom, like myself, here's Amazon page for the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adult-ish-Record-Your-Highs-World/dp/0143129813
