Scan barcode
A review by heykellyjensen
Freshman Year by Sarah Mai
This one took me back to my freshman year in college, alongside the ups and downs and challenges of learning how to adjust to "adult" life. Mai's story brings her from the Milwaukee suburbs to college in Minnesota, where she early on connects with her roommate and a roommate's friend from high school. But in the course of navigating what she wants to major in and do for a career, she finds herself experiencing a difficult breakup with her high school boyfriend and the crushing loneliness of being on her own. Sarah works hard to make new friends and have new experiences, but she's also struggling with anxiety and depression along the way. As the story unfolds, we also get to see how these feelings and experiences Sarah feels so alone in are actually not only common, but happening to her roommate and so many other people in her immediate circle. At heart, it's about where and how people process feelings and new experiences and how different it looks for every single person.
This would likely be a very different book with a person of color at the heart, but those feelings of loneliness and newness in college–especially when you've been promised such an amazing time–are resonant. The book isn't easy nor is it cut and dry with its beginning and end; it's a slice-of-life and honest in what it feels like to have certain mental expectations about college but those butt up against the reality of what college looks like.
A book like this would have made me feel so much less alone my freshman year of college. I suspect it's the kind of book that incoming students would find a lot of value in, if for no other reason than it offers a different picture of entering a whole new exciting phase of life.
This would likely be a very different book with a person of color at the heart, but those feelings of loneliness and newness in college–especially when you've been promised such an amazing time–are resonant. The book isn't easy nor is it cut and dry with its beginning and end; it's a slice-of-life and honest in what it feels like to have certain mental expectations about college but those butt up against the reality of what college looks like.
A book like this would have made me feel so much less alone my freshman year of college. I suspect it's the kind of book that incoming students would find a lot of value in, if for no other reason than it offers a different picture of entering a whole new exciting phase of life.