One in a Millennial

Kate Kennedy

5 stars

Format: Audiobook

I am Kate Kennedy. Kate Kennedy is me.

I immediately sought out One in a Millennial after a good friend recommended it, saying it’s one of the best books she’s read this year. The audiobook is read by the author, Kate Kennedy, host of the pop culture podcast Be There in Five, and it truly feels like a conversation with a friend. Kennedy has somehow remembered the minute details of growing up in the 90s and 2000s as a young girl/woman and has given them validity. Did she ask my parents for my childhood diaries and dissect their contents? The jury is still out. While many of us were told the things we loved were silly or indulgent by the same people who took our money for those same things, Kate Kennedy contextualized how these popular toys or music or ideas actually hold weight. 

This audiobook was an entertaining listen while on my long runs, since the content is digestible and pretty funny. Kennedy’s word play is unmatched, one of my favorite lines being (paraphrased*), “I would like to take a long walk off a short Pier 1 Imports warehouse,” when referring to the abomination that is the papasan chair. Have you ever been the one stuck at a sleepover who had to choose between a papasan or the floor to sleep on? Choose the floor, girl.

She analyzes heavy topics, like purity culture and depression, but then discusses fangirling over The Spice Girls and perfecting the PGH (popular girl handwriting), not to mention the chokehold American Girl Dolls had on our generation. To further underscore how Kennedy’s millennial experience mirrored mine, I had a how-to book as a preteen that taught me “fun” ways to up my penmanship game, and oh boy, did I whip out those skills whenever I could.

I appreciated Kennedy’s clear emotion during her reading of certain essays and felt that it added a deeply personal layer to the book. She wasn’t just reading her book, she was experiencing the words right along with the listener. 

The target audience for One in a Millennial is fairly narrow, and I just happen to be it. On multiple occasions Kennedy reminds the reader that this is one woman’s millennial experience and certainly does not encompass everyone’s story, and if you take that at face value, you can enjoy the book wholly. As for me? I’ll continue to recommend this book to everyone I know, in part so they can catch a glimpse of why I am the way I am.

*I was running an eight-miler and wasn’t going to double check the timestamp to catch the quote verbatim.