A review by painalangoisse
The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars by Meghan Daum

4.0

I read this book in one sitting. It was compelling because it reminded me so strongly of conversations I’ve had with friends. Though many of those conversations have been with Gen Xers, I’m 19, which makes the central premise thin for me. Is it really a generational difference when two teenagers can sit down and have the same rant together? Much of this book was almost like comfort food to me: I appreciate Daum’s ongoing insistence on nuance and her refusal to join the ranks of those who don’t do the same. I am torn on how to rate the book because I couldn’t stop reading it, but at the same time it wasn’t particularly intellectually challenging to me. I get the sense that Daum would almost be disappointed in how inoffensive I found it. That’s not to say that I agreed with every point made, but I think I have a similar worldview to her, so I could see where she was coming from most of the time.