Millennial Love
Millennial Love by Olivia Petter
Reviewed by Jess
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Thank you @4thestatebooks for this copy!
There’s a lot out there for us millennial people looking for love. We’ve literally lived through all the short stories on the internet, through the Me Too movement, we watched Girls, the works. Olivia Petter’s book does a very succinct job of summarising the effects these things have had on us as a collective, and what it means for us to have sexual freedom, body autonomy and personal happiness within a relationship or when single.
It’s not just a personal anecdote essay either. Informed by her podcast of the same name, Petter fills the book chapters with interviews from those more knowledgable, and with teachable stories, as well as facts and numbers on everything from condom usage to porn watching numbers and everything in between. She’s a staunch advocate for communication, openness, normalising experiences we’ve hidden away in shame, and above all being educated. Her book definitely provides the reader just that.
If you are between the ages of 17 and 27, this book should be mandatory reading for you. Whatever your gender, even though it’s somewhat from a straight cis female perspective, straight men will 100% learn something here. It’s funny, quirky and relatable, and whilst it’s definitely very of its time (are people going to know/care about Cat Person in 10 years time?) I can really see it’s value. Initially I picked this up thinking that maybe it wasn’t for someone like me - I’m happily engaged, my dating life is behind me, I know all the things I might need to know about navigating love as a millennial; hell, I LIVED IT. I could write the book! But as I turned the pages I realised that this was the book I maybe wished I had during that time.
