The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-up

By Dan Zevin

Book Overview

A hilarious book of musings on an ineluctable fact--Generation X is all grown up--by the popular author of Entry-Level Life and The Nearly-Wed Handbook. This is an irrepressibly hilarious account of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812967224
• ISBN13: 9780812967227
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Villard
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.4" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Oh no! Zevin is describing my life!

I'm a bit younger than Zevin and he's already describing my life, so I got a glimpse at what is coming up. This book is a quick read--a series of short entries on topics from lawn care to home improvement to the breaking of those decades-old appliances from your college days to teaching students at a local college. Zevin is a master humorist who delivers his message quickly and with a punch. The absolute highlight of the collection is Zevin's essay which alternates passages from his journal during his junior year abroad with his experiences fifteen years later visiting his younger brother in Spain. Junior year was THE MOST INTENSE experience, closing down bars, being "stoked," sleeping in train stations, and finding truth and beauty in music and literature. That travel journal is juxtaposed brilliantly against Zevin's demand for creature comfort and different pace at age 35. "Confession: The world is no longer my oyster." Zevin could be called a male Sandra Tsing Loh, but he gets to his point a lot faster and isn't whiny. This is a fun book, a quick, digestible read, and a great gift item for anyone in their late twenties or mid-thirties.

LOVED IT!

Zevin is absolutely hilarious..Even though I couldn't relate to much of What he wrote about (like the gardening and the dogs), it was still funny beyond proportion..Very smart, very funny writer.

Well written and very funny

I should know something about being uncool: I just bought a mini-van. So you can imagine that I related to Dan Zevin's confessions of uncoolness in this very funny book. Zevin's humor is so fresh and clever that you have to forgive him for hanging onto his frat boy mentality into his thirties and instead laugh out loud. I highly recommend this book for people who, like Zevin (and me), feel as though they suddenly woke up realizing they're too old for doing Jello shots until 3 a.m., but just old enough to serve Jello parfaits to their dinner party guests.

I too suffer from the Peter Pan complex....

Dan Zevin is articulate and incredibly insightful in addressing the awful realization that we all must grow up one day....or at least pretend until science finds a cure for this terrible ailment. He has a natural flair for storytelling and finding the humor in the seemingly mundane chores of every day life. This book fabulous! It's a quick read and leaves you wanting more! Buy it for yourself! Buy it for all your uncool friends!

Such a good book

I don't often buy humor books, but this one looked too funny to pass up. It turns out that the book is funny, but also insightful and a really good and quick read. The essays can stand alone, though they all fit together very nicely. I especially like the essay comparing Zevin's study abroad semester in Denmark with his week abroad visiting his younger brother in Spain. Definitely one of my new favorites!