An Off Year

Cecily Powell is very spoiled. She backs out of college right after receiving her dorm keys, and her father is all right with that. But in her year off, she finds out that happiness doesn't come from getting what you want if you are afraid of wanting something more. Claire Zulkey keeps Cecily sympathetic - she doesn't whine, she's not depressed, but she'd just not happy. I really enjoyed this book.

With Cecily, Zulkey does an excellent job of capturing the awe, aimlessness, fears, and social anxiety of being a teenager. Even though she doesn't want to, Cecily can't help admiring her older siblings' lives, their independence, even as she's uncertain whether she will ever be able to fully take steps towards her own. She fights with her father, about nothing and everything, but knows she will miss him. An Off Year is about feeling out of place, at college, and at home, and while that feeling isn't specific to being a teenager, there is a profound way that for teenagers, especially as they embark on being adults, it seems overwhelming. Cecily is discovering "the real world" and Zulkey doesn't paint it as all powerful or all demoralizing. Cecily has to learn for herself, along with some mentors, crushes, friends and former friends, what it means to be herself. Most of all, she has to learn to trust that she will find her path. I'd recommend this to anyone in high school or college, especially, who feels out of place, a little lost. This is not an action-packed book racing from one wild scene to the next. It offers a slow reveal, an internal dialogue Cecily has with herself, which spares no one--her parents, her friends, her counselors. There are times when most readers will find Cecily's worldview a little harsh, a little bitter, and I had to rein myself in from judging her too harshly because she is, after all, a teenager and that is part and parcel of life for most teens. Scratch that surface of jadedness and Cecily is open to wonder, though sometimes it takes unexpected forms, like her brother's girlfriend Angie, who she tries to hate, but can't. Cecily is a keen observer of those around her, in part because she's afraid to really ask herself what she wants, though when she finally does, she starts to see that while she may be different from her peers, she's not all that different. Zulkey ends the book on a hopeful note, and has created a book that doesn't lionize college as "the best years of your life." I liked that Cecily didn't do something cliched during her year off, that she spent a lot of it "wasting" time that it turns out wasn't wasted at all. This book doesn't have a sappy ending, but it does have a happy one, though easily could have had a happy ending even if Cecily hadn't made the decision she does, which, I think, is part of the lesson of An Off Year; that we all have to find our own path, as winding and meandering as it may be, and that nobody can tell us exactly what that path will be.

"An Off Year" truly captures the frame of mind we all experienced between high school and college, no matter how long it took to decide what to do with one's life. And though this topic has been attempted before, none have been able to truly fathom that terrifying, invigorating, and life changing experience with such wit and depth. Zulkey is off to a great start and I can't wait to see what she does next!

I started my freshman year of college 15 years ago. You might think I had no business reading this book. You'd be wrong. I found myself connecting with so many of the characters, that I am secretly hoping for a sequel. Cecily was more likable than I expected and her Father was not a push-over, spoil the child, kind of Dad. Zulkey captures the emotions, and writes with such honesty, that the reader is pulled in from the very first page. This is an excellent book!

I'm not really the young-adult demographic anymore, being more than a couple of years post-college. But good writing is good writing, and this is some good writing. Before I read the book, I actually wondered if I would find Cecily annoying. "Wah, wah. You don't want to go to college. Poor baby." Instead I quickly found someone who I recognized from when I was that age, except Cecily has the courage to actually say, "Wait a minute! I don't really know what's going on here!" instead of just going with the flow and doing "what people do" after they graduate from high school. Zulkey's use of the other people in Cecily's life to illuminate the normalcy of that unease felt authentic, not contrived. All of the characters are so well-developed that I found myself able to like something about each of them, even the ones who are frequent sources of Cecily's frustration. There are no "throw-away" characters in this novel. The author's attention to detail and careful crafting of Cecily's trajectory through this year makes every moment count. I loved this story. I loved the honesty with which Zulkey allowed her characters to discuss the college experience, and I especially loved the sense of humor that was present throughout. I'm planning on sending it to some important people in my life who are right around Cecily's age, and if my friends closer to my age are lucky, I'll share it with them, too!