THE BOOK
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Amy Dong's debut essay collection Twenty-One Years Young offers a sentimental, humorous, and honest reflection of what it means to grow up.
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This essay collection explores subjects such as recovering from a near-death experience, debating politics at the dinner table, the value of rejection, and the significance of traveling alone. With honest, intimate, and vividly descriptive prose, twenty-one-year-young Amy Dong articulates how even the most unexpected moments of life can be meaningful because they are our own.
THE REVIEWS
Vivian Giang,
The New York Times
Amy Dong's essays are coming-of-age snapshots, with all of the promises and heartbreaks that come with growing up. The essay "So it Goes" is a deeply personal story about recovery, and "He Means Well" is a tale of how dreams from a past generation nestle and wrestle within the next generation. Dong's honesty is refreshing and, at times, gut-wrenching, and serves as a reminder to young adults that life is beautiful, no matter how messy growing up can be.