A Product of Genetics and Day Drinking
By Jess H Gutierrez
Published by Tiny Reparations Books an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Publishes June 18,2024

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the ebook ARC to read and review.

This book actually made me CACKLE. I think the people who would most appreciate this book are my fellow Millennials. From the first chapter she sets the tone -“Babies of the eighties turned kids in the nineties are the true survivors.” That’s not to say other generations won’t get something from her story - her chapters where she describes motherhood are hilarious and relatable (I imagine as I don’t have children). But what I loved most were the nostalgic bits about basement choreography to Ace of Base and making nunchucks to look as much like the TMNT as possible and our love of the set of two VHS tapes of “Titanic” :) Jess’s writing is so enjoyable, at times risqué, but I enjoyed it so much

As a fellow elder millennial, I was looking forward to Jess H. Gutierrez's memoir A Product of Genetics (And Day Drinking): A Never-Coming-of-Age Story. I admit to not being familiar with her before reading, but the description sounded interesting to me. Her stories about her childhood were very relatable to me, being of similar age. Being on the cusp of Generation X and Millennial leads to some interesting dynamics- growing up primarily in the pre-digital age, but transitioning to it still somewhat early on. She enlightens the reader with some hilarious and relatable tales of her childhood- being done up like a 12-year old hooker at Glamour Shots, chatting with random people online, and 90's diet culture (Olestra anal leakage). She also describes how everyone knew she was gay before she officially came out, her brief foray into roller derby, and working at a lesbian bar. She later pivots to her marriage to a fire-captain, and their three children, which did not grab me as much as the earlier chapters, but still provides some comical moments (practice epipen episode). This overall was an enjoyable read that I think other millennials will also enjoy.

Thank you to Tiny Reparations Books via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

One of the best memoirs I have read in a while. I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait for it to be released.

These cringy essays about Jess's life in the 90s and early 00s are not as funny as I had hoped they would be. I think the author was done a real disservice by being described as a new Samantha Irby, because I spent the entire book thinking about how much funnier Samantha Irby is. I would give this one a pass; it just wasn’t for me.

A new favorite! This book was absolutely hilarious and had me laughing the whole time! It's relatable, witty, and overall a tun read.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance
сору!

Reading the stories of people in my age group are always fun for nostalgia. I was not expecting some of content but I appreciated the frank style and no holds barred approach, a niche read.

This one took me months to finish.. thought there were parts of the essay I liked (made me laugh), this book won't be memorable. Even though it's not one of MY favorites, I think it would be a fun reads for others!

Many thanks to NetGalley for sending me an Advance Reader's Copy.

I found a lot of this book to be hilarious. The millennial generation is so large that I didn't share many of the experiences relayed in the book, but the references were easy to understand. I'm already suggesting this book to friends.

Humorous essays about millennials. So many things children did back then that no one worried about but would horrify parents nowadays. The new world of internet access with computers and no filters and questionable chat friends.
#AProductofGenetics #Penguin #Dutton #NetGalley

Laughing in public
places is cathartic, a
bit embarrassing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


I write haiku reviews on Instagram but am happy to provide more feedback.

A comical memoir regarding the challenges of a battle-worn millennial woman who, now in her 40s, takes guff from no one. She has some funny recollections of her upbringing, among them the ubiquitous Glamour Shots mall memories & her teacher’s misguided ideas for protecting her class, and (mostly) herself, from escaped animals from a run-down nearby zoo. Her observations are a hoot, She sees life, and its challenges, through a lens of profane absurdity. Her humor adds perspective to obstacles. I enjoyed her irreverent, unique perspective.

god this was FUN. essays? funny as anything. personal notes? fantastic. humour? on the nose and so well done. tone? so perfect for the essays. i LOVED this so much, and even if it took a while to get into and get up to speed, i actually really am glad i stuck with it.

Loved these essays and how they so accurately and hilariously capture the ~Millennial Spirit~ (something of which I also definitely maintain myself)😂😅 This was a quick read spanning multiple varied topics, perfect for holiday trips, beach days, or lazy weekends at home!

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was relatable, witty, and actually had me laughing out loud. I’m definitely marking this as a new favorite.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy!

This book was fantastic. Each chapter presents as a short essay pertaining to the authors experiences and life lessons. Now, with that, comes some essays that are far more interesting and relatable and some that drag slightly and are less capable of keeping your attention. That said, all of these were pretty close to perfect. Gutierrez is hilarious. I also absolutely loved that this was told from an LGBTQ+ perspective. Gutierrez is a slightly older millennial than me, but our experiences overlapped significantly enough. Very fun lighthearted read.

I received a free copy of, A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking), by Jess H. Gutierrez, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I did not care for the language in this book at all. I did not enjoy or get into this book at all.

3.5/5 for me! I thought parts of this book were hilarious - in some of the essays Gutierrez had me laughing out loud. While I’m not an elder millennial, I thought she had a great storytelling ability. The one essay about the EpiPen specifically I want to laugh just thinking about.

It did however take me a few to get into the swing of it. I wish there was a more clear theme combining all the essays - something to tie it together more would have made it even more of a favorite for me. And while I love a short chapter in fiction, some of these were so short that it ended right as I was getting into it. I wouldn’t have minded 25% fewer chapters with the remaining being bulked up.

Overall very enjoyable! I’d certainly read more from her in the future. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This one is for the (mostly) proud elder millennials. Reading Jess Gutierrez’ writing is like reminiscing with your best sarcastic girlfriends and trying to make sense of the craziest parts of your life. It’s hilarious and occasionally made me want to vomit. Some of the writing gets a little wordy with all her one liners. They’re funny, but I found myself struggling through parts of it. Loved it anyway and found the last few chapters quite heartwarming.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
I'm Gen X so I'm a little older than this author, but I can identify with a lot of what she talks about in our early '90s childhoods. This is a humorous book and it doesn't hold back talking about drugs, sex, school, etc so it's not the book for you if you are easily offended. I found it to be a lot of fun even if my teen years weren't as wild as Jess. There is also grown-up talk about infertility and the stress of parenting.

(I was given an ebook advanced copy of this title through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review)

Recently, I had just been thinking about autobiographies and advice books and wondering: who had the right to write one and once they do, who and how do they decide they have the authority to do so? Jess Gutierrez says from the top that she has no authority to offer advice and is merely just sharing her story and tidbits along the way. She describes herself as an elder millennial, whereas I fall on the other end of the millennial spectrum as a 90s baby but there was plenty of relatable overlap and I loved her sense of humor, rawness, realness, snark and a bit of professional dumbassery. It was like reading my friend’s diary to really get to know the real them and how they got to be that way. Gutierrez doesn’t get bogged down in a coming out story or why she has the authority to be writing a book. She just happens to be gay. She just happens to be writing a book. This was a breath of fresh air and a great, easy and good for a laugh read!