A cozy and delightful little read about a snapshot inside a young artist's diary. Filled with artwork, and a sense of warmth, this was a really nice read. It's so interesting to get to read someone's thoughts and their own diary, and the artwork was the perfect touch to the book.

*Thanks Netgalley and Chronicle Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

If you remember being 25, and the uncertainty of everything, and also the seeming potential importance of everything, this book will ring will hit hard.

If you no longer remember being 25, this book will bring it all back in a rush: the confusion, the hunger, the excitement, the tedium, and always that undercurrent of hope through it all.

If you haven't yet experienced being 25, this will be a sneak glance into the future. Be neither concerned nor comforted by what you read here. Your own 25 will be exactly the same in some ways, and entirely different in others.

The simplicity (almost banality) of this book is what gives it its perfection. It's a week of journal entries in which nothing particular happens, but she writes it all down anyway, every humdrum detail, because it's that important to her to do so.
The entire thing is like this: "...went to Texaco and bought two packs of cigarettes and Pork Cup O' Noodles. I went to Colin and Stiv's and put water on for the Cup O' Noodles and checked my email one more time but still no one had written me."
And this: "I came back to my house and read "Narcissus and Goldmund" for an hour or so but decided I didn't like it. There was a loud scary rap at the door, and it was Stiv and Margery, on their way to a party. I put on my coat, and we grabbed Colin and left. When we got to the party, it was less than ten really high strangers sitting around in a living room, so we all felt weird and left quickly."
And: "I went back downstairs and checked the messages. Michael Hecht had called saying he was putting a check in the mail for me. Emmy and my mom had both called, asking me to call them back. I called Emmy and asked her to come to my housewarming party on Friday, but she didn't want to because she didn't know or like anyone coming."
It's absolutely perfect. If it were fiction, written by someone trying to be "authentic" as a made-up character, it would be insufferable. But it's real, and it's exactly what Carson Ellis wrote down as a record for herself, not as anything intended for anyone else to ever read, so it's not insufferable at all. It's honest. And that is what makes it absolutely perfect.

Don't forget about the beautiful illustrations that show Portland exactly as it was, that one week in January 2001. The two-page spread of the bridges is my favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review. This review will be cross-posted to social media platforms closer to the publication date.