Bridie Jabour is the author of the novel The Way Things Should Be, published as My Not So Functional Family in the UK. She is the opinion editor of Guardian Australia.
Today, Bridie Jabour is on the blog to answer a few questions about her new non-fiction book, Trivial Grievances, an oddly optimistic, witty and insightful generation-defining book for the miserable millennials. Read on …
Bridie Jabour (Photo by Anna Turner).
Please tell us about your book, Trivial Grievances!
BJ: Trivial Grievances has turned out to be a funny little book. It’s memoir, it’s journalism, a little philosophy, sometimes quite funny (I think anyway). What started as a book about the misery of being in your early 30s turned into a book about the joys of an ordinary life.
Why was it important to you to write this book?
BJ: I think I used it as a process to work through my own existential crisis, and it actually worked! The more I spoke to people the more I realised how universal the feelings of inadequacy, time slipping away and constant questioning of our lives are. The viral article I wrote for the Guardian had such a massive response from people that I thought it was important to try to give them a book that a) made them feel less alone b) helped them be happier.
Speaking of that Guardian article from 2019, do you think that the things you observed there still ring true in 2021?
BJ: Very much so. The article I wrote was about people getting to their early 30s and questioning their entire lives – are they with the right partner? Living in the right city? In the right job? Are they happy? It was a phenomenon when I wrote about it in 2019 and I think the past 18 months has made it much more acute, and not contained to just people in their 30s.
What do you think sets millennials apart from other generations?
BJ: I swing back and forth on the usefulness of generational categories, there are so many other things that define a person’s life – class and race in particular. I think generational categories can be a blunt instrument but at the same time there is something that unites people who are roughly the same age, and have been defined by the same world and national events; changes in parenting; societal change. I think millennials have come of age in a pretty unique set of economic and social circumstances and it has had a big effect on the collective psyche.
Did writing this book change your perspective on millennial life at all? What’s the most surprising thing you learned?
BJ: Yes and no. I had the creeping feeling for a while we were not as unique as we sometimes think and that was certainly proven!
‘I think generational categories can be a blunt instrument but at the same time there is something that unites people who are roughly the same age, and have been defined by the same world and national events.’
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey towards becoming a writer?
BJ: I have the very familiar story of being a book-obsessed kid who was always writing something. At the end of high school I won a scholarship/cadetship at the Gold Coast Bulletin and Bond University, which changed my life. For years I was writing journalism while reading a novel a week and then in my late 20s decided to give writing a novel a go myself. Since then I have switched between, editing, commentary, features and books, often all at once!
What is the last book you read and loved?
BJ: There are two. Intimacies by Lucy Caldwell is a series of short stories by an Irish writer. They blew me away. I don’t usually read short stories, Intimacies is about having little kids, parenting, the human condition, everything.
Black and Blue by Veronica Gorrie is a memoir about being an Aboriginal police officer and also, in general, being Black in Australia. It deals with so much, on one page I was weeping, on the next I was cackling, Veronica has such a compelling voice and is a gifted writer.
What do you hope readers will discover in Trivial Grievances?
BJ: A fellow traveller.
And finally, what’s up next for you?
BJ: Swimming in the ocean, long walks, dinner, watching TV on the couch, return to work, my baby’s first birthday, and amongst all that, the seeds have been planted for another book.
Thanks Bridie!
—Trivial Grievances by Bridie Jabour (HarperCollins Australia) is out now.
Trivial Grievances
On the contradictions, myths and misery of your 30s
In 2019, Bridie Jabour wrote a piece for the Guardian about the malaise of millennials and how the painful, protracted end of their adolescence is finally hitting home. They're looking at their lives and thinking: 'Is this it? Have I chosen the right place to live, the right job, the right partner? Am I, perhaps, not as special as I thought?'
The article went viral overnight and Bridie decided the time had come to write a book about her generation - those much-maligned millennials...
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