Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Surviving Gen X tells the story of an unnamed narrator and the turbulent adventures/exploits he endures as he navigates Las Vegas in the 90s. The author is fearless and unsparing, resulting in a book that makes Less Than Zero seem like Goodnight Moon.
Prose: The author's prose is a deft guide through this heartbreaking and darkly hilarious novel. However, several chapters read as a stream of consciousness, which some readers might find confusing.
Originality: This is a singular novel penned by an author who avoids obvious tropes and cliches in favor of authentic character development and unexpected humor with heart.
Character/Execution: Szewczyk has a knack for making the reader care about his characters, a good trick given that many of them do or say unpleasant things. The narrator is cynical but not callous, ruthless but not heartless, and has a soberly hilarious way of describing his topsy-turvy life.
Date Submitted: July 17, 2024
At its core, Szewczyk’s pointedly bad-mannered novel challenges hypocrisy, the rise of the “politically correct,” and the “con” of religion—Annie’s faith, the narrator reports, is an “impossibly twisted thing” that “grew inside of her over a period of time in the sole hope of taking over and killing her.” His bottom line is freedom, especially in matters of the heart. He fiercely advocates for a woman's right to exit a relationship that lays its foundation in abuse, and, confronting Tad's homophobia, questions the categorization of gayness as a sin. "His crime was love," he asserts.
Szewczyk details sex and sexuality in raw, often darkly comic language, and he urges readers to bring an open mind to this "blemished and true" Vegas snapshot. Szewczyk's prose pivots from literary fineness to defiantly filthy as Surviving Gen X surveys a tragic hedonistic world, where people treat sex like a disposable commodity that often blockades the way to true love. While the narrative occasionally objectifies women, referring to them as a mere "thing" and using repulsive bodily descriptions, it offers insight into the prevalence of sexist mindsets.
Takeaway: Raw, wild, proudly shocking fiction of 1990s Vegas life.
Comparable Titles: John O’Brien’s Leaving Las Vegas, John Gregory Dunne’s Vegas: Memoir of a Dark Season.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
