I can’t believe I am starting off this year with my second local read! As someone who used to not take interest in reading local books, this is extremely exciting. Many POC readers I know are slowly trying to read more racially inclusive books, I hope to do so too.

Today’s review is a book written by 50 (or more) Gen Zs about their generation. It’s a book that is for Gen Z-ers and other generations as well. It’s different from the usual books I usually read but why not give something new a try?

While reading this (very educational yet dense book), I had to juggle some other books in between since this was unbearably heavy. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t bad, but it’s definitely not a book to read for a few days straight. However, that’s my personal take. I’m sure others have enjoyed it more than I did.

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What’s the Tea with Gen Z
by G.Z. Manuel

get it here

BOOK SUMMARY

“During my time …”

“Your generation has it easier”

Sounds familiar? At some point of time, we were all once at a place where we wanted to voice out but were always suppressed to do so. Now, we live in a different environment and a whole new society. We want our voices to be heard, thoughts to be considered and understood. Is that too much to ask for as ‘kids nowadays’? We don’t want demands but instead, a mutual relationship with each other. Sometimes it is hard to take the first step into understanding one another because we all give in to our ego.

Here is a personal guidebook for you to understand our world as we reveal who we are as a generation. From how we think to what we say, what we stand for and why we do so. We have evolved in many different ways compared to those older than us. Oftentimes, our generations don’t seem to understand each other. That is why we have gathered everything you need to know about us, Gen Z.

BOOK REVIEW

4 STARS
*An e-copy was given in exchange for an honest review.

I had very mixed feelings about this book. It’s interesting, factual and educational, yet I wanted to DNF it 3 times.

This is filled cover to cover with information about Gen Z. From the differences of Gen Z and other generations, their goals, interest, beliefs, culture and habits, it’s a book that can help other generations learn about Gen Z and help the Gen Zs to them learn about themselves.

I deeply appreciate the amount of research done on the topic. With a great chunk of this book talking about the pandemic, it’s very likely that it was written in the span of less than 10 months. It’s educational and detailed and inspirational.

There were parts I enjoyed reading and really felt inspired by it. There were also parts that were difficult to read, because of minor reasons such as the tone and the many different topics. It’s very text heavy (definitely strange for a reader to say) and it felt overwhelming, which made me want to DNF it often. In terms of design, it had minor but glaring issues such as the space between the page number and the edge, and the thick strip of colour that became an illusion to the center of the page. It’s definitely because of the format the book was presented in but it took away from the enjoyment of reading for me.

My favourite parts were on that one chapter explaining how unprocessed trauma from previous generations are passed on, the history of the ‘black code’ and the chapter on creativity. There were many things that I was able to learn through this book, both about understanding Gen Z and myself, which I am sure you will too.