Book review: Green Dot by Madeline Gray

Green Dot is really making me feel old … and maybe a little judgmental.

I started off absolutely loving the story and narrator as she had her first encounter with office work.

Her descriptions of the office, her co-workers and her job were hilarious (and definitely reminded me of some of my experiences in an office).

What was less light and funny was her relationship with an unhappily married colleague, which is the central theme of the book.

While I loved the insights into the generational gap between the two, I found their behaviour difficult to swallow.

I began to hate both characters, and hate the situation as well. Both characters were utterly selfish and difficult to empathise with as they went to increasingly grim lengths to spend together.

Does this mean that I’m getting old and judgmental? Maybe. The older I get, the more frustrated I feel about 20-something characters’ angst.

But then I remember how angsty I was at that age. How important each relationship – whether romantic or a friendship – felt. How big every decision seemed. How critical every night out or conversation was to the big, unknown future. How love seemed so big, even when it was really quite small. And I get it.

What’s more, I love how funny and self-aware writers like Madeline Gray are. They get that they’re sometimes being melodramatic and that their characters’ behaviour is unlikeable. They’re not afraid to poke fun at their own generation, along with those that came before them.

I laughed out loud while reading Queenie, a similar book about the travails of a 20-something. Same with Such a Fun Age.

And while Sally Rooney’s characters might be self-obsessed at times, they are also so relatable.

Ultimately, this was a funny, exasperating, smart and very readable story that challenged me to put aside my Gen X prejudices and enjoy the ride.