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"...but is considering a job at a hedge fund..." (191)

Hedge fund (n.)- a limited partnership of investors that uses high risk methods, such as investing with borrowed money, in hopes of realizing large capital gains.

My friend works at a hedge fund; his office is really large and the company is super rich.

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"Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe it really is a fantastic way to gain valuable, real-world skills... but it worries me. I want to watch Shloe's movies and I want to see Mark's musicals... Maybe I'm ignorant and idealistic... I feel like we can do something really cool to this world." (200)

Keegan's tone in this is yearning. She wants her generation to do more, and to not fit into the mold of an average world. She sees the passions and ideals of her friends, but then, when she talks to them, she realizes that they're all settling for something less. This mindset seems to pervade every student at Yale, and she doesn't understand why it's happening. The students at her school are the best and teh brightest of the world, but they're all just going to average professions because they want to be realistic and make a living for themselves. However, Keegan sees the potential they have, and she doesn't understand why they aren't pursuing their real passions. This last paragraph conveys her emotions toward this subject perfectly. This story relates to the lives of adolescents everywhere today. It seems that nobody is going after what they want, and everyone is just settling for mediocrity. It has become more about the money you make than the passions you have, even at the high school level. Kids are losing their desires and hopes sooner and sooner, and it's heartbreaking to see. Keegan illustrates this perfectly in her story, and again, readers see that she is touching on a global issue even by just talking about her own life.

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"Nineteen years later, I lie on my too-big New Haven bed, aimless and sleepless... I think back tot he M&Ms and the sleepover snacks... When I'm pregnant, I think, I'll just eat boiled rice." (166-167)

The fiction section is especially personal in this collection. Keegan reflects on her life a lot, teaching readers about her regrets, childhood memories, and more. The story about Celiac disease was especially interesting because of her mindset about it. I liked seeing the struggle of having to assure others that it was no big deal and actually dealing with the impact it had on her life. I especially liked the way her relationship with her mother was weaved into this story. I thought the dynamic between her mom and her was very real and relatable to families everywhere. The idea of "unconditional love" was shown really well here, and even though there was no dire situation presented, I think this story showed the love of a mother perfectly, as well as the naivety of children. Her mom had done everything possible to make her childhood as perfect as possible, but she never appreciated or understood her mom's efforts. In the last lines of this story, Keegan realizes that she would make the same type of sacrifices for her future child. Keegan shows how much more her mom cares about her body than she does throughout the story, emphasizing the care her mom put into her diet plan and how she neglected to keep it going after she left for college. I think this is a perfect way to end the story because it shows how the tables are turning. Keegan is growing up, and she realizes that she will soon have a child. She can finally appreciate her mother's efforts, and in this, the story comes full circle at the end.

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"Things were different after that. We became suspicious of each other, of all two-person conversations" (135)

The last story in the "Fiction" section of this novel follows the same path as the other stories. I think it's amazing that Keegan is able to connect all of the stories with a unifying theme: a moment that changes one's perspective. This is present from the first story about death to this one, and it's an interesting message. Especially since these short stories were not written with the intention of being strung together in a novel, it's interesting to see that Keegan really focused in on this theme in all of her writing. She uses it in many different ways, and I think this one is the most direct out of all of them, as she specifically states how they were suspicious of each other. In other stories, the message is more buried. She tells this same story from different perspectives, such as looking back at a moment that changed one's life.

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"As for me, I didn't know what I wanted... my professional ambitions were still switching with the channels of my illegal downloads" (38)

Keegan perfectly spells out the struggles of millennials in this story. She shows the directionless fear that comes from that, and how they ignore this problem. There's a lot about drinking, illegal downloads, and smoking in this story, which shows that the kids are looking for a distraction from their responsibilities and adulthood, which is coming rapidly at them. In this day and age, where people are gradually gaining more freedom with regards to what they want to do and how they want to live their lives, this is a common emotion felt by adolescents. There are too many opportunities, and people are expected to make their decisions about their profession that they will go into for their whole life at the ripe age of eighteen. This is shocking, as they are barely adults, and they are making one of the most important decisions of their lives. This leads to the use of alcohol and drugs to distract themselves. Keegan's story personifies the struggles of all teenagers, even though she focuses on a fictional character. She touches on truths that are relevant today.

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"Parts of my life began falling of, forming an eclectic debris that dribbled gradually into every corner.." (144)

Eclectic (adj.)- deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

The eclectic menu offered cuisine from 50 different countries!

"There's no echolocation on land." (155)

Echolocation (n.)- the ability to use sound waves to determine the location of objects.

Bats use echolocation because they are blind.

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"It was pitiable, pathetic, but I wanted him to come. Wanted him there, badly, to see me and Emma and understand that this was hard but that I wanted it." (120)

This is one of my favorite stories in the Fiction part of the book because I think it highlights the idea of "what could've been" so well. Especially with the backstory that Keegan gave the main character, it's heart wrenching to see her pine over Julian twenty years after their relationship. This quote perfectly sums up how it feels to regret something. She wants him to see that she's happier without him, even though that is not the case, and she recognizes that it is pathetic. So many people feel this way when they are in similar situations (but not to the same magnitude, as Audrey has quite a history of regret with Julian). It's amazing how people can hold on to emotions so intensely even after so much time has passed, and this story conveys that message perfectly. Even more, the irony that Keegan brings to the story with the adoption of Emma makes readers feel even worse for Audrey, while at the same time relating to her. I think this story makes people reflect on their own lives, even though Audrey's situation is not very common.

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"I looked at him aghast, hurt, shut behind walls" (79)

aghast (adj.)- filled with horror or shock

I watched aghast as I watched the main character get killed in the horror movie.

"Supermarkets had the same effect- a type of pressure from the plaster above and the linoleum below" (104)

linoleum (n.)- a material consisting of a canvas backing thickly coated with a preparation of linseed oil and powdered cork, used especially as a floor covering.

The new house had linoleum floors.

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"I've wondered sometimes if things would have turned out differently if I hadn't seen him turn the die". (80)

I think this quote is interesting because everyone has moments in their life that compromises their beliefs and opinions. In this story, the narrator sees her boyfriend cheat in Yahtzee, and it makes her very uncomfortable. She states that she could have never done something like that because it was morally wrong. However, she did not say anything because she loved Danny. Witnessing him cheating in the game so "easily" changed her entire opinion about him, and it revealed a side of him that she had never seen before. Even though she was shocked, she didn't say anything about it, and kept it to herself for years. I think we all have moments like this, and Keegan does an amazing job relating her short stories to readers, and I like that many of the stories focus on a moment that changes the main character's views.

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"The Opposite of Loneliness" by Marina Keegan has been on my to-read shelf for a while now, but I never had time to start it. In fact, I almost started reading another book, and I didn't know this book was "non-fiction", as it has some fiction parts. However, I'm very excited to continue reading it, and it's really good so far. I love all the essays, and I think she has really great messages woven into her stories. Overall, I'm excited to read more of her work in the coming weeks!

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"...complain about Brian and the vigil and his death" (23)

vigil (n.)- a period of keeping awake during the time usually spent asleep, especially to keep watch or pray.

I stayed up until 3 a.m. in a vigil of staring at the moon.

"Knew because her saggy breasts and varicose veins..." (64)

varicose veins (n.)- veins that have become enlarged and twisted, often with age.

The old lady's varicose veins showed when she reached for the peanut butter.

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"How was I feeling? How were we all supposed to be feeling? What did Brian's death say about our generation? The ephemeral nature of life? The need to cherish? I gave up on profundity and tried to write honestly." (26)

Keegan's novel is formed by many short stories, all with different plots and characters. This quote is from her first essay, "Cold Pastoral", and I think the way that Claire feels through the ordeal of Brian's death exemplifies how many millennials feel throughout their adolescence. She constantly feels like she isn't enough, and she can never really let her true feelings into the world. Even when Brian dies, she feels self-conscious, and this is heightened when she reads Brian's diary. In this quote, readers see her, again, struggling with the image she wants to put forth into the world. She's looking for a deeper meaning in his death, and this happens after she finds out about his journal. She isn't comfortable with speaking at his funeral, and doesn't feel like she deserves it, so she tries to hide her own emotions by focusing on artificial "themes" that could be discovered through his death. I think a lot of us try to hide our self-doubt, and Keegan's essay shows this perfectly.