Five days after graduating from Yale, the writer Marina Keegan was killed in a car accident. Her final essay (from which this posthumously published book takes its title), which scrupulously described the feelings of fear, uncertainty and hope associated with graduating from university, went viral. In light of Keegan’s death, her hopeful words are tinged with tragedy: “We’re so young. We’re so young. We’re twenty-two years old. We have so much time.” Her writing is exceptionally mature, but she does not shy away from her youthfulness. A trusting honesty – of fears about the future, about the world (“I worry sometimes that humans are afraid of helping humans”), about herself (“I’m so jealous … Everyone else is so successful”) – permeates every story and essay. While her fiction is astute and affecting, non-fiction is where she shines. She finds pathos and beauty in unlikely places: the memories of her old car, the life of a pest exterminator, her allergy to gluten. Despite her short life and limited literary output, Keegan’s legacy – her wisdom, optimism, her faith in people – will be far-reaching.
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