A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking): A Never-Coming-of-Age Story

by Jess H. Gutierrez

Overview

A frank, raucous, and bawdy collection of essays about coming of age through the oddest jobs, misadventures in queer love, and endearing parenting fails

This is a perfect book for a very imperfect generation. Millennials were the kids who wore slap bracelets and jeans so low rise they could see one another's colons, and they are now adults wondering, Is everyone else as messed up as I am?
 
In her book, Jess shares relatable tales of a woman who feels like a dumpster fire even with a seemingly ideal set up with a fire-captain wife, three kids, and a mortgage. Highlights include roller-derby catastrophes, a disastrous first night on the job at a lesbian bar, narrow escapes from wild animals, and fond memories of sending printed thirst-trap photos via mail to the lover in Australia she met on the early Internet. Readers will soon cheerfully discover that Jess’s voice is infectious, her stories are off-the-wall, and her references are deeply and delightfully millennial.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593475072
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/18/2024
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	498,417
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Jess H. Gutierrez is a speaker and former journalist whose work has been published in Northwest Arkansas Times, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Siloam Springs Herald-Leader, and The Free Weekly (Fayetteville, AR). She has earned several awards from the Arkansas Press Association. She also won the fifth-grade spelling bee despite the fact that everyone thought that Crissy Eaton would take the title. She lives in Northwest Arkansas with her firefighter wife who is way cooler than she is, their three wild kids, a surly bulldog named Hank, a cattle-herding Yorkie-poo named Bella, and six chickens who refuse to lay eggs.

Editorial Reviews

Gutierrez’s memoir is tough but sweet, as she relays her often outrageous adventures in a fierce, funny, and ferocious narrative voice…an entertaining and endearing journey.” 
—Kirkus

“Jess Gutierrez has a one-of-a-kind talent for showing how hilarious and absurd life can be—and, lucky reader, she is ready to share her escapades with the rest of us. From reading about a bachelorette party fiasco to dating disasters to trying to parent when your kids seem determined to yell inappropriate things in the middle of a Walmart, I couldn’t put this book down.”
—W. Kamau Bell, comedian and author of The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell

“Gutierrez speaks to me. At times I had to look at the cover of this book to remind myself that I didn’t write it. It’s empowering to not only accept our flaws but to celebrate them. Like Gutierrez, I’m a millennial making things up as I go along, waiting for the day when I’ll finally see myself as a ‘grown up’. Until that day comes, I find solace in knowing there are others like me—those who have imposter syndrome for adulthood and thinking there will be a day when it all finally clicks. I hope it doesn’t happen any time soon because as this book hilariously shows, our way is much more fun.”
—Sona Movsesian, New York Times bestselling author of The World’s Worst Assistant

“A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking) is a once-in-a-millennium millennial must-read. Gutierrez’s quirky and cracking wit leapt off the page and chased me around the room. I'm buying two copies, one for each eye.”
—Karen Duffy, New York Times bestselling author of Model Patient and Wise Up

“Geriatric Kansan cougars, clandestine backwoods-brothel babysitters, cargo-shorted Midwestern butches on cruise ships, and lesbian Arkansawyer parenting antics aplenty. Just read it.”
—Tara Clancy, author of Barnes and Noble Discover Pick The Clancys of Queens

“Filled with embarrassingly relatable stories and irresistible humor, Jess Gutierrez has written a collection of laugh-out-loud essays that overflow with 90s nostalgia. A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking) is for everyone who feels less like a real adult and more like a hot mess. As moms of young children, this is the book we needed to make us feel less alone, and realize that we all have a little dumpster fire mom in us!”
—Comedy writers Laura Lane and Ellen Haun, co-authors of Cinderella and the Glass Ceiling

From the Publisher