Editorial Reviews
This collection is the voice of the post-college, pre-parenting, quasi-adult limbo demographic. . . . This book is chock-full of engaging one-sitting reads, so leave it in the bathroom—next to the spent toilet paper roll.
Funny, innocent essays . . . The collection includes work from 24 writers, many of them luminaries to the young and Craigslisting, such as Sarah Vowell, Sasha Cagen (Quirkyalone), and Shoshana Berger (ReadyMade).
SF Weekly
The best counterattack for young adults sick of being labeled by older people (Generations X and Y, slackers, etc.) is to write about themselves, minus the catchall labels. . . . This amusing, I’ve-been-there collection has essays by an interesting assemblage of writers, from Sarah Vowell and Thomas Beller to Anna Chlumsky, Found magazine’s Davy Rothbart and Hutton’s fellow Minnesota Monthly writer Tim Gihring.
The Star Tribune
Before the Mortgage is filled with those pre-picket fencers who can laugh at themselves and then still learn from their mistakes. They know the only way to truly know who to love, what to do, and where to live is to realize you are not alone and go for it. This is not a book filled with advice; it is a book filled with comfort.
Advance Praise
A road map for the times when you’re not going anywhere. If I’d had this book back in the day, my lean and hungry years wouldn’t have been so miserable. What am I saying? Of course they would have been miserable. But at least I would’ve had a good book.
Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events
Read this well-done, funny, brutal collection of stories about young adulthood, and you will actually look forward to being a middle-aged suburban sell-out.
Rodney Rothman, author of Early Bird and former head writer for The Late Show with David Letterman
A great collection about those strange, confusing, slightly uncomfortable, exhilirating days. I laughed and I cringed. It almost made me want a ‘chore wheel’ again.
Beth Lisick, author of Everybody into the Pool
Unflinching and hilarious, Before the Mortgage is mandatory reading for people of any age who’ve ever wondered if they are ill-equipped to live an adult life.
Laine Bergeson, Utne magazine
Reviews for the Zine
Before the Mortgage is clever, but not in a clever-pretentious way. Each slim, readable essay is packed with insightful essays, astute observations, and amusing sidebar titles like ‘Best Way to Make a New Friend,’ ‘It Was Over Before It Started When . . . ,’ and ‘Wintertime Snack: Budget S’Mores.’ A great look at life pre-responsibility.
Bitch magazine
BTM tackles the post-college lifer who refuses to succumb to yuppie-dom. An interesting read into childhood memories and present-day trials as experienced by your contemporaries.
Punk Planet
A witty zine packed with well-observed essays, aimed at the twentysomething set.
Utne
Yip dogs and Git Down and Mazel Tov, it’s Fucking Great!
Neal Karlen, Rolling Stone writer
