What A Time To Be Alive by Jenny Mustard

Sickan moves to Stockholm for university and tries to reinvent herself, leaving behind bullies from school and neglectful parents. Her friendship with Hanna and relationship with Abbe are fraught with difficulty yet joyous at times, as she tries to find herself in her new world.

Excellent writing although disturbing at times - I really wanted to hug Sickan sometimes and found some parts of the book upsetting, for example the bullying in school and her parents' indifference. I was rooting for Sickan all along, even when I could foresee that she hadn't made the best decisions/choices, and the book ends on an optimistic note. Very highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I don't know what drew me to What A Time to Be Alive by Jenny Mustard, but I'm glad I decided to request an early reading copy ahead of its advance next month. I hadn't read Mustard before but there's something really offbeat and charming about the style, and while it is very dark in places, it's very easy and enjoyable to read.

Mustard uses a close first person narration style to tell Sickan's story, of her life in university in Stockholm. Sickan has always felt out of place, from her isolated childhood amid well meaning but preoccupied academic parents, to her misery at the hands of bullies in school, to the anonymous liaisons with older men. University is a chance to start afresh, and she is determined to fit in and make friends, no matter the cost or what she has to change or hide to do so.

The friend she makes is unlikely - Hanna is even more odd than Sickan, but very happily so - and Sickan is both drawn to and wary of her, especially as she finds Abbe and begins to fall in love for the first time. Meanwhile, being the best student in her computer science course becomes far less important than maintaining the friendships she has started to make and monitoring her own behaviour and those around her for conformity and palatability.

In a lot of ways this reminded me of elements of Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine or Convenience Store Woman, though while there are very dark elements I found the book in general to be more hopeful, and I really did root for Sickan. i admittedly did feel it lost steam after a while, and I did briefly leave the book aside to read something else, but I also just think this is natural when I've read so many lonely-girl-at-university, coming of age books, but I can see my younger self really enjoying this, and it will definitely find lots of readers who will love it.

See I don't check my email often - my job doesn't depend on it🤷. But every now and then, I clear out the useless ones. And that’s how I stumbled upon Hachette’s email offering me early access to Ms. Mustard’s second book… a full ten days after they sent it. I'm cringing so much rn because I told the nice lady who sent me the link that I loved her 😭.
I'm an Okay Days (her first book) enthusiast so What a time to be alive was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025. And it did not disappoint 🥰.
I like Jenny's narration. Maybe people will say it's Rooney-esque but I've not read Rooney yet so I don't know.
This is a coming of age book about our protagonist leaving the past behind and looking forward to a newer, fresher life in college in Stockholm after a not so enjoyable past in Skåne. About the people she meets, friends she makes, places she visits, handling and exploring emotions.She tries to construct a life that's the opposite of what she's lived till now brick by brick to fit in and to never have to suffer exclusion.
The past is told in periodic flashbacks and we get to know little by little why Sickan is the way she is.Basically being young and newly independent with a chance for fresh starts.
Side note:
While I understand she sees Hanna as someone who is weirder than her, who's being unapologetically herself and is in awe of her inviting ridicule when all her life she's worked hard to be the opposite of it , it breaks my heart every time she thinks negative things about her best friend, of all people. Especially the ones involving physical appearance. I know it's projection, like why would you want to stand out in a not so good way when I was bullied my whole life for it.But still beh.(I know it's part of the book, it's shown as flawed in the book also, and it was addressed later.Just makes me sad)
Loved this book, really dug the vibes. But did I like it more than Okay Days?  probably not.

This moved me a lot more than I expected.

It’s such a relatable, coming of age story I was shocked by how bereft I felt to be leaving Siv behind by the end.

Siv is a young woman from a small town in Sweden studying in Stockholm. She was bullied as a child, never fitted in, doesn’t know how to make friends and her parents are distant.

This is the story of her time at university and her friendships and relationships as she learns who she is.

It sounds like nothing and maybe it is, but seeing her development by the end, her growth and her realisations about herself really took me by surprise.

I’m a sucker for a messy young woman trope but this feels more nuanced than that.

It’s a 4.5 for me and I hope this becomes huge. A book I’ll remember for a long time.

An introspective account of young adult Sickan who has moved from her home town to university in Stockholm.
For me the story seemed to be about Sickan’s reflections on her life up until this point, and her search for an identity. She seemed to have made some sort of peace with that by the end but it was hard work getting to that point as a reader. I did have flashes of really getting on with this story but then the weird time narratives were confusing and made me frustrated. Also there was nothing really to root for so left me meh by the end.
Formatting on kindle was a nightmare too.

Jenny Mustard’s What a Time to Be Alive is the weird girl coming-of-age story I’ve been craving—part messy friendship drama, part introspective existential meltdown. Sickan Hermansson is the kind of protagonist who simultaneously makes me feel seen and secondhand embarrassment, navigating university life with a level of relatable chaos that’s honestly refreshing. Mustard brilliantly captures the gritty awkwardness of young adulthood, filled with those cringey-but-essential moments that shape who we are (and make us glad we’re no longer 21). The story had me laughing, wincing, and nodding along, especially in the scenes that exposed the brutal absurdity of trying to reinvent yourself. It’s witty, painfully honest, and perfect for anyone who’s ever thought adulthood was just an elaborate joke.I

To be completely honest, this was not for me. I found the writing style to be quite remote and this just wasn’t to my taste. The actual story just didn’t draw me in and I just wasn’t in to this. nothing necessarily bad with it, i guess i just felt a bit underwhelmed

In 2023 I read ‚Okay Days‘ by Jenny Mustard and really loved it! So it was a no brainer to try and get access to the ARC of her newest novel 🤗

Even though the story started out slow, I managed to form some sort of connection to the characters, but just didn’t really fall in love with the whole book. I wasn’t a big fan of the time jumps that were a part of the story, that often confused me and threw me off.

Overall I really liked the writing style, and the book definitely had its moments, but compared with ‚Okay Days‘, I just didn’t connect with this story as much.

I flew through this book so quickly! I really like Mustard's writing, and her characters feel so real. The protagonist in this book felt very relatable and I often had to pause and take a breath because I could pinpoint moments in my own life where similar things had happened.

A really good addition to the ‘sad girl’ genre popularised by Sally Rooney, and a much better read (in my opinion!) than the author’s debut.

i find the premise really enteresting, but tne novel wasn't engaging enough for me personally. i believe fans of Sally Rooney will find it especially good. i really enjoyed the style, so looking forward to the author's third novel.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.

I was so excited when I got this arc to review for What A Time To Be Alive (by Netgalley).
I loved Okay Days and "no-plot-just-vibes" novels in general, so obviously I was looking forward to reading this.
The premise: students in Stockholm trying to find themselves and each other, navigating friendships and relationships.
Sounds like the perfect formula for "no plot, just vibes".

However, I felt like the beginning of the book was too slow. The vibes were off, you might say. We get introduced to Sickan and Hanna, but we don't really get to know them and this phase of nothing happening as well as not realling getting to know the protagonist dragged on until like 50% in.

Halfway through the book, Sickan meets Abbe and they start dating (somewhat), so we do get more plot. Still, the characters felt like strangers while also not behaving like themselves most of the book. Characters would do or say things that made me go "huh? but why? that's so unreasonable and unlike you!".

I also found that the side characters were lacking development, especially Hanna. Maybe this book tried to explore too much (friendship, relationship, parents, school, etc) and didn't do so in the beginning (because the start was so slow), but Hanna should've been given more room to grow.

The last thing that annoyed me has nothing to do with the story itself, but the formatting of the ebook was terrible. This should definitely be fixed before publication!
Phrases would end in the middle and then continue in the next line, even though a line break was not necessary. There were no breaks between actual paragraphs, however. This was extremely confusing, since there was a lot of jumping around space and time, so the reading experience was totally disrupted by reading a couple sentences and only then realising you're in a new setting/situation, because there was no paragraph break to indicate that. Furthermore, the name of the author just randomly appeared in the middle of the text multiple times.

So, it's not like I wasted my time on this book. I also didn't have to force myself to finish it. I didn't enjoy it very much either, so I definitely won't re-read this in the future.

Extremely engrossing account of a 21 year old woman's attempt to reinvent herself and find friends in a new city. Sickan, bullied at school, perceives herself as weird, and studies fashion and trends to make herself appear "normal."
In this coming of age novel Sickan finds ways to earn money, makes a female friend and finds love with Abbe. She also learns acceptance, of herself and her parents, and deals with the end of a romance. "And it seems I have finally learned it, the correct use of niceties and vagaries, the kindness of treating difficult conversations as if easy."
The novel deals with some difficult themes but Sickan's courage and resilience shines through.

I am sorry, but I don't think I am the target audience for this book, although I love literally fiction and coming-of-age stories.

What I liked:

- The text is simple and understandable

- It's very Sally Rooney-ish, so it will receive praise in similar fan communities

- I kinda understand the background of the heroine and why she is like this, but the author should have said more about it

What I didn't like:

- The heroine is privileged and extremely pretentious. She is that person who thinks it's all about her when a girlfriend of hers talks about her sexuality. Also, she is unemotional and flat, so in my opinion badly written

- The novel is unengaging. I didn't notice the inner conflict or culmination, and I have no idea what the author wanted to say with this story. I was very bored and thought about DNFing because it felt like a waste of time

- It's repetitive. Too many similar sex scenes, without any characters or relationship development

- The love relationship is also flat, as the heroes are emotionally unavailable and I couldn't care for them less.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the free arc.

What a Time to Be Alive is a quiet, introspective novel that captures the intensity of first love, heartbreak, and the struggle to define oneself. Jenny Mustard’s writing is simple yet effective, with moments of sharp insight into identity and belonging. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but there’s beauty in its simplicity, and I found several passages deeply relatable. A thoughtful, understated read.

What A Time To Be Alive follows Sickan who is starting university at Stockholm University. She is twenty-one, friendless and unprepared for intimacy. Sickan meets her first friends but also Abbe who wants her. He could be the one to build a relationship.

To be completely honest, this was not for me. I found the writing style to be quite remote and this just wasn’t to my taste. The actual story just didn’t draw me in and I just wasn’t in to this. I think people who enjoy sad girl literary fiction novels could enjoy this. It was okay.

Beautiful take on young womanhood and all that it entails. I think many women both younger and older will relate and reminisce about this very special poignant time in a women’s life.

Sickan has moved to Stockholm to get away from her school bullies and slightly odd academic parents. She wants to reinvent herself. Initially she tries to do this by fitting in but finds it hard.
When she meets a friend she starts to come out of herself and be a little more real.
I found it was a good exploration of how it feels to not fit in and be desperate to be 'normal'
Not much happens really in terms of plot, it's more about the person.

Siv has academic but neglectful parents and had a difficult childhood. She moves to Stockholm to go to university, becomes Sikkan and restarts her life. She meets Hannah who accepts her as she is, and helps her. This is the story of her time at university, and all her new experiences, and how she learns to negotiate life and other people better.
There are chapters which go back to Siv's childhood experiences, these become more painful to read, and I almost gave up with the book after the last one. This is a big contrast to the joyfulness in the chapters about her life in Stockholm.
I enjoyed the writing style, and the character of Sikkan.

I adored this. I love the backdrop of Stockholm, I think most of these contemporary / millennial / coming of age stories I have read have been based in the UK so it gave a fresh take to the overall story. I loved Sickan, even though she was hopeless and would probably drive me insane if I knew her in real life.