Un:Stuck: Helping Teens and Young Adults Flourish in an Age of Anxiety

Journalist O’Brien (Glow) brings together a muddled array of meditations on motivating young people to adopt a “more gentle, humanistic and integrated way of living.” In the book’s opening and closing essays, she laments how social media has decimated teens’ self-esteem and left them feeling lonely, but her vague recommendation for parents to model healthy behavior avoids the crucial question of what example parents should set. A grab bag of activists, artists, businesspeople, medical professionals, and teachers contribute the rest of the entries, but many feel only tangentially related to the volume’s ostensible focus on supporting young people. For instance, Ryan Dusick describes how he became a therapist after suffering from depression and addiction during his stint as the founding drummer of Maroon 5, but the essay has little to do with the difficulties most young people face besides a tacked-on suggestion to “stay open to change.” There are a few highlights, such as Native American scholar Mindahi Bastida’s moving letter to his daughter calling on her to rediscover the importance of community and living in harmony with nature. More typical, however, is “commercial foreign policy” entrepreneur Ed Olver’s cliché-ridden plea for readers to “listen to your heart” and “express your authentic Self.” This comes up short. (Jan.)