Review: Twenty-One Years Young by Amy Dong

Rating: 4.7/5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars on Goodreads

In the introduction, Amy Dong extends an invitation that imbues a sense of community into the collection at-large and deeply resonates with me:

“In my own essays, I want my stories to set the stage for someone else’s scenes. I ask that my readers fill in the gaps with their own lines and props and characters. My life is not as significant as I sometimes make it out to be, but my feelings are universal–”

–Amy Dong, Twenty-One Years Young, p. 14

It is this appeal to the universal within the stunning rendering of specificity that makes Twenty-One Years Young such an enthralling collection. As Amy Dong is unabashedly vulnerable in her storytelling, I feel safer in embracing my own narratives as I reminisce and lean into my continuing coming of age.

Each essay feels complete and infinite threads could be woven between the works in this collection. It is difficult to choose a favorite essay, but I’ll briefly reflect on one I particularly enjoy: “It Takes A Village.” As Amy Dong describes her time in Ghana, specifically Woadtze Tsatoe in the Volta region, I couldn’t help but feel a complex wave of nostalgia and alienation for the same part of the world. I laugh aloud when she depicts bargaining in the village markets because I emotionally identified with the uncertainty of that experience. I’ve been to Ghana twice so far and spent time in the Volta region once. My ties to that place are ancestral, but dark and twisted histories have left me estranged from these roots. I can see myself alongside Amy as she notes difference and universality, which is helping me make sense of my own memories.

I have not read many essay collections, but Twenty-One Years Young makes me eager to explore the genre further. I am grateful that in her ever-evolving articulations of her story, Amy Dong encourages those of our generation, and beyond really, to do the same. Here’s to the power of storytelling indeed.