When researching the traits that represent millennials, it was difficult to find results that did not present them in the contextAustin tagged ten millennial heroines in fiction, all of whom Gilda would care about deeply. One entry on the list:of work, [Austin writes in the Guardian]. Our characteristics seem to be defined by how we are as employees, which speaks volumes. Like many millennial heroines, Gilda [in Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead] struggles to work. This is not because she is lazy or entitled, but because it is difficult to wake up in the morning and go to a job when you are mentally ill, acutely aware of things like climate change, and concerned that somehow everyone around you is simultaneously both insignificant and incredibly important. Despite being deeply anxious and depressed, Gilda is hopeful.
Reese from Detransition, Baby by Torrey PetersRead about another millennial heroine on the list.
Reese has always wanted to be a mother, but that’s difficult because she is trans and because her long-term girlfriend, Amy, also trans, has detransitioned. They have now broken up and Amy is living as a man named Ames. Ames has been sleeping with his boss, Katrina, and Katrina is accidentally pregnant. Faced now with fatherhood – a component of living as a man that is especially incompatible with Ames’s true self – Ames reconnects with Reese to propose she help parent. Reese stands out as a smart, complex millennial heroine in an insightful, intelligent, and affecting story.
--Marshal Zeringue
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