The 6th Floor Blog: What Is It About 20-Something Books?

Among the Top 10 most-viewed stories on nytimes.com for all of 2010 was an article from the magazine titled "What Is It About 20-Somethings?" The story was about the concept, popularized by a psychology professor named Jeffrey Arnett, of "emerging adulthood," which, depending on your point of view, seemed either a sympathetic term for the struggles particular to early adulthood or academic-speak for mooching off your parents for way too long. The article caught fire — it was on the most-e-mailed list for weeks and much discussed in other publications — and now its author, the contributing writer Robin Marantz Henig, along with her daughter, Samantha Henig, have expanded the idea into a book published today: "Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?" (If the name Samantha Henig is familiar, it's because she is the magazine's peerless Web editor, a contributor to this blog and a 20-something herself.)

"Twentysomething" explores what is different, and not so different, about being in your 20s today and dealing with love, education, career, childbearing, etc. But what is especially engaging is the give and take between mother and daughter. Robin and Samantha address each other directly (and amusingly settle a few old scores along the way), which makes you feel as if you have been allowed to attend a literate, lively and surprisingly honest family dinner, which, in a way, you have. It's no surprise, then, that one of my favorite chapters is called "Parents as Co-Adults" and describes the close relationships between 20-somethings and their parents. May we all be as close as Robin and Samantha.