Ten years ago, Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, was one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the world. It was the heyday of hipster culture and this neighborhood of coffee shops, vintage shops and art studios was the headquarters. Now the soul of Williamsburg is gone: old warehouses gave way to shiny tower blocks, the vintage stores gave way to chain stores and two-income houses took the place of hipsters.
Williamsburg’s gentrification represents something bigger: city life is becoming more monotonous. Those who make the city an exciting place – the artists, creatives and birds of paradise – can no longer afford the rising rents and are leaving the neighborhood. City life feels more and more raked. Why would you still want to live in the city?
Fortunately, books by young authors are emerging that show how exciting city life can be, even in the age of gentrification and the following unit sausage.
Love in the big city (2021) by Sang Young Park is about the wild life of a millennial in Seoul. Disturbed roommates, bad dates, alcohol-soaked nights and a broken heart: Young describes his messy twenties in the Korean metropolis in a funny and moving way.
In Change: method (2022) the French writer Édouard Louis describes how he wrestles himself from the very poor and desolate working-class environment of his youth and climbs up into the decadent world of the Parisian elite with the necessary imitative behavior.
What is it like to leave the city life behind? outdoor living (2022) by Nina Polak is about a young writer from the creative class who leaves Amsterdam with her friend for the Groningen countryside. The silence turns out to be oppressive, the hoped-for creativity does not materialize and then there is also a cunning TV psychiatrist who squeezes into the couple’s life.
Sang Young Park: Love in the big city. That Mag. 274 pp., €22.50.
Edouard Louis: Change: method. The Busy Bee, 240 pp., €22.99.
Nina Polak: outdoor living. Prometheus, 240 pages, €20.99