Broke Babe in a Basement: Essays about surviving on amphetamines and optimism in NYC

Thus begins Carson McKenna's memoir about her second go-round in Brooklyn. The year is 2017, and the neighborhood is Bushwick. She's arrived with $450 in her pocket and one suitcase crammed with second-hand clothes. She is moving into a window-less basement, optimistic that this will be the place where she finishes her novel. Bushwick seems to be the neo hub of the starving artist: everyone there is trendy, boho, and squalid. The guys here are different: "they all had bodies like wet cigarettes. They were here to make sculptures, drink matcha lattes with oat milk, and sell coke. They ignored me like they ignored the fact that Trump was president." While male validation has always been her favorite drug-"even more so than whiskey and Adderall"-Carson ignores them right back, choosing celibacy in the name of her art.

In an era when everyone is getting married, mortgaged, or promoted, Carson yearns for someone to experience her squalor with. Soon enough, her wish is granted: a beautiful friend arrives to share the basement with her. They become conjoined twins, embracing their inner poverty on as many drinks as their paltry wallets permit. But, above the never-ending laugh-track, the concerned whispers of friends and family back home grow louder: is this friend taking advantage? Is she a squatter...or a scammer...

In Volume II, Carson takes us back to 2015, on her first go-round in NYC. She's come to make it in the merciless world of Manhattan real estate. Life was much different then: she's fresh off her reign as the "frat queen" of student housing, with several commission checks feathering her bank account. Add that to the family money she's recently inherited, and you could understand how easily she believes she'll be "condo queen McCorcoran" next. But even with her unfailing optimism, a straight-laced new mentor in a suit, and her beloved Adderall, Carson finds herself deep in the red. "Commission only" work is very cruel to her nest egg indeed. Meanwhile, she daydreams about breaking free to do the thing least conducive to her new lifestyle: write her novel. But she'll have to hit rock bottom before she can even pick up her pen.

Fast-paced and breathless, this is an essay collection for anyone who's ever hustled for a more charmed existence. Replete with metaphors and nonstop millennial references, this ultimately hopeful tale will show us all how to come out okay on the other side.