I’m fine. Honestly! Great, actually. Never better!! Sure. Because nothing signals that you’re absolutely not fine quite like those moments you insist that you are. We’ve all been there, using ‘fine’ as a response to those times when you’re overwhelmed with work and someone mentions creating yet another ‘deck’; when your diary is full for the next week but your social battery is already at zero; when you’re stuck next to a load of couples at dinner and you have to recount HOW FUNNY it was that your last date was with someone so insecure that you had to reassure them that they had plenty of time to still ‘make it’ as an actor, so yes, you’re still single.
That’s the thing with modern-day existential crises – they creep up on you like sudden hangovers you get after drinking two glasses of wine on a Tuesday post-turning 30. You don’t see them coming, but thanks to the very real stresses of everyday living in 2025 – the broken economy, the deeply worrying political climate and the looming terror of the actual climate crisis, to name just a few – these ‘minor’ everyday incidents are the unassuming straw that broke the poor, tired, just-trying-to-get-by camel’s back.
If you’re in this emotional boat – fear not. Here, we’ve brought together five reads that might make you feel a little better about your situation. Because while adulting does often feel like you’re trying to quell a raging fire with watering can, at least your life is (hopefully) not as wild, weird and, well, worrying as what’s going on in these stories...
1. All Fours by Miranda July
Where to start describing this story? It’s got a complicated, often unlikable middle-aged protagonist contemplating her mortality (and menopause); a nuanced depiction of a marriage in decline; a passionate yet (technically) unconsummated affair; polyamory and, um, the extensive redecoration of a motel room. It’s a midlife crisis novel like no other – subversive, unexpected and endlessly thought-provoking
2. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
A poignant tale about bereavement, brotherhood and romantic relationships, following beautifully flawed brothers Peter and Ivan after the death of their father. Peter is a successful lawyer in his thirties, but in his grief, he’s juggling relationships with two different women and medicating himself to sleep. Ivan is a socially self-conscious competitive chess player in his twenties who thinks of himself as the antithesis of his slick elder brother. In the weeks following his father’s death, Ivan starts a relationship with a woman nearly 15 years older than him, who is emerging from her own life’s challenges. For both brothers and the people closest to them, this is a period of love, loss and new beginnings.
3. Kim Jiyoung Born, 1982 by Cho Nam-ju
“The novel that inspired the feminist 4B movement in South Korea, which is based on four principles: Bihon (no to heterosexual marriage), Bichulsan (no to childbirth), Biyeonae (no to dating) and Bisekseu (no to heterosexual sexual relationships). Layer by layer, this book reveals how the daily experiences of sexism, inequality and misogyny send a successful young woman into a state of psychosis. One for anyone grappling with the existential crisis that comes with navigating a society that still hasn’t fully reckoned with gender equality, and questioning whether it’s just you – or the world.
4. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Cyrus Shams is a recovering addict and poet obsessed with death. Little wonder, when we find out that before his father moved them to the US from Iran, his mother was killed when the US military accidentally shot down an Iranian passenger plane. His search for identity and a belief system – explored through faith, heritage and the clash of cultures – provokes deep questions, leaving you equally frustrated and fascinated by Cyrus’ quest. It’s like nothing else you’ll have read before and captures that space where you’re caught between the past and present, desperately searching for purpose in a world that seems to offer none.
5. The Girls by Emma Cline
Luckily, not all teenage angst leads to joining a murderous cult, but the sinister undertow of this evocative novel lies in the real-life Manson family of the 1960s. A dark twist on a classic coming of age story, it’s for anyone reassessing their life or struggling to find their place on this planet, and who can take some comfort in the fact that they haven’t gone as far as this to find it.
