Welcome to My Planet: Where
English Is Sometimes Spoken by
Shannon Olson
Encyclopedia Of Shannon
In Welcome to My Planet, the fictional Shannon Olson--who shares her
creators name--is witty but confused, whip-smart but unable to fully
release her ties to bad boyfriends, childhood obsessions, and the gassy
expanse of marginal jobs. With the help of a therapist known only as the
counselor, this almost 30-year-old Midwestern neurotic gamely tries to
steer her way past credit-card-fueled Target binges and a too close
relationship with her mother, Flo, and to slowly inch toward the elusive
land of adulthood. Comparisons to the charming neurotics found in
Bridget Joness Diary and The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing are
inevitable, but beside the point: Shannon is less brittle, less self-
consciously hip than those postmodern heroines. Contemplating living on
her own again after a stint with her parents, she whines to the counselor,
Ive never really lived anywhere else. What if I never find anyone? I may

as well go out and adopt a bunch of cats and start wearing macramé
ponchos. Olsons debut easily pulls us in with a conversational,
seemingly unadorned style that camouflages her well-crafted narrative
technique as she moves back and forth in time. With her retro and up-to-
the-minute pop-culture references to The Love Boat, grieving
conferences, Prozac, Oprah, bachelorette parties, and the ravages of
graduate school (where Babe the Gallant Pig is a text), the author clearly
knows her target audience. Welcome to My Planet is an almost perfect
coming-of-age story for an era in which public life, jazzed by lightning
technological and commercial changes, leapfrogs away while emotional
adolescence strangely extends into our 30s. --Maura Alia Bramkamp
Personal Review: Welcome to My Planet: Where English Is
Sometimes Spoken by Shannon Olson
...or at the very least that she wasn't writing about me. My mom first read
this book when I was in college - she told me about it and said it reminded
her of me. I said, mom, I'm not in my late 20's. Ha - like that made a
difference, and as years go by I identify even more. I LOVE this book, it is
so honest and true, and funny and wonderful. This book has made me
laigh so hard that I snorted and cry through half a box of tissues. I have
this book earmarked, highlighted and underlined and won't even lend it to
anyone - I'll just buy them one or make them go out and by it themselves,
because my copy is precious. From her quirky, smart, but depressive self,
to her adorable mother who, although wonderful, can drive her up the wall,
to her ex-boyfriends and her dysfunctional realtionships, to her career and
education which can be confusing and frustrating, to her ongoing
depression, sometimes debilitating, and to her honest and slowly
productive but snarky relationship with her therapist - this book is just the
best. And that's a good place to begin.
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