Everyone has heard of the fresh-out-of-college quintessential trip to Europe to wander (or maybe more squander) around and to “find yourself,” but never have they heard Rachel Shukert’s story of life abroad.

In Shukert’s second memoir before the age of 30, “Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour,” readers follow Shukert on her hilarious and wildly entertaining journey of living in Europe after college graduation.

Shukert's first memoir, "Have You No Shame?: And Other Regrettable Stories," came out in 2008, revealing her unwillingness to censor her stories and commitment to honesty, much as she does in "Everything Is Going to Be Great."

Shukert acts in a production that tours Europe, but when it’s over, this Nebraska-bred, Jewish, NYU-theatre-school-educated actress refuses to go home and instead begins more adventures — some ill-advised — throughout Europe.

Shukert finds herself in a string of outrageous situations, such as waking up in a Parisian hospital, badly bloodied and bruised after partying too hard on Bastille Day, or having a relationship with an artist who could easily be her father in Vienna.

Her memoir begins with her theatre immersion program while still at NYU and continues until she finally settles in living with her friends and gay partners, Mattijs and Jeroen in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

When she calls home, her mother always provides words of reality, whether or not Shukert wants to hear them. After sending Shukert to Europe twice already, her mother quips, “If you didn’t find yourself then, you probably aren’t there.”

The book is organized into chapters that serve a loose chronological function, but mostly present her stories as longer vignettes, peppered with tips she gives for living abroad, some serious, some completely ludicrous.

Such topics of these tip sections include “‘Excuse Please, How Much?’ When Someone Mistakes You for a Prostitute,” “Where the Fuck Am I? A Guide to Dutch Street Names” and “Are You About to Be Sex-Trafficked? A Checklist.”

And while Shukert explains that being mistaken for a sex-worker is a normal “rite of passage for any young woman, effeminate man, or male-to-female transsexual who is traveling abroad,” readers are sure to be guffawing and laughing out loud at her advice and misadventures.  

It might be hard for readers to resist such laugh-inducing language, especially after reading her “How to Use This Book” opening prologue, which suggests many other functions for her novel besides reading.

As Shukert points out, “Other helpful features of this book include its flimsy paperback cover and thin pages, which are ideal for tearing, shredding, and burning; very handy when you are having a tantrum and looking for something inexpensive and easy to destroy. I personally have massacred many copies of my books in crazed fits of rage and despair.”

Shukert’s style is easily read, humorous, sometimes self-deprecating, sometimes brutally honest and always shows her gifts for description and emotion in her storytelling.

Sometimes you shake your head and grimace about the seemingly stupid situations Shukert gets herself into, but you also cheer for her to work things out.

After getting in shouting matches with her Amsterdam hosts, buying a bike from a junkie (a sign of bad luck to come according to Mattijs), getting very seriously involved with a married man, and barely making enough money to cover alcohol costs, readers see Shukert about to hit rock bottom.

It may seem like Shukert brings a lot of her pain upon herself by the choices she makes, but readers can empathize with her pleas for a secure and loving relationship and for a purpose in life.

Her drama-creating ways aside, Shukert expresses her heartbreak after another failed relationship, this time with the aforementioned married man in Amsterdam, in a very relatable way for her readers.

“There are as many different kinds of broken hearts as there are broken bones. There are the hairline fractures…there are simple fractures…comminuted fractures…and compound fractures, the worst of all, when the bone is roughly snapped in two with one jagged edge thrust through the skin of the mangled limb….that I thought, was the kind of broken heart I had.”

Her pain from her search is universal, well-told in a singular voice that drips with comedic gems and unashamed honesty.

After these trials and tribulations, readers can see Shukert beginning to put herself back together when she meets another man, one that appears not to be toxic — or married!

This memoir/guidebook is not the average read, which is not only refreshing, but hopefully a sign of more to come from Shukert in the future.

Readers will laugh, sulk, dance, drink and cry along with Shukert as she bravely tries to find purpose, love, and happiness for herself.

Reach staff reporter Kristin Yinger here.