Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour

When she lands a coveted nonpaying, nonspeaking role in a play going on a European tour, Rachel Shukert—with a brand-new degree in acting from NYU and no money—finally scores her big break. And, after a fluke at customs in Vienna, she gets her golden ticket: an unstamped passport, giving her free rein to “find herself” on a grand tour of Europe. Traveling from Vienna to Zurich to Amsterdam, Rachel bounces through complicated relationships, drunken mishaps, miscommunication, and the reality-adjusting culture shock that every twentysomething faces when sent off to negotiate "the real world"—whatever that may be.

"Rachel Shukert's new memoir Everything Is Going To Be Great does something unfortunately rare in women's writing: celebrating mistakes....what Everything affirms is that screwing up from time to time -- or even a lot -- doesn't make you a terrible person." Jezebel

"Rachel Shukert manages to do something almost unprecedented in the female travelogue subgenre: she is funny." The New Yorker

"[Everything is Going to be Great] comes off like a cross between David Sedaris and Chuck Palahniuk....lurking beneath the jabs and one-liners is an affecting--and pretty unforgettable--coming-of-age tale." Entertainment Weekly

"The humor with which [Shukert] recounts her experiences allows her work to transcend beyond the cliché of overseas-love-affairs-gone-awry....An entertaining and often laugh-out-loud -- though not altogether atypical -- story of soul-searching abroad." Kirkus

"Thoroughly enjoyable." Time Out New York

"[Shukert's] wit is pitch-perfect and amusingly self-conscious....The story itself spans continents, but the consistency with which Shukert perceives everything anchors and enlivens wherever her antics land her." Nylon Magazine

"Shukert possesses a certain talent to find the funny in almost any situation, and her shockingly personal and irreverent writing makes for many laughs....[an] entertaining and very current meditation on what it means to be a young American artist abroad." Booklist

"Shukert is a hugely funny, wildly smart, and menacingly original writer. I don't much care for leaving the house, but if I were ever to travel, I'd want to do it in book form and alongside Rachel, who has one billion crazy stories set in foreign lands, all beautifully told." Julie Klausner, author of I Don't Care About Your Band

"A great summer read for anyone who likes funny ladies--or who has a friend who is threatening to give it all up to teach English in Prague. This should stop them cold." The Daily Beast

"Rachel Shukert's memoir is more than just 'girl-gone-overseas'; it's a hilarious, brave and surprisingly piercing work of art." Diablo Cody, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Juno

"If you read only one memoir by a disaffected, urban, 20-something Jewish girl this year, make it this one. Shukert rocks the lulav." Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan

"Everything Is Going to Be Great is full of smartly observed cultural detail, sexual misadventure, heartbreak, and helpful tips. This outrageous and hilarious memoir will make you laugh, gasp, and occasionally squirm -- sometimes all three at once. A weird and wonderful read." J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Commencement

"Shukert's sharp comic turns careen smack into the middle of our hearts."
-- Los Angeles Times

Everything Is Going to Be Great, is performer, playwright, comedian, and author Rachel Shukert's hilarious memoir of traveling through Europe in her twenties. She chronicles her youthful navigation through the haphazard fun and debauchery of new freedoms, and the growing pains that ultimately accompany "adulthood." Fans of Sloane Crosley and David Sedaris are going to love Shulkert's story, and her sharp, smart humor.

"Shukert's sharp comic turns careen smack into the middle of our hearts.
-- Los Angeles Times

From performer, playwright, comedian, author and writer and producer of Glow and Superirl Rachel Shukert, Everything Is Going to Be Great, is a hilarious memoir of traveling through Europe in her twenties. Rachel chronicles her youthful navigation through the haphazard fun and debauchery of new freedoms, and the growing pains that ultimately accompany "adulthood." Fans of Sloane Crosley and David Sedaris are going to love Shulkert's story, and her sharp, smart humor.

--Diablo Cody, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Juno

Rachel Shukert is a playwright, performer, and the author of Have You No Shame? And Other Regrettable Stories. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney's and Heeb, and on Salon, Slate, Gawker, Nerve, and The Daily Beast, as well as featured on National Public Radio and in numerous print anthologies. Shukert was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and now lives in New York City with her husband and her bipolar cat.