Courtesy Thomas Dunne BooksClarissa Explains It All fandom: Unite!
While it's been a long few decades since our gal in prints left the airwaves, with nothing to keep Clarissa Darling lovers satisfied save for the occasional Nick at Nite rerun or throwback Instagram post from Melissa Joan Hart. But now all of those longings have been answered.
No, there's not going to be a reboot or reunion (at least right now). But there is a whole new Clarissa tale to covet, straight from the man who created the show. Things I Can't Explain is the literary followup to the wunderkind show, catching up with our heroine as a twenty-something living—well, struggling to live—in New York City. And the audio version is available for download on Audible today.
Here's a quick catchup: After leaving high school early (not surprising), Clarissa moved to New York City to pursue her dream of being a big, bad journalist. She had a job at the Daily Post, an awesome apartment and a wardrobe that probably still involved chokers and printed tights because, let's be honest, the '90s really never left. But then the recession hit and it all went to, well, you know where.
Now Clarissa's smack dab in the middle of a quarter-life crisis, with her career, relationships and family life falling apart at the seams. And if we know our girl Clarissa, she's not handling it well. (We should also point out how incredibly familiar this plotline sounds to those of us who are millennials ourselves). We won't spoil the ending of the story, but we are hooking you up with an exclusive first-listen of the audio recording, done by none other than Melissa Joan Hart's real-life younger sister Emily Hart.
The chapter in question involves a ruined wedding and a Clarissa inner monologue to rival all inner monologues. You can almost hear the squiggly lines being drawn on the screen.