A Camp Without Fire Young Adult’s Perspective of Life during the Great Recession in California Marlene and Derek barely talked in high school. But now, seven years after graduating, they come into contact again thanks to the internet. He is an architecture student. She is stuck behind a desk. Both recently have broken up with their own first love and are desperate for meaning and perspective in life as they battle through their first challenges in adulthood. With the Great Recession in full swing both try to cope with their financial troubles, try to move on and away from their own exes but seem unable and unwilling to do so. They stumble by making mistakes and trying to navigate this new thing called their mid-twenties. The sarcastic personalities and brutal honesty of both protagonists shed light on millenials’ life during the Great Recession and provide a refreshing look into modern day California. And at the end, both are faced with life altering choices. Will they go down the same path that so many people have walked before or will they chose a new and distinct path? This book is a Roman à Clef. It is a novelization of my life in my mid-twenties. I hope to provide a fresh perspective on the traditional view of corporations and how we may avoid this problem in the future. It is an analysis and critique of the capitalistic system we have come to know and love. The up and downs of romantic relationships directly mirror those up and downs in our free market. But what can we do? How can we fix this system? How can we keep the romance alive both in our lives and in our economy?