This was actually one of the first books I read this year but I held off on reviewing it because I wasn't sure how to word my reactions. Basically, every single person that read this raved about it and loved it. I liked it. I think the biggest thing for me was that I had only recently before read Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and while both were funny, I preferred Kaling's book to Fey's. For me it all boiled down to their approaches. While reading Mindy's book, I felt like this was someone I could relate to and would want to be best friends with. She made intelligent comments about gender, race, weight, etc. but she kept it chatty, and self deprecating. Tina Fey, on the other hand, kept her reader at more of a distance, at least in comparison. This isn't to say that Fey doesn't share stories about her past, and she, too, makes some very strong statements about gender, comedy and the work place but if Mindy felt like a conversation with an old friend, Tina Fey's book felt more like a conversation with a mentor. She'll share personal information, but she'll also maintain a certain professional distance to maintain her position as mentor. And it makes sense, too - Kaling is around my age, while Tina is a little bit older - enough so to have that extra experience, and a different perspective due to beginning her work as a comedian at a different time.
By no means did I not enjoy the book, but I was expecting it to be a bit more intimate than it was. She shares stories about her personal life, and some of them are hilarious. For some reason, she also mentioned McDonald's a few times in the book, so if they didn't pay her for name dropping, they definitely should, because I had a craving for chicken McNuggets after reading this. I enjoyed reading about her friendship with Amy Poehler, and there were various other amusing anecdotes about her life, including some of her jobs prior to SNL and her honeymoon, as well some more thoughtful pieces about motherhood.
Basically, it is an entertaining book, but it is more of a collection of essays than a memoir. I think I may have been expecting more of a funny memoir which may also be one of the reasons I wasn't quite as into it as everyone else.
1 comment:
Bossypants is about the first audiobook I've ever listened to, and it's SO awesome. Definitely agree with choosing the audio over the print version too!
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