I received an ARC of this book through Penguin First to Read. Thank ya!
Oh my God, my friends. This book...this book is WILD.
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3/5
I received an ARC of this book through Penguin First to Read. Thank ya!
Oh my God, my friends. This book...this book is WILD.
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I have this really terrible habit of requesting ARCs without really looking into them. And this book was no exception. All I knew was that this was, essentially, a nonfiction thriller about a marriage. And that’s not totally what I got, but damn if it wasn’t close. HOW FUN IS THAT?!
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So we follow the author, Jen, in chapters that alternate “Before� and “After.� The event that distinguishes the author’s life into two parts is the realization that her husband, whom she fully adores in a way that borders on worrying, isn’t who she thought he was. Later, she decides he’s a SOCIOPATH. Dun dun dun!
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Oh, also they have a newborn baby. So that ups the stakes.
I really liked the first half of this book. I read it in a sitting. It’s sooooo next-level intense - I can’t stop using that word - and Jen keeps realizing stuff and you’re like WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN?! JEN, WHAT’S HAPPENING?! TELL ME JEN! The Before/After stuff works really well here.
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The second half...I’m like, not as into. This may sound totally b*tchy of me, so bear with me, okay? I’m sorry about who I am as a person.
At this point, the Before/After stuff becomes less helpful. Because lovely Jen then has to make us realize stuff about her husband in the “Before� sections...even though she totally wasn’t realizing it at the time. Which feels forced.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I don’t. In terms of experience I have, like, a high school-level intro to psych class and every true crime story I can get my hands on. But there are two things I definitely for-sure know about sociopaths. (Yes, one of them is from the podcast Serial, what of it??? It’s the story that changed a nation!)
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Okay, so. Those two things. One, there aren’t that many sociopaths in the world. (This is the one I know from Serial.) So when you’re constantly like, “hey, maybe that dude who took the last popsicle from the communal box is a sociopath!� that’s not the most legitimate possibility. And two, they’re really flippin� hard to diagnose. So, while Jen should start off this book like:
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She comes into it like “HEY HERE ARE ANSWERS� and throws 265 pages at us. And her stupid therapist Lisa doesn’t help. Lisa is the psychology-major equivalent of that professor who throws a textbook in the trashcan and says to call him by his first name. Even though I’m 97% sure therapists aren’t supposed to just...diagnose people they’ve never goddamn met based purely off the testimony of their traumatized and estranged spouses, Lisa’s all, “Oh my god...based off the one hour I’ve known you...I think your husband might be a total freaking psycho!!!!� Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is if a certain Maine-based therapy practice loses its license for employing a woman whose only certification is a Starbucks rewards card, I called it.
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Also, the second half of the book is a lot more boring than the first half. But that makes sense. Because at a certain point, it has to become Here Is My Progress Here Is My Life Now. And I appreciate that that has to happen and all. It can’t all be me having fun with the tragedies in the lives of others. I’m not a sociopath.
Or am I?
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Bottom line: I recommend this. It’s not perfect (in the writing especially), but it’s pretty fascinating and better than I expected....more
i remember i had to do a book report on a work of nonfiction in early high school, and i thought i really gamed the system by picking a comedian's memi remember i had to do a book report on a work of nonfiction in early high school, and i thought i really gamed the system by picking a comedian's memoir.
little did i know this would be one of the most stressful, anxiety-ridden, and worst of all banjo-infested books i would ever read.
steve martin was discussing the line between stand-up comedy and mental illness decades before bo burnham did it.
however i liked it way less.
part of a project i'm doing where i review books i read a long time ago, blah blah, you know the drill...more
I mostly just found this profoundly...eh. So I'm not going to review it, probably.I mostly just found this profoundly...eh. So I'm not going to review it, probably....more
Because I cannot do anything earnestly, I'll preface this review by saying that I really, really hate the title of this book. It's a blatant play on MBecause I cannot do anything earnestly, I'll preface this review by saying that I really, really hate the title of this book. It's a blatant play on Mindy Kaling's first book, but it doesn't stick in the memory. In fact, I couldn't remember the title well enough to look it up, and had to go by the author's name.
With some mild complaining out of the way, let's do this thing. (I say, as if I could possibly limit my tendency to complain to just one paragraph in a review of anything.)
I'm debating between three and four stars as I write this. I feel a tad lied to - I was told this was essentially Mindy Kaling's writing style + politics + fun behind the scenes Obama stories. I am obsessed with Mindy Kaling, politics, behind the scenes stuff, and Obama, so I was IN. I heard about this book through the author's very charming interview on one of my favorite podcasts, Pod Save America, and I bought it immediately after. So the expectations were high and very specific.
What I got was more...advice book. Heavy on the politics, light on the Obama. Very different from Mindy Kaling - which isn't, like, automatically a bad thing. Still. Who likes a false promise, am I right? Let alone approximately one bajillion of them.
But don't let my constant whining fool you - this book is not bad. Not by a long shot. Alyssa Mastromonaco is One Badass Bitch. (I hope she would take that as the compliment it is intended to be.) It makes sense this isn't just, like, pregaming for Obama's memoir. It's about the author herself, which of course makes more sense. Even if ex-POTUS takes up more space on the cover.
It's also wayyyy more compulsively readable than any political memoir, like, ever. I read it in two sittings. (The second sitting was the last 30 pages because I took cold medicine and fell asleep on this book. No shade to the book; all credit to Nyquil Severe.) It's not always funny, but it is pretty much always relatable.
A fun thing is that I am this book's exact target audience. I am six months out from being its epicenter (young women interested in politics ages 15-25). And another fun thing: This book made me kind of, sort of, a little bit want to apply for internships on Capitol Hill. I know. Thanks, Alyssa Ms. Mastromonaco.
It's not funny, exactly, but it's wise in this really particular and useful way. Like, it genuinely may have inspired me to try out politics once I'm outta this dump (by which I mean the American college experience). That's really crazy. I probably will chicken out, but still. Crazy.
Bottom line: Give this book a try! Especially if you're a girl or semi-interested in politics. Also, listen to ....more
(but not a DNF like you think - no rating because i didn't finish it)
reading this book made me miss carrie fisher so much. it reads like you DNF @ 48%
(but not a DNF like you think - no rating because i didn't finish it)
reading this book made me miss carrie fisher so much. it reads like you asked her to talk about her affair with harrison ford and she obliged, unfiltered, for hours. which is both wonderful and not exactly conducive to a book. but i miss her, so it works out.
i DNFed this when 2016-carrie fisher stopped and 1976-carrie fisher began. i'd read adult carrie fisher write about anything, but reading the diaries of a 19-year-old infatuated with a significantly older married man who didn't care for her - who was probably taking advantage of her - well, that i didn't want.
this is a hard read, because it adds a bitter edge to the luke-leia-han trio, even as carrie fisher doesn't intend to do so here. it makes harrison ford seem like a bit of an ass, and it's impossible not to wonder what his real reaction to this publishing was.
it's not all sunshine and laser guns. boo.
bottom line: i love star wars. i love carrie fisher. i'm glad i experienced this book in the way that i did.
miss you, carrie.
--------------- PRE-REVIEW
I think this puts Fisher's wonderful legacy best:
honor carrie fisher:
- normalize mental illness and its treatment - take life a little less seriously - destroy a fascist regime
� Isaiah Breen (@isikbreen)
It's one of talent, humor, integrity and love.
RIP Carrie Fisher. May the force be with you <3...more
(note: i read this book in january 2017 and wrote a really long nice review about it. i do not really want to advocate for amy schumer's work a[image]
(note: i read this book in january 2017 and wrote a really long nice review about it. i do not really want to advocate for amy schumer's work anymore, so now - january 2020 - i'm removing my rating and review. woohoo!)...more
i love this book so much, it means the world to me, i would do anything for it, and i have the exact proof.
because one time a guy i was dating (who woi love this book so much, it means the world to me, i would do anything for it, and i have the exact proof.
because one time a guy i was dating (who would prove to be supervillain-level evil, for unrelated reasons that would later reveal themselves) ghosted me.
while borrowing my (SIGNED!) copy of this book.
and when i realized months later that he still had it (long after i had already removed him on everything and deleted his number and paid a witch to cast a spell on him, as all healthy grown-ups do when they get over someone), i re-followed him on instagram.
but he didn't follow me.
so i had to make a group chat with him and my roommate in order to send him this request.
and then i had to SEE HIS STUPID FACE in order to retrieve it.
i did all that for this book. and i'd do it again!
this is a compelling, important, and well-written story. it is my go-to recommendation for writing on race, on the justice system, on systemic bigotry, and on the death penalty. i read this when i was somewhat undecided on the latter, and it set me on a decidedly anti- path. i have never looked back or doubted it. the equal justice initiative is still my go-to charity.
this was also my first-ever college assignment, and it set the stage for my entire post-mandatory education, and it was a blessing and a treat.
if all that didn't convince you of this book's must-read status, i don't know what to tell you. WHAT DO I HAVE TO OFFER YOU BUT THE LAST OF MY DIGNITY.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago and embarrass myself on multiple levels in the process...more
this book never made me laugh. it discussed a lot of important issues, but that's not really an excuse for a comedy book not being funnythis book never made me laugh. it discussed a lot of important issues, but that's not really an excuse for a comedy book not being funny...more
i have been reading this book forever. and i realize that coming from me, that means a week or two. but this book has existed, albeit in the back of mi have been reading this book forever. and i realize that coming from me, that means a week or two. but this book has existed, albeit in the back of my mind and in some form or another, since december or january. normally that would be repulsive to me, but i don't think this book should be read in even a week. i think it should be read in snippets over time. it feels most like a voyage that way, at least for me.
i don't feel qualified to even rate this book. i honestly can't believe i finished it.
i love steinbeck--he's up there with fitzgerald for me: an author i adore, an author whose breadth of work i will likely never read, as i selected each as a favorite after a couple of novels. and yes, this work contained those classic steinbeck irritations: the old man superiority to change and to the young; the ignorance of women--somehow his characteristic flat female characters exist, or fail to, even in nonfiction; the quiet racism that refuses to recognize itself.
yet this was a book about travel, about America, in the sharp, simple, philosophical voice i love. i marked this up over and over with an orange highlighter and blue Post-It scraps. steinbeck may have come to know america like few--maybe no one--have, and i feel fortunate to have seen a changing country through his eyes.
i suppose i must give this 5 stars, though i'm tempted to give it 4. but reading this was as much a labor of love as writing it must have been, and it isn't a work i'll soon forget....more
this was one of the only actually diverse books we read in high school - both in a global perspective way and in a non-white way - and i am very glad this was one of the only actually diverse books we read in high school - both in a global perspective way and in a non-white way - and i am very glad and grateful we did. so powerful.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago...more
if mindy kaling started a cult i'd be its founding member.
this book is very sweet and funny (if maybe a teeny tiny bit less funny than the last one) aif mindy kaling started a cult i'd be its founding member.
this book is very sweet and funny (if maybe a teeny tiny bit less funny than the last one) and earnest and my single complaint from the last book was solved because this was body positive and nice!
mindy kaling forever.
bottom line: as long as mindy kaling is writing books, i'm reading em!
i long to return to the days in which i read this book. a time of simplicity, when the only requirement for me enjoying a read was for it to be writtei long to return to the days in which i read this book. a time of simplicity, when the only requirement for me enjoying a read was for it to be written by a comedian, or a young adult romance. a bygone era of appreciation, when Laughing and Smiling and Fun were all things easily prompted.
this book being pretty good has endured past me being mentally well, though. so at least there's that.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago in order to showcase my various red flags...more
i can't decide whether i want to be mindy kaling or whether i want her to adopt me.
this is an extremely funny book that also has an outdated discussioi can't decide whether i want to be mindy kaling or whether i want her to adopt me.
this is an extremely funny book that also has an outdated discussion of weight (which is done better in her later publications) and also caused me to ask her hand in marriage or other legally binding agreement.
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