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Description
"Irby is forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin despite what Inspirational Instagram Infographics have promised her. She has left her job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, has published successful books and has been friendzoned by Hollywood, left Chicago, and moved into a house with a garden that requires repairs and know-how with her wife in a Blue town in the middle of a Red state where she now hosts book clubs and makes mason jar salads. This is the bourgeois life of a Hallmark Channel dream. She goes on bad dates with new friends, spends weeks in Los Angeles taking meetings with "tv executives slash amateur astrologers" while being a "cheese fry-eating slightly damp Midwest person," "with neck pain and no cartilage in [her] knees," who still hides past due bills under her pillow. The essays in this collection draw on the raw, hilarious particulars of Irby's new life. Wow, No Thank You is Irby at her most unflinching, riotous, and relatable"--Amazon.com.… (more)
User reviews
Anyone who enjoys clever, interesting essays that will make them laugh.
In a nutshell:
Author Irby is back with her third collection of essays, which cover what her life is like these days, as well as just some hilariously repetitive takes on the exact same phrase.
Worth quoting:
“Sure, sex
Why I chose it:
I was looking for a book to listen to while running, and realized I both hadn’t yet read this one AND it was read by the author.
Review:
Usually when I go for runs I listen to the podcast versions of four of the MSNBC weeknight shows so I can stay up with what’s going on back in the US. But it can be super depressing these days, and not exactly motivational when one is training for a half marathon. So I decided for the last few runs leading up to my ‘race’ this week (and by race, I mean I just ran 13.1 miles one morning because the Edinburgh half was once again postponed) I wanted something funny, that could make the time go quickly and also could keep me entertained.
I chose … wisely.
I appreciate Irby’s writing style. She’s honest and self deprecating, but not in the sort of way where one thinks she’s trying to get pity. She’s just clear about how she is, what she likes, and what she doesn’t. She’s not insulting to others who might do things differently - she just lives her life, while telling stories about all the shit in it that has gone wrong (and, occasionally, right).
I definitely like her storytelling, but I also found that some of my favorite chapters and moments in the book were when she would follow a theme and provide just a bunch of funny one-liners. An entire chapter is just, what, like 100 versions of ‘Sure, sex is fun but…’ followed by a lot of mundane yet awesome things. Another chapter is just her repeated saying ‘Hello, 911?’, followed by a problem or situation one definitely should not call 911 about, but secretly people might want to (and actually would just as well if it were ‘Hello, 411?’, though she probably figured that much of her audience wouldn’t remember what 411 even was). Even in a chapter about some issues she had with her uterus, the list of things she would rather do than keep it had me in tears of laughter.
I can definitely see myself listening to this one again.
Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Keep it (but I’ll recommend it to friends too)
Humor is hard to hit just right, and I have an odd sense of humor where I don't always love what everyone else seems to - I can't watch The Office or Arrested Development, though I did enjoy Schitt's Creek. With that caveat, I'll say that for me, personally, the essays started at amusing but after awhile, I found them more awkward. She writes with no holds barred discussing bodily functions, sex, and her past experiences of poverty. She swears a lot and cracks jokes over difficult things - which, to be clear, it's her book and her life and she can write about whatever she likes, and there is absolutely an audience for this kind of book. But in the end, it wasn't making me laugh.
Quotes: "In hindsight, don't ever do anything for anyone, but especially not for a man who has a girlfriend. Leading people on is a hate crime."
At first, the body functions were a bit much for my proclivities in reading. However, by the time I finished reading this book, I realized how vital this book is for human beings
Her honesty is especially refreshing in this time where we no longer know what is truth and what is spin. Hey, Samantha, it's good to know I'm not alone. I don't have Crone's and I don't like men, but I get it. I needed this book this week.
Sometimes raunchy, honest and pertinent, this is my first introduction to this author. Taken all together it is almost too much, but parsed out, read here and there, these essays reflect life as many of us live as women.