We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.: Essays

by Samantha Irby

Paperback, 2017

Genres

Biography & Memoir

Biography

Nonfiction

All Topics

Collection

Shelf 2

Publication

Vintage (2017), 288 pages

Description

With heartfelt candor and her usual side-splitting bite, humorist, essayist, and blogger at bitchesgottaeat.com Samantha Irby captures powerful emotional truths while chronicling the disaster that has been her life. An ill-fated pilgrimage and romantic vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father's ashes, awkward sexual encounters, a Bachelorette application gone awry, and more-- sometimes you just have to laugh, even when your life is a dumpster fire.

User reviews

LibraryThing member ASKelmore

Best for: Anyone who enjoys a great collection of essays.

In a nutshell: Samantha Irby shares stories from her life that are at times so funny you’ll stop someone on the street to read a passage just so they can share in your joy.

Line that sticks with me: “No one ever tells attractive children

how much they suck, and then the rest of us get stuck with insufferable, narcissistic adults who can barely tie their shoes because someone else is busy either doing it for them or congratulating them on their effort.”

Why I chose it: The cover. Seriously, look at it.

Review: I’m writing this review fewer than 24 hours after buying this book. I read it all evening on the walk to an event this morning, on two bus rides, and wile I inhaled my lunch. I kept yelling out passages to my husband, who kindly paused his video game and then found himself laughing along with me.

I’m late to the Samantha Irby game; this is her second collection of essays. But oh my god it is brilliant. There are parts of her life I can relate to (like just wanting to stay inside and not interact with others) and parts I can’t (like her experiences growing up) but I found myself riveted by every single essay.

I don’t want to spoil it for you, but there is an essay about the start of her relationship with her now-wife that I was not expecting but that was candid and hilarious and real. This is one of my favorites of the year for sure, and will likely get many re-reads in the years ahead.

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LibraryThing member froxgirl

This is a fierce and furious summation right from the large brain of blogger Irby. She digs deeper into all things bodily than anyone I've ever read before, and although there's a cringe factor, you cannot help but revel in the blunt force! And also just give into general hilarity as she describes

the trials of being an extreme introvert whilst blogging, dating, falling in love, getting married, and living with the demon feline from Hades. Quotes:

"What I ready need is someone who doesn't get on my nerves but is also minimally annoyed by all the irritating things about me."

"I just want to go down to the bar, listen to three beers' worth of your problems, then claim my stomach hurts so I can leave and get into bed before nine."

"I'd rather be angry and well rested than tired and happy."

"People were lingering on the lawn outside the ballroom, chatting amiably about travel hockey and hating vaccines and other white things."

"Easter has the best candy, so of course it was my favorite. To this day, I weep like a child when those purple bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs show up in the Walgreen's seasonal aisle at the first dawn of spring."

"How do I know I'm in love if I don't want to kill myself all the time?"

"I have never, in any of my interpersonal relationships, with women or men, proposed to sit down somewhere and have a talk. No one ever wants to sit down and talk about something good, like how he or she should buy you more stuff."

"I like to sit at home in mild terror as the world rages outside without me."

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LibraryThing member flying_monkeys

Irby's brutal honesty and homebody nature were a winning combination for this reader. Throw in one of the funniest stories of cat adoption I've ever read and a love story for those of us who don't believe in "love stories," and this essay collection lands firmly on my list of Best Books to Read

Summer 2017. No joke, you'll laugh your ass off (if only!) and maybe cry a little (for reasons you must discover yourself). For women in their thirties and forties, who have been single and living alone for most of their adult life, this collection will be highly enjoyable AND relatable. For the younger ladies out there, you're sure to glean a life lesson or two; or, at the very least, a sneak peek of stress-incontinence when you laugh so hard you pee yourself just a little bit.

I will be reading everything Samantha Irby publishes. Here's hoping she'll take a stab at fiction in the near future.

5 stars

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LibraryThing member Jan.Coco.Day

I want to hug Sam, but will settle for a respectful fist-bump if joint issues are a thing. I want to start an Introvert-Chronic-Pain-Suffering-Self-Deprecating-Funny-Ladies Club whose membership consists of just me and Sam. In keeping with the thematic title of the book, our club holds no meetings.

LibraryThing member CarrieWuj

Samantha Irby is very funny in an edgy contemporary way. This book is a tell-all and it literally tells all, which got to be a little too much for me, so I bailed. As an audio book read by Irby, it's a caustic look at her life which would be tragic if she weren't so good at teasing out the

comic,but I found it hard to reconcile those two things in my eavesdropper role. Good book, just not a fit for me.

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LibraryThing member foggidawn

A series of mostly-humorous essays about the author's life experiences, many of which would not immediately seem to lend themselves to comedy. That's the thing about life, though: sometimes you have to either laugh or cry. I strongly identified with some parts of this book, and strongly disagreed

with others. It's always an interesting experience to get a glimpse into someone else's life, especially if they can write about it in a way that holds your attention and makes you laugh a few times. If you enjoy the self-deprecating humor of Jenny Lawson and Allie Brosch, you might take a look at this book

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LibraryThing member lyndsay

Funny, real, honest, great read.

LibraryThing member MM_Jones

This book has been recommended as great humor, but not to my taste. The author writes that "they might have a point" when the book is fictionally dismissed as vulgar and disgusting. I think it's great that she can write about her life and make money doing so, but overall I found it sad rather than

funny.

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LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile

This book is hysterical. I did it via audio and wouldn't do it any other way. Listening to Irby tell her own stories is priceless.

LibraryThing member anxovert

“Words words words words words”—deep breath—“words words words words words.”

I loved this book. Despite vastly differing life experiences and backgrounds, I related to just about everything Samantha Irby has to say in this collection of essays. Very highly recommended.

"People are boring

and terrible. I am boring and terrible. My funny runs out, my cute runs out, my smart sometimes hiccups, my sexy wakes up with uncontrollable diarrhea. I have an attitude. And a sharp edge!"

"Roll credits, sad trombone."

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LibraryThing member Jonez

As a plus sized, arthritis riddled, sarcastic, solitude-loving, nihilistic caramel colored poor chick born in a marshmallow world, I related to this in so many ways. This was a fast and entertaining read. I love Irby's voice (written and audible) and will definitely be reading more by her in the

future.

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LibraryThing member amandanan

God bless us everyone, for we have a Samantha Irby to write the things we can’t speak ourselves.

LibraryThing member JesseTheK

Excellent comic timing in audiobook narration as well as the writing.

LibraryThing member eas7788

Well, now I want to read everything she has written and stalk her and make her my friend. Her honesty and humor are sharp and bright.

LibraryThing member JReynolds1959

Funny, sad, interesting. Am not familiar with Samantha Irby's comedic talent. I thought this was so forthright. Good read.

LibraryThing member thewestwing

4.5 stars - I think Samantha Irby has become my new favourite author. Love her style and how she can bring her musings to life. Excellent story teller.

LibraryThing member Mialro

I've read Samantha Irby's first book of memoir essays, Meaty, and this was just as good and gross and hilarious and sad as that. She writes about her relationships (including with her now-wife), IBS, her cat and her job which she hates, her father dying, and more. I follow Sam on social media and

she is a delight. 4/5 stars

Trigger warnings for this book: death, alcoholism, gross body stuff, sexually explicit scenes, depression I think, racism I think

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LibraryThing member Andy5185

This collection of essays took me to a lot of places. Laughter, anxiety, nausea, surprise, joy, tears, and mostly a deep respect for the straight up honesty. And Helen Keller just rocked.

LibraryThing member Dabble58

Funny enough to keep me reading and giggling through an exhausted evening! Samantha Irby’s early life sounds horrendous but she has survived and taken it all- even learning how to live with children! And a possessed cat...
So honest and frank(ly rude). Loved it. One day I hope to write essays

somewhat like this!
Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member imjustmea

Samantha Irby deals with heavy issues such as poverty, mental illness and disability in her own irreverent style. Her essays are wonderful. You can't read her stuff without wanting her to become your best friend. I love her honesty. She's showing the real identity lurking behind the carefully

curated version of ourselves portrayed online. I don't know how she writes a raucously funny piece that turns out to be touching and deep. Bottomline, I think she's awesome because her writing makes me feel hopeful. I also recommend reading her blog Bitches Gotta Eat and her first collection of essays Meaty.

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LibraryThing member MillieHennessy

I fuckin love Sam Irby. She's so funny and for-real that I'm always actually laughing while reading her books. I read her writing and it makes me want to be her friend. I never thought I'd enjoy so many stories about one person shitting or fucking, but here we are! Please, check out her work.

LibraryThing member reader1009

nonfiction - humor/biographical essays; mental health-anxiety; chronic illness / autoimmune disease / Crohn's; dating and sexual relations

Some of these I enjoyed more than others - Samantha Irby is known to graphically (but comically) overshare, and there is definitely some of that in here. If you

are easily shocked, then you definitely will be, but if you can keep an open mind, there are a lot of laughs here too.

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LibraryThing member KallieGrace

This is the second book I've read by this author, but I think I liked the other better (Quietly Hostile, I think). This was like one big trauma dump where humor is the only coping mechanism you have. You just want to urge her into therapy. I didn't laugh at this because I was just a little too

horrified most of the time.

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