“I’m only marginally qualified to be giving advice
at all. My body mass index is certainly not ideal, I frequently use my debit
card to buy things that cost less than three dollars because I never have cash
on me, and my bedroom is so untidy it looks like vandals ransacked the
Anthropologie Sale section. I’m kind of a mess."
My sister is pregnant, and in an effort to make room for the
baby, she gave me a bunch of books, one of which was “Are you there vodka? It’s
me, Chelsea.” I got three chapters in
before I got the distinct urge to drop it in a lake. It was not funny, I don’t think I laughed
once in three chapters I read. I hated
the premise of her stories, I hated her voice, and I’m pretty sure I actually
hated her.
It was in this mindset that I started reading Mindy Kaling’s
memoir, not expecting too terribly much from Kelly Kapoor. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this
book. The vignettes Kaling employ aren’t
wild, out-of-this-world stories that would never happen to a sane person
*cough*ChelseaHandler*cough*, but real, honest-to-goodness stories of growing
up a nerd and subsequent tales of trying hard to make it in an unforgiving
business.
And that’s not to say these stories weren’t funny, because
oh my goodness. I got this book for
Christmas, and literally finished it in five hours. A massive headache and severe lack of sleep
couldn’t even stop me from finishing this book in one sitting. Kaling’s self-deprecating humor never failed
to amuse me, and was in stark contrast to the self-important humor that Chelsea
Handler employed.
I also really enjoyed the behind the scenes look at her time
at The Office, and the obvious camaraderie she had with her fellow
castmates and crew was fun to look in on.
I didn’t really know how she came to be on The Office, and the persistence
she showed verged on inspirational, or as inspirational as a comedy book can
be. The story of how her stage play “Matt
& Ben” came to be, which lead to her current situation, was fantastic and
hilarious, a great cap on a funny funny book.
The message of this book, for as much as there is one, is great:
hard work and a crazy sense of humor will get you a gig on The Office. I would vehemently recommend this to anyone
who was a nerd, or who is a nerd, or who loves a nerd. Oh, or people who like to laugh, or like to
chuckle, or chortle. This is an
incredibly funny book, and a quick read to boot.
“Teenage girls, please don’t worry about being
super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school, or the
best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you
graduate, but when you get older, if you reference your successes in high
school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful, like some babbling
old Tennessee Williams character with nothing else going on in her current
life. What I’ve noticed is that almost no one who was a big star in high school
is also big star later in life. For us overlooked kids, it’s so wonderfully
fair.”
I give it 5/5 chubby Indian girls
Cross-Posted to CBR5
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