Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
author: Mindy Kaling
name: Paul
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2012/03/16
date added: 2012/03/19
shelves: memoir, humor, non-fiction
review:
Mindy Kaling‘s witty and honest pseudo-memoir, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), is a light read that I enjoyed quite a bit. Kaling has a knack for striking a harmonious balance between sarcasm and sincerity, setting her conversational tone as the witty pal you wish you had, able to lampoon others and herself with equal grace.
The book reads kind of like a “best of” selections from perhaps a well-known blogger: intimate, revealing, scatterbrained, prone to random asides and brief chapters about pop culture or wry observations before picking up on the disjointed narrative about her life so far. In a way, the book is revealing in the sort of organic fashion; one gets the sense that they know Kaling pretty well by the end and they’ve learned about her the way they might over a lengthy conversation in a Starbucks somewhere, watching the shifts change at least twice.
Of course, there isn’t much to tell in a memoir for someone who is in her very early thirties, so the appeal here is going to be Kaling’s humor and this is a funny book. I found myself laughing out loud a number of times. For example:
…[I]t was surprising that I killed it as a babysitter. Er, maybe “killed it” is a wrong and potentially troubling way to express what I’m trying to say. The point is, I was an excellent babysitter.
Toward the end, Kaling runs out of official memoir material and the last quarter of the book consists entirely of random essays and tidbits of self-indulgence which aren’t bad necessarily, just sort of frivolous. The sum total is very light, both in tone, gravity and actual content, as the book weighs in at a generously whitespaced 222 pages, if you also include the Acknowledgements section. On one hand, it’s breezy and fun and amusing so it’s not like it isn’t worth a read or anything. But for a $25.00 hardcover?
I waited on a hold list and checked the copy I read out from the library. I felt like this was a good way to go, because I have to say that I think I would have been disappointed if I’d spent cover price for it, or even a discounted $15 or so. I don’t want to get into the valuation for entertainment discussion here, but I finished the book in a very short amount of time and while I liked it an awful lot, I just can’t seem to reconcile the enjoyment I gleaned with the MSRP.
Which is no real detriment to the content. Stripping the value proposition away, this is a recommended book, whether or not you’re a fan of The Office. It’s funny, endearing, and revealing; it’s perfect for chasing away a low mood on a rainy evening.