{"id":1033,"date":"2012-03-19T17:08:10","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T17:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/?p=1033"},"modified":"2012-05-09T16:21:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T16:21:40","slug":"is-everyone-hanging-out-without-me-and-other-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/?p=1033","title":{"rendered":"Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Is<\/a><\/p>\n

author: Mindy Kaling
\nname: Paul
\naverage rating: 3.80
\nbook published: 2011
\nrating: 3
\nread at: 2012\/03\/16
\ndate added: 2012\/03\/19
\nshelves: memoir, humor, non-fiction
\nreview:
\nMindy Kaling<\/a>‘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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/em> a funny book. I found myself laughing out loud a number of times. For example:<\/p>\n

…[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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

from Paul’s bookshelf: read<\/a> \u2014 March 19, 2012 at 09:41AM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goodreads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1418,"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions\/1418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/complete.ironsoap.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}