“I was excited to read this book, being a fan of dry, funny memoir (which this book was touted as). I am so disappointed that I wasted a second on it. How did this book get such good reviews? Are peoples' expectations really so low? I cannot believe how dull and solipsistic these essays are. The author writes like the "good suburban girl" she keeps assuring us she is (blech, to begin with!), and expects us to be as fascinated by her prosaic life as she is. Did anyone read this stuff before it was published? Why should we care that she collects plastic ponies? Why should we care that she attended the wedding of a high school classmate? She doesn't give us any reason, anything beyond her blinkered and very bland observations. Perhaps this goes over well at family dinners, but the audience for a book is a bit larger than that. She writes like a young person with little life experience and less to say. She doesn't make us care about her subject - which is always herself, no one else. She even tackles that ol' memoir workhorse, the "I Was A Poor Underpaid Overworked Abused Editorial Assistant for a Crazy Editor" tale (this is the equivalent of a band writing songs about the record industry, which usually seems to happen right before said band breaks up). And does she manage to make this worn sweater into a sexy outfit? I think you can guess: nope. Why should we care about her head cold, her loser boyfriend and his "bohemian" apartment - complete with coke-smeared mirrors, way to go, 23-year-old New York newbie - and above all, her thoroughly mundane job dissatisfaction? I'm not sure, because she never rises above the self-obsessed and middling. David Rakoff wrote of this same subject matter and made it sing, because a) he's actually funny, and b) he knows how to lampoon himself, but he isn't in love with his own literary reflection. I've no doubt that she has a good book in her, but she needs some maturation, and someone to yank her out of her own comfy life, before it happens.”
Leela wrote this review Saturday, September 13 2008.
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