Why Not Me?

Summary:

In “Why Not Me?”, Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it's falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you're constantly reminded that no one looks like you. 

In "How to Look Spectacular: A Starlet's Confessions", Kaling gives her tongue-in-cheek secrets for surefire on-camera beauty, ("Your natural hair color may be appropriate for your skin tone, but this isn't the land of appropriate-this is Hollywood, baby. Out here, a dark-skinned woman s traditional hair color is honey blonde.") "Player" tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. ("I had been replaced by a younger model. And now they had matching bangs.") In "Unlikely Leading Lady", she muses on America's fixation with the weight of actresses, ("Most women we see onscreen are either so thin that they're walking clavicles or so huge that their only scenes involve them breaking furniture.") And in "Soup Snakes", Kaling spills some secrets on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and close friend, B.J. Novak ("I will freely admit: my relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell.") 

Mindy turns the anxieties, the glamour, and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into a laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays that anyone who's ever been at a turning point in their life or career can relate to. And those who've never been at a turning point can skip to the parts where she talks about meeting Bradley Cooper. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Review:

Maybe my enjoyment of this book was decreased because I had recently read Kaling’s previous book, but I found this book fell a little flat.  It was a fine, fun, quick read, but did not feel as cohesive of a book so much as a collection of random stories.  There was also an overall tone of “humble brag” throughout, which I think was supposed to be ironic or funny, but mostly causes some eyerolls.  And for a book written by a comedian, I didn’t particularly remember any areas that I properly wanted to laugh – though I did learn more about Kaling’s personal life than I previously knew.

Essentially, I think the book was “fine” and would recommend if you happen to have the chance to pick it up, but I wouldn’t go  out and buy it.

Rating: 3 stars!

Who should read it? Diehard Mindy Kaling fans.