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Microthrills: True Stories from a Life of Small Highs
by
Wendy Spero
Raised in Manhattan by her tiny sex-therapist mother and her two eccentric grandparents, Wendy Spero has always sought excitement in "microthrills," the small, strange highs that give her life meaning.
Her story begins in the one-bedroom, Upper East Side apartment she shared with her overly protective mother, where, as a little girl, she passed the time gnawing on strawbe...more
Her story begins in the one-bedroom, Upper East Side apartment she shared with her overly protective mother, where, as a little girl, she passed the time gnawing on strawbe...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
August 3rd 2006
by Hudson Street Press
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There’s a picture of two ladybugs – mating (?) - on the front cover of this book. I’m not sure why this spoke to me, or even, indeed, what it said when it spoke, but I picked it up and it shared my weekly commute with me. Wendy Spero, the author, reads the work herself, and she’s got a great performance presence and the voice of “A Character,” as my grandmother would say. She’s funny. But she also mumbles, occasionally, into her collar, so you can’t drive around with the windows open (as I’m won...more
You'll laugh until you hurt, flip the page, and repeat: Wow. What a total and utter surprise.
After reading the rave reviews on Amazon I figured I would get the book and it would be a letdown. Good, but not 5-star good. Well, I was wrong -- and the reviews were right. Do yourself a favor and get this book.
You probably won't learn any life lessons that you can teach your children, but you'll close the book with an understanding of life in another person's shoes. There were lots of things I was s...more
After reading the rave reviews on Amazon I figured I would get the book and it would be a letdown. Good, but not 5-star good. Well, I was wrong -- and the reviews were right. Do yourself a favor and get this book.
You probably won't learn any life lessons that you can teach your children, but you'll close the book with an understanding of life in another person's shoes. There were lots of things I was s...more
Eh.
While I enjoyed Wendy's references to things that made appearances in my life (Toast of New York lipstick, Cut-co Knives, plastic bongs, and baja's), I was so put off by her lifelong obsession with stuffed animals that I was poisoned against liking her and her story.
On page 37, which is fairly early on for divulging such an annoying quirk, Wendy goes into detail about how her apartment is filled with furry, stuffed friends.
What's even more annoying than a grown woman filling her home with fl...more
While I enjoyed Wendy's references to things that made appearances in my life (Toast of New York lipstick, Cut-co Knives, plastic bongs, and baja's), I was so put off by her lifelong obsession with stuffed animals that I was poisoned against liking her and her story.
On page 37, which is fairly early on for divulging such an annoying quirk, Wendy goes into detail about how her apartment is filled with furry, stuffed friends.
What's even more annoying than a grown woman filling her home with fl...more
Words cannot describe how much I loved this book. But here are some anyway: Wendy Spero paints a hilariously vivid picture of growing up an only child to a tiny, sex-therapist mother in a one-bedroom NYC apartment. Wendy Spero collects finger puppets and stuffed animals and gives them names without shame. Wendy Spero once sold knives door-to-door on a whim and became the best salesperson in the tri-state area. Wendy Spero smoked pot with Hugh Grant and her boss in a telephone booth in a bar. Wen...more
Eh. I got this because I loved her at a reading I saw, but as soon as I started the book I realized I hated her style. She's got that "Everything I'm saying is so HILARIOUS AND FASCINATING!" tone that reminds you of your chatty friend who laughs too loudly, and her language is overloaded with adjectives in the style of a 19-year old blogger who thinks this is the key to sounding literate. Sometimes this becomes ridiculous: "With antiaging cream glistening from her pores, my elfin mother would of...more
Meh. Wendy Spero's comedy memoir (based on her one-woman show) is fine, but just didn't really make me laugh all that much. I, in fact, found her rather irritating. I would imagine that hearing her read the material live would punch it up a bit, and this was a good thing to read on my in-law's couch over the holidays, but overall not recommended.
May 02, 2010
Kate
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
finger puppet enthusiasts, candy freaks
Recommended to Kate by:
792.7028 S
"You know who you remind me of?" he asked. "You remind me of that small, animated paper clip on Microsoft Word. You bounce around and try to be helpful...but just end up being kinda annoying." I took this as a compliment.
There were definitely some comedic highs in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Wendy referring to herself and her mother as the "spero hydra" (a microscopic organism which reproduces asexually and carries its little mini-me attached to its side). Funny and clever, and it left that image in my head for the rest of the book. And it is indeed an accurate representation of their relationship, which is one of the many facets of this book that i just can't relate too. She is just so freaking neurotic tha...more
Microthrills consists of a series of autobiographical humorous short stories. I'd say it is geared more towards women who find "quirky" endearing.
Mar 09, 2009
Kathleen Diermier
added it
I didn't bother finishing this one. I first heard of Wendy on the Moth story podcast. Her stand up was funny, the book was not.
Parts of this were entertaining and parts were kind of annoying. I'm glad I read it once, but I probably won't read it again.
I listened to the audiobook and have been plugging away at my own short stories again ever since, she's amazing! SO much fun listening to her tell stories while you're on public transport, laughing out loud and watching people stare!
for whatever reason i have a lot of friends and family with o.c.d. it seems like more and more people have it these days or maybe i'm just becoming more aware. nonetheless, because of my personal experience with this type of personality i found the book to be fantastic! there were many laugh out loud parts which, when sneaking reading at work, is not always a good thing. like a couple other reviewers here i too enjoyed the chapter, gary. i love reading a good book with a great ending. much more...more
I had never heard of Wendy Spero before, but she's fairly hilarious, in the way Laurie Notaro used to be back with The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club. I did think the title of the book was a misnomer, though--it seems like she spent more time talking about her relationship with her mother (they're pretty much the Gilmore Girls, if the Gilmore Girls were New York City Jews instead of small-town Connecticut WASPs) than she did about her strange little obsessions. But I guess you can't put a pi...more
Spero is a stand-up comedienne. Memoir written in the style of David Sedaris.
Quirky and maybe a tad self-indulgent. Not bad though.
Entertained us on a drive to and from Bay Area.
Feb 28, 2008
Gina
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
The easily entertained
Humorous, but not many laugh out loud moments. I had a difficult time relating to her. Of course reading about people & situations that are not part of your normal life is one of the benefits of reading, I just never got to the point where I really cared about her story. There were painful parts to tell like about her OCD & trying to find out information about her deceased father, but that was about the only times that I really felt for her. The rest of the time I thought she was high ma...more
This is a fun, fluffy, summer book. Worth a browse while your significant other is using the bathroom at Barnes & Noble. Wendy Spero is not a literary genius and she's NOT David Sedaris by a long stretch, but she is quite funny. The first few essays, especially those about her mom, were great, then a few clunkers in the middle where she goes on and on about how cool her really irritating-sounding neurotic tics are, but my favorite essay was one called "Gary" about her dad. I think it's the m...more
Jan 16, 2009
Megan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who wants a laugh
Shelves:
non-fiction
Microthrills is the perfect way to brighten up my day... I only wish it were longer.
Neurotic Jewish girl...check.
Obsessive compulsive neurotic Jewish girl...check
Funny obsessive compulsive neurotic Jewish girl...check
It is so similar to other books I've read, by Cynthia Kaplan, Jennifer Traig, Laurie Notaro, etc. It is funny, but at some point I lost interest in hearing stories about her life without any self reflection or growth. She's unapologetically herself, which is entertaining for awhile, but doesn't make for a very satisfying book. I finished it, but I can't really reco...more
Obsessive compulsive neurotic Jewish girl...check
Funny obsessive compulsive neurotic Jewish girl...check
It is so similar to other books I've read, by Cynthia Kaplan, Jennifer Traig, Laurie Notaro, etc. It is funny, but at some point I lost interest in hearing stories about her life without any self reflection or growth. She's unapologetically herself, which is entertaining for awhile, but doesn't make for a very satisfying book. I finished it, but I can't really reco...more
Amusing enough.
This book wasn't at all what I expected, but I still enjoyed it. The title is a misnomer. It's not a collection of essays on "microthrills" but rather a collection of essays on a 1980s childhood filled with doormen, bat mitzvahs and yearly trips to Loehmann's. Because that's about as far from my own 1980s childhood as you can get, I enjoyed the book.
I'd give her an extra star for having a cover blurb from Ed Helms, but I'd have to take it away for having one from Sarah Silverman.
I'd give her an extra star for having a cover blurb from Ed Helms, but I'd have to take it away for having one from Sarah Silverman.
Definitely not laugh-out-loud funny (I think I only laughed out loud once near the end), but humorous in a quirky way. I probably would have felt more sympathy for her had she not grown up in upper Manhattan, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't looking for sympathy anyway. Some pieces were more amusing than others; the stuffed animal obsession, for example, was quite good. And the stories progressed, more or less, chronologically, which also was helpful.
ICK! This book was supposed to be as funny as David Sedaris' essays on life, and the forward was promising. But then the author spent page after page on her love life in great detail. Just because her mother was a sex therapist, doesn't mean the reader wants that same disturbing frankness. After skipping about 20 pages, I decided to just close the book. Besides, it committed the unforgivable crime in humorous writing of not being funny.
I was recently down in LA for a consulting gig, and met the husband of this author (and the author herself). Funny, funny book - I found myself laughing to myself at least once a chapter.
I'm no literary genius, but this was a fun and entertaining read. Spero's fascination with candy, smelly erasers, and stuffed animals struck a familiar cord, and I didn't realize that there were others like me out there.
I'm no literary genius, but this was a fun and entertaining read. Spero's fascination with candy, smelly erasers, and stuffed animals struck a familiar cord, and I didn't realize that there were others like me out there.
Well written and laugh out loud funny. Maybe it's because we have the same birthday or maybe it's because we're both nuts, but despite growing up as far apart and in totally separate worlds, I could relate to everything in her book. She loves pop culture as much as I do and recognizes that freakiness is something most people strive for and never achieve. Bravo girlfriend.
This book has been relegated to the bathroom for a little "me time" literature. My me time is blessedly short. What with the kid and all. But I am enjoying it.
Edit: I finally finished this on vacation. It was good, but I wasn't as jazzed by the end. Not entirely the authors fault so much as where I was when I read it.
Edit: I finally finished this on vacation. It was good, but I wasn't as jazzed by the end. Not entirely the authors fault so much as where I was when I read it.
I'm not bowled over by this so far--struggling through it.
--I finished it, but my verdict remains the same. Spero has a fluid writing style, but she seems to try too hard to be wacky (enumerating her compulsions, which unlike true OCD, she can control); an obsession with finger puppets). Not a great read.
--I finished it, but my verdict remains the same. Spero has a fluid writing style, but she seems to try too hard to be wacky (enumerating her compulsions, which unlike true OCD, she can control); an obsession with finger puppets). Not a great read.
Hilarious. I identified strongly with several aspects of the author's personality & memories, especially the OCD-ness and the worry that adults would not believe her (me!) if she saw an alien (or ghost, in my case) that they themselves couldn't see. She blames ET, I blame Wait til Helen Comes.
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Oct 15, 2007 09:24am