If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?

by Cynthia Heimel

The latest collection of caustic wit and chronic truth-telling from the bestselling author of Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth, I'm Kissing You Goodbye confirms once and for all that Cynthia Heimel is the most beloved and indis pensable everywoman of our times.

How Can I Dump Him When He Hasn't Called Me.
Sleepless in Sandusky.
If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?
No Nintendo, No G-Strings.
When the Phone Doesn't Ring, It'll Be Him --
The Hidden Life of Women Who Run With the Dogs.
How to Find the Perfect Mate.
Networking With Wolves.
Believing in Dog.
The Hidden Life of Women Who Run With the Dogs.
Now We Are Eight --
Rush Limbaugh: Blow Me.
Spay and Neuter Your Humans.
Polarity: A Lifestyle.
I'm PC, You're a Dickhead.
If I Were a Black Man.
Good Old Days: Fact Or Fiction? --
Pop Goes the Culture.
Nice Girls Don't Read Romances.
The Celestine Cliff Notes.
Smart People in L.A.!
The World According to ABFAB.
Old Guys Amok in Hollywood --
Sisterhood Is Everywhere.
Guns and Poses.
Is Female Feminine?

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Essays, Feminism, Gender

181 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Cynthia Heimel was a feminist humorist writer, a columnist, a playwright and television writer.

Reviews

[Jorė · Rating 4 out of 5]

What makes it such a good material for rainy binge reading weekend?
- having real Jewish grandma who lived through the sixties and forward to these days probably wouldn't be as great as just reading her stories
- it is always the highest class of columnist when stuff written decades ago still ring a bell.
Polarisation of American society? Here you are. Harassment waves? Do reprint her words today and no one would notice it's been written long time ago. Gender stuff? Some things change and make me super grateful to be me in 2018. Some things doesn't change and it rings a bell.
- she is smart and funny. Period.

It scares me there is almost nothing on YouTube with C. Heimel besides some reports on her death. Where are all the interviews, why she is not super famous with her face printed over t-shirts and why no one is celebrating her? Why, binge watching all the seasons of Sex and the city numerous times we, or ok, I never came across Heimel as a must read author?

My friends, getting loads of quotes through the weekend don't seem to hate me yet, which is also a good sign.

[Yuqi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first two sections a lot. The essays on feminism, women, and men resonated with me much more in this book than in Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth, but I was disappointed to find that I didn't get most of her other essays on pop culture or politics.

Here's one quote that I found really clever in Ode to Sweatpants:
Dresses think they make a statement, but I am no longer willing to let my clothing speak for me, since it never learned how to say, “You are very boring, please go away,” at cocktail parties.

[Kathleen Dienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

She did neurotic single woman hilarity before it was a genre, and there's still nobody funnier.

[Karl Kraus · Rating 5 out of 5]

"With dogs, you don't need gurus. Dogs are forever in the moment. They are always a tidal wave of feelings, and every feeling is some variant of love. They take us out of our heads and into our lives. They remind us of where we came from."

That paragraph was enough to sell me on this book. :-)

Whether to increase sales or confuse bibliophiles, "If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?" and "When Your Phone Doesn't Ring, It'll Be Me" are the same book. The former is the hardcover title; the latter, the title of the paperback reissue. Or perhaps the paperback publisher didn't think there was much of a market for a cover with a photo of the author and one of her dogs, along with a totally doglike sentiment for a title, would sell widely. Fools.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some selections are fresh and hilarious. Some haven’t aged as well.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I noticed that it has taken me almost a year to finish this, I was a little startled, but then again, as a collection of articles and other pieces, this is the kind of thing you can dip in and out of.

There are some really great pieces in here, especially in what I like to think of as the feminist section, but overall this was a little bit hit and miss for me. Sometimes I simply did not get the logic of Heimel's humour, but at other times I was chuckling happily.

[Rose]

F Hei

[Kayleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, a collection of articles, was 80% dog rescue and 20% feminism with a smattering of male bashing and body image and mother hating.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny, but dated since it's from the 90s.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked it a good deal