Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Nov 10, 2012 Molly rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, memoir, non-fiction, humor, recommended, 4-stars, read-in-2012

I've wanted to read this for a while, but hesitated to pick it up, because I'm NOT an Office fan. I eventually downloaded it because I wanted something entertaining (but not too hard to follow) to keep me occupied while I was stuck at the jr high Literary Contest last weekend. This did not disappoint -- it's an easy read, and made me laugh out loud quite a bit. Kaling actually doesn't spend a great deal of time on The Office, which might have disappointed me if I were a fan wanting to hear crazy I've wanted to read this for a while, but hesitated to pick it up, because I'm NOT an Office fan. I eventually downloaded it because I wanted something entertaining (but not too hard to follow) to keep me occupied while I was stuck at the jr high Literary Contest last weekend. This did not disappoint -- it's an easy read, and made me laugh out loud quite a bit. Kaling actually doesn't spend a great deal of time on The Office, which might have disappointed me if I were a fan wanting to hear crazy backstage stories. Since I don't care for the show, I mostly skimmed that chapter, and while there were a few other tertiary references and anecdotes throughout, I didn't feel like I was reading some sort of "insider's guide to The Office," which is what I had worried about initially.

The problem with this, and it's the same problem I noticed in Bossypants, is that it's not sure what it wants to be. Is it a memoir of a quirky childhood/adolescence? A little. Is it a tale of trying to "make it" in the ultra-competitive TV writing business? Somewhat. Is it about what happens when you finally make it in said business. Sort of. Is it a series of humorous, detailed, and ultimately unrelated lists? At times (a little too frequently). For a fairly short book -- I read it on my Kindle, but I think it's only about 220 pages -- it jumped around quite a bit. I think any of those topics could probably have made for an entire memoir -- I for one would have loved to hear more about the Matt & Ben years (Kaling and her roommate creating and staring in a play based on Matt Damon and Ben Affleck writing Good Will Hunting...which was picked up for a pilot at some point). It just felt all over the place, particularly in later chapters, when things got more listy. It's like Kaling couldn't quite settle on a topic: Here are some things about guys! Here's what I think of funny movies! Here's why I love my best friend! All entertaining as standalone pieces, but one after another after another, they started to lose some of their entertainment value. The chapters themselves also seemed to get shorter and shorter as the book went on. And while I have no problem with short chapters, just reading them was making me feel like I had ADD, especially given the frequent topic shifts.

But overall, I enjoyed this for what it was -- something fluffy to entertain me. As Kaling herself says in the intro, you can read this book in two days, it's not going to require a serious time commitment, nor is it a major life decision. After feeling like I was slogging through the last few chapters of 11/22/63, this was an excellent palate cleanser (I actually felt a weird sense of freedom upon finishing that book!).

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Jan 14, 2015 Rossie rated it it was ok

Mindy Kaling talks to her mom on the phone every day. And that's pretty much what this book feels like. It feels like the sort of stories that you get out of someone right after they happened. There's no filter for how interesting it is. There's no time passed and no lessons learned. It's just random bits. And there are dropped threads, like what the heck happens to her Dartmouth besties/NYC roomies after the whole Matt & Ben thing? And why isn't there a story about her name change? She was born ...more

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Mar 06, 2019 Deb rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir, humor, audiobook

I liked the beginning a lot more than the middle and end. This is probably because I have not watched The Office (or anything else that Mindy Kaling has been in--why listen to her book, you may wonder? Hmmm. Good question.).

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Dec 01, 2014 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cracked-me-the-s-up

Really funny. I loved that most chapters were short and zingy. The humor is very sly, rather than guffaw-inducing.

And I hope that "stylist" never works again. ...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Jenny rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012

I was laughing so hard I was crying.

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Oct 09, 2018 Laura Vultaggio rated it liked it

I love Mindy Kaling and her book was interesting and funny if somewhat disjointed. It was really interesting to learn more about how she got her start in comedy and she is brutally honest, which is a breath of fresh air.

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