Why Not Me?

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

Published September 27, 2016 by Three Rivers Press

Rating: ★★★★

If there were such a thing as celebrity soul mates, I'd like to think mine would be Mindy Kaling. Because that's the kind of person Kaling is: graduate of an Ivy League college, writer/actor for two successful tv shows, author of two books... and so down-to-earth that a yokel like me can think, "yeah, sure, we could totally be friends." Because Kaling for sure has nothing better to do than call me up and vent over why no one has thought to make a hair iron with auto shutoff (Kaling's number one fear is accidentally having left hers on-- hear, hear).*

I read Kaling's first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, and I think her second effort is better. One thing she didn't devote much page space to is body image-- or rather the media obsession with her shockingly average figure and the expectation that Kaling be an ambassador of body positivity just for daring to appear on television while a size 10.

"If I were your doctor or your congresswoman or your sandwich artist, you wouldn't be shocked to see me, and yet, because I'm an actress, a grown man was amazed that I put jam on my toast."

A lot of Kaling's writing is irreverent, random, but entertaining and relatable. She worries that her Uber driver is a serial murderer, and wonders if all the hair she pulls out of her shower drain means she's on the fast tract to wigsville. She can't sleep because she's fretting over the early-stage cancers that could be living inside her, undetected. She takes a theater-hating friend to the theater and expects the evening to end with a thank you gift. She imagines what her life would be like if she had become a Latin teacher and writes romantic comedies starring her alter ego.

I could live without the dating escapades that seem required of these types of memoirs. Kaling's outlook on romance and dating is cringe worthy. While Kaling aspires to write the next great romantic comedy, I think what this book proves is that her real genius is in brilliant one liners and self-aware satire.

"My sense of humor is loud and wet and risque, like topless day at the water park."

Kaling also wants you to know that she works hard. Really hard. And she has a message for America-- even mothers. It's ok to work really hard. And if you want to inspire confidence in your daughter, you should focus on her work ethic. 

"It's just that, the truth is, I have never, ever, ever met a highly confident and successful person who is not what a movie would call a 'workaholic.'"

This isn't exactly a life changing book, but it's fun, and heads and tails above its many competitors in the suddenly crowded female-comedy-writer-who-struggles-to-find-husband memoir genre.

* I have made my husband turn around the car more times than I can count because I'm worried I've left on the hair iron. Seriously, people, auto shutoff. Someone get on this.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of Blogging for Books. It did not effect my review in any way.