Book-It 'o12! Book #13
May. 19th, 2012 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alivemagdoleneThe Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one, two, and three just in case you're curious.) This was a library request.
Title: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
Details: Copyright 2011, Crown Archetype
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”
Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!
In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I liked Kaling's appearance on The Daily Show and I'd been meaning to get around to reading her book. My recent foray into Tina Fey prompted me to go ahead and request this.
How I Liked It: There is unfortunately a lot of comparison to Tina Fey's book which came out the same year (this book was among those recommended to me via Amazon and other similar services), even by the author herself (in her introduction, she answers potential questions, one of which includes "This sounds okay, but not as good as Tina Fey's book. Why isn't this more like Tina Fey's book?"). I say unfortunately because even with its flaws, Fey's book is a lot to live up to, not least of which because Tina Fey is, frankly, more famous (it's still surprising to many that Kaling isn't just an actress playing a minor supporting character on The Office, she's actually a writer, producer, and director of said series). So Kaling has to try to introduce herself and establish her personality as best she can, even devoting a lengthy section on ways she is different from her Office persona, Kelly Kapoor.
So oddly, it's not the biographical chapters in her book that trip it up, it's largely the pop-y, topical sections, most especially the chapter "The Best Distraction in the World: Romance and Guys," wherein Kaling is most apparent in trying to establish her identity. Unlike her chapters where she relates her upbringing, her introduction to and obsession with comedy, her start in the entertainment industry, and even relating semi-current events like her People magazine Most Beautiful People fashion shoot, the fluff largely comes across as exactly that. It feels as though she's trying so hard to establish a persona, her trying to hard quickly becomes that persona. I got the distinct forced "girly girl's girl" feel of Meghan McCain, but without the Mad Libbs of pop culture references.
Which is a shame since clearly Kaling is capable of much more. The Office aside, even within this book she has plenty that's out and out hilarious. But the comedic meat gets too easily lost in the unfunny fluff.
Still, Kaling offers insight into comedy and into show business itself that's fascinating and intriguing and though her book might lack Fey's cohesiveness, it's still an amusing (if occasionally annoying) read.
Notable: I am one of the most obnoxious people when it comes to dates in books. I'm the nit-pickiest person on earth about that for some reason, as anyone that's actually followed this insane review project has no doubt noticed. So when Kaling is fangirling Amy Poehler when describing her ill-fated stint at Saturday Night Live ("Contributing Nothing at Saturday Night Live"), this caught my eye:
Poehler was slated to leave Saturday Night Live in October 2008 due to the birth of her baby. She did deliver in October, but returned to do two more shows in December, finishing her last show on December 13th. The Sarah Palin rap Poehler did on Update was on October 18th, 2008, when Palin herself infamously appeared on the show.
Kaling continues fangirling Poehler later in the book, in her chapter regarding marriage:
The publication date on this book is 2011, which would make four years prior 2007. As late as July 2008, Poehler was still "in negotiations" with writers to star in the series. The show debuted on television in April 2009.
I confirmed all this with a little Googling. Though Kaling praises her editor in the acknowledgements as "brilliant," little mistakes like these leave you scratching your head (obviously more the former flub than the latter-- it was SNL's influence in the 2008 election that got so much press, especially regarding Tina Fey and Amy Poehler) and yet confirming about what you'd expected of the rest of the book (it needed better editing).
ALSO NOTABLE: A last comparison to Fey's book, in Kaling's final chapter "Goodbye", she takes on final questions:
To borrow Fey's "spinach-in-the-brownies" metaphor about her famous Clinton/Palin joint statement sketch actually being about feminism and "no one noticing because it was funny," Kaling found a way to give her opinion on the subject "without talking about it," again an example of how excellent her writing can be (and thus the disappointment when it isn't).
Title: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
Details: Copyright 2011, Crown Archetype
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”
Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!
In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I liked Kaling's appearance on The Daily Show and I'd been meaning to get around to reading her book. My recent foray into Tina Fey prompted me to go ahead and request this.
How I Liked It: There is unfortunately a lot of comparison to Tina Fey's book which came out the same year (this book was among those recommended to me via Amazon and other similar services), even by the author herself (in her introduction, she answers potential questions, one of which includes "This sounds okay, but not as good as Tina Fey's book. Why isn't this more like Tina Fey's book?"). I say unfortunately because even with its flaws, Fey's book is a lot to live up to, not least of which because Tina Fey is, frankly, more famous (it's still surprising to many that Kaling isn't just an actress playing a minor supporting character on The Office, she's actually a writer, producer, and director of said series). So Kaling has to try to introduce herself and establish her personality as best she can, even devoting a lengthy section on ways she is different from her Office persona, Kelly Kapoor.
So oddly, it's not the biographical chapters in her book that trip it up, it's largely the pop-y, topical sections, most especially the chapter "The Best Distraction in the World: Romance and Guys," wherein Kaling is most apparent in trying to establish her identity. Unlike her chapters where she relates her upbringing, her introduction to and obsession with comedy, her start in the entertainment industry, and even relating semi-current events like her People magazine Most Beautiful People fashion shoot, the fluff largely comes across as exactly that. It feels as though she's trying so hard to establish a persona, her trying to hard quickly becomes that persona. I got the distinct forced "girly girl's girl" feel of Meghan McCain, but without the Mad Libbs of pop culture references.
Which is a shame since clearly Kaling is capable of much more. The Office aside, even within this book she has plenty that's out and out hilarious. But the comedic meat gets too easily lost in the unfunny fluff.
Still, Kaling offers insight into comedy and into show business itself that's fascinating and intriguing and though her book might lack Fey's cohesiveness, it's still an amusing (if occasionally annoying) read.
Notable: I am one of the most obnoxious people when it comes to dates in books. I'm the nit-pickiest person on earth about that for some reason, as anyone that's actually followed this insane review project has no doubt noticed. So when Kaling is fangirling Amy Poehler when describing her ill-fated stint at Saturday Night Live ("Contributing Nothing at Saturday Night Live"), this caught my eye:
“Everyone has a moment when they discover they love Amy Poehler. For most people it happened sometime during her run on Saturday Night Live. For some it was when she came back to the show in 2009, nine months pregnant, and did that complicated, hard-core Sarah Palin rap on Weekend Update.” (pg 130)
Poehler was slated to leave Saturday Night Live in October 2008 due to the birth of her baby. She did deliver in October, but returned to do two more shows in December, finishing her last show on December 13th. The Sarah Palin rap Poehler did on Update was on October 18th, 2008, when Palin herself infamously appeared on the show.
Kaling continues fangirling Poehler later in the book, in her chapter regarding marriage:
“Not to belabor the Amy Poehler of it all, but I've always really admired her marriage to Will Arnett. I remember at the Park and Recreation premiere four years ago, Amy was looking for her husband toward the end of the night.” (pg 185)
The publication date on this book is 2011, which would make four years prior 2007. As late as July 2008, Poehler was still "in negotiations" with writers to star in the series. The show debuted on television in April 2009.
I confirmed all this with a little Googling. Though Kaling praises her editor in the acknowledgements as "brilliant," little mistakes like these leave you scratching your head (obviously more the former flub than the latter-- it was SNL's influence in the 2008 election that got so much press, especially regarding Tina Fey and Amy Poehler) and yet confirming about what you'd expected of the rest of the book (it needed better editing).
ALSO NOTABLE: A last comparison to Fey's book, in Kaling's final chapter "Goodbye", she takes on final questions:
“Why didn't you talk about whether women are funny or not?
I just felt that by commenting on that in any real way, it would be tacit approval of it as a legitimate debate, which it isn't. It would be the same as addressing the issue of "Should dogs and cats be able to care for our children? They're in the house anyway." I try not to make it a habit to seriously discuss nonsensical hot-button issues.” (pg 218)
To borrow Fey's "spinach-in-the-brownies" metaphor about her famous Clinton/Palin joint statement sketch actually being about feminism and "no one noticing because it was funny," Kaling found a way to give her opinion on the subject "without talking about it," again an example of how excellent her writing can be (and thus the disappointment when it isn't).
