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blaxkthinker_96's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.75
lauraborkpower's review
2.0
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. But I found it--while well written and quite funny in spots--just a surface-skimming collection of anecdotes that are not as well connected as I'd like them to be.
Rae touches on a lot of interesting spots in her life--her early foray into chat rooms, her conflicts with being too black and not black enough as she moved from school to school--but none of the stories go very deep. She also leaves a couple of gaping holes in her narrative that drove me crazy when I realized she wasn't going to come back to them. There's a story she tells about lying to her boss and she makes the comment that the lie was something she'd come to regret for the rest of her life. That's a big statement, but she never explains it. She just leaves it there, not recognizing its significance, and never brings it up again.
After I finished her book, I thought I might have missed something because I hadn't watched her web series; so I immediately binge-watched it. The series is excellent: well-written, funny, relatable. Rae is a talented writer with a great point of view, and she shines when she's putting her Awkward Black Girl in fictional settings surrounded by other characters. That just doesn't come through in her memoir, though.
I'd loved to hear more about the start of the web series and her life at that time--how she developed it, how it went from simple to more complex as it gained popularity. But she doesn't talk much about that.
As an audiobook it is successful in its narration. Rae narrates the book herself, and I love when writers do this for their own memoirs. Rae knows what she wants to emphasize; she knows what should be funny and what should be serious. Rae also has a great reading voice, and I could listen to her say "Senegalese" over and over again. If you're already a fan of her series, you'll likely enjoy the book. If you don't know who she is, just watch her series. It's really good.
Rae touches on a lot of interesting spots in her life--her early foray into chat rooms, her conflicts with being too black and not black enough as she moved from school to school--but none of the stories go very deep. She also leaves a couple of gaping holes in her narrative that drove me crazy when I realized she wasn't going to come back to them. There's a story she tells about lying to her boss and she makes the comment that the lie was something she'd come to regret for the rest of her life. That's a big statement, but she never explains it. She just leaves it there, not recognizing its significance, and never brings it up again.
After I finished her book, I thought I might have missed something because I hadn't watched her web series; so I immediately binge-watched it. The series is excellent: well-written, funny, relatable. Rae is a talented writer with a great point of view, and she shines when she's putting her Awkward Black Girl in fictional settings surrounded by other characters. That just doesn't come through in her memoir, though.
I'd loved to hear more about the start of the web series and her life at that time--how she developed it, how it went from simple to more complex as it gained popularity. But she doesn't talk much about that.
As an audiobook it is successful in its narration. Rae narrates the book herself, and I love when writers do this for their own memoirs. Rae knows what she wants to emphasize; she knows what should be funny and what should be serious. Rae also has a great reading voice, and I could listen to her say "Senegalese" over and over again. If you're already a fan of her series, you'll likely enjoy the book. If you don't know who she is, just watch her series. It's really good.
drakken's review against another edition
3.0
I appreciate Issa and *thoroughly* enjoyed the excellent Insecure, but found this book - while not without its moments - to be a pretty uneven collection of thoughts/stories, with unremarkable writing.
roxymaybe's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good, but there's a weird chapter in the middle where she just goes on and on about how terrible it is to be fat (ie 10-30 lbs 'overweight')
ieemee's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
The memoir was engaging.
lidoffadaffodil's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0