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zoiejanelle's review against another edition
4.0
Samantha Irby is one of those writers that can make me cry with laughter AND sadness. she has a raw, unabashed tone to her writing that i really appreciate and resonates with plenty of readers. her essay about her mother’s MS and Samantha’s own early “motherhood” really sparked something in me and helped me to see her in a different light.
this book had a truly shocking amount of “shit” talk in it, but my brand of humor accepted this readily. it was distracting at times from the main messages of other, non-poop-centric essays, but still an important part of her life to highlight.
i definitely like the writing in her other books more, but this was still a worthwhile read!
Graphic: Body shaming, Death of parent, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Death
Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness
kjlewis494's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing
earofthedog's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Excrement, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Medical content
Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexual content
ladythana's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexual content, Grief, Vomit, Medical content, Cursing, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Excrement, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Fatphobia and Body shaming
lily1304's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Death of parent
Lots of uncomfortably detailed descriptions of feces because she talks nonstop about her Crohn's Diseasedroggelbecher42's review against another edition
2.5
I'm sure it can be a good and relatable book for others, but it just didn't do much for me.
Graphic: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Sexual content
Moderate: Misogyny and Eating disorder
sasstronaut's review against another edition
1.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Excrement, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cursing, Medical content, and Sexual content
whatthekatdraggedin's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Fatphobia, and Sexual content
skudiklier's review against another edition
3.25
But I liked it less and less the longer it went on. A lot of the humor felt repetitive--like, I can only read so much about making fun of the all the men she's been with before I get tired of it. By the end I was pretty uninterested and just waiting for it to be over.
I did read the first edition, and she re-ordered the essays for the later editions. Maybe the new order would have kept my interest more. But idk, I just felt like some of the essays were doing/saying the same things as previous ones, and it wasn't funny enough for that to be worth it.
Also there were some things that have not aged well--lots of fatphobia and internalized fatphobia, as well as internalized sexism. Also some things about the environment that I don't feel like she would say ten years later--at least, I hope not.
Anyway I'm giving this four stars because I did like it for a while, and I'm trying not to let my "meh" feelings at the end change my whole thoughts on the book. I don't think I'd recommend it, but maybe I'd try reading some of her later books.
Update: I changed this to 3.25 stars. I was trying to not let the parts I didn't like affect my rating too much, but the more time passes the less I think I'd recommend this. I did like a couple essays and I didn't hate this book or anything, but I no longer think I'd try reading some of her later books even. Just not for me.
Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Sexism, Fatphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, and Excrement
Moderate: Classism, Drug use, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Body horror, Car accident, Eating disorder, Racism, Self harm, Medical content, Ableism, Blood, Sexual content, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Violence
graphic: parentification, diet culture, internalized fatphobia, internalized sexismnotartgarfunkel's review against another edition
4.0
As indicated by the title, one connection between these essays is Irby’s lived experience of her body. She discusses sex, chronic illness, race, fatness, mental health, and gender, among other things. There are also accounts of her mother’s illness and death. I really appreciate Irby’s irreverent approach to these hard topics. I laughed a lot, but I was also struck by how much she has had to survive.
Some of these essays were hard for me to read (thanks, OCD!), but I’m glad I did. I can’t wait to get to her later collections and see how her life and writing have changed. She’s a real gem.
Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, and Alcoholism
Minor: Drug abuse