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smalltownbookmom's review against another edition
I really enjoyed this YA coming of age story about a teen girl who stumbles into stand up comedy and ends up finding close friends and a medium that empowers and helps her find her voice. This book did such a good job of exploring toxic relationships and how hard it can be to end things with an emotionally abusive partner. Great on audio narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen (who also narrated Weather Girl) and perfect for fans of other stories featuring female stand up comics like Funny feelings by Tarah DeWitt or Perfect timing by Owen Nicholls.
blairconrad's review
5.0
Fantastic. You have to suspend your disbelief a smidge, but after that, it's all goodness. Characters felt real, to the point of one of them making me quite uncomfortable. Entertaining writing. Like Maisel but YA and better…
kill_so_kind's review
5.0
4.5/5 stars.
This story reminds me of a teen drama show if the characters actually got what was good for them, you know? The main character felt very real. I also think Henry handled the toxic/abusive relationship well. It was a little cheesy in some places, but this book made me smile.
This story reminds me of a teen drama show if the characters actually got what was good for them, you know? The main character felt very real. I also think Henry handled the toxic/abusive relationship well. It was a little cheesy in some places, but this book made me smile.
neglet's review
Really engaging read, which nicely balances difficult relationships with the protagonist’s adventures into stand up. The stand up bits are actually kind of funny, which doesn’t always happen in books about comedy. Content warning for an abusive relationship—although I love how stand-up comedy empowers the protagonist to stand up for herself and others.
misha_ali's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this. Stand-up comedy as a way to find your voice and learn that the world is not as small as you think, and someday you will fit in the way you want. Love it!
lookingforamandaa's review
5.0
This Will be Funny Someday is a story that follows Isabel, the youngest child (an unexpected pregnancy for her parents), feels like a pig among a family of puppies, always trying to keep up and never succeeding. She has learned to keep her thoughts to herself, never speaking up. So, this pattern follows with her boyfriend, Alex. He is controlling and abusive, though Isabel hasn’t realized that yet. But when she worries that she’ll get in trouble if he sees her, she sneaks into what she thinks is a restaurant. Isabel has hearing issues. It’s not her ears, but some sort of auditory processing disorder. So, she manages to find her way into a loud club and can’t understand what is being said. Little does she know, she just signed herself up to perform as a stand-up comedian. On stage, she becomes Izzy V. She finds a place where she can use her voice.
Izzy meets Mo and some of Mo’s friends. Mo brings Izzy into the stand-up comedy world.
I loved all of the parts of this story that had Mo and their friends in it. They were funny because they’re all teaching Izzy about comedy and how to write good jokes. But they’re a diverse group so, they also talk about the struggles of stand-up comedy as a person of color or as someone queer. These are topics Izzy wouldn’t generally have thought of, as she comes from a place of privilege. I thought it was a really great part of the story. Izzy is in a place in her life where she is learning who she is and what kind of person she wants to be. So, learning about the experiences of others is an important thing for her. She doesn’t always act the right way or say the right thing, but I think that was realistic. I didn’t love that she lied about her age, but I think that whole situation was handled well when the truth finally came out.
Now, Isabel’s relationship with her boyfriend was not a good one. It wasn’t completely clear from the beginning, but the more we saw of their relationship the more obvious it was that it wasn’t a healthy one. My favorite thing about this book was that when Izzy started wanting to speak up. Through her stand-up routine, she gains confidence. She starts to believe that the things she has to say matter. So, she starts using her voice in other areas of her life. Like her friendships and at school.
I think this book does so many things all in one story, but it did them all really well. There are some really tough topics (most obvious is the toxic relationship, but there are also discussions of racism and discrimination). I thought that all of these tough topics were discussed thoughtfully and with care. But take that with a grain of salt, as I am not a part of any of those represented in these conversations (aside from queer and female). I love all of Henry’s work so far and I am very eager to see what she will write next.
Izzy meets Mo and some of Mo’s friends. Mo brings Izzy into the stand-up comedy world.
I loved all of the parts of this story that had Mo and their friends in it. They were funny because they’re all teaching Izzy about comedy and how to write good jokes. But they’re a diverse group so, they also talk about the struggles of stand-up comedy as a person of color or as someone queer. These are topics Izzy wouldn’t generally have thought of, as she comes from a place of privilege. I thought it was a really great part of the story. Izzy is in a place in her life where she is learning who she is and what kind of person she wants to be. So, learning about the experiences of others is an important thing for her. She doesn’t always act the right way or say the right thing, but I think that was realistic. I didn’t love that she lied about her age, but I think that whole situation was handled well when the truth finally came out.
Now, Isabel’s relationship with her boyfriend was not a good one. It wasn’t completely clear from the beginning, but the more we saw of their relationship the more obvious it was that it wasn’t a healthy one. My favorite thing about this book was that when Izzy started wanting to speak up. Through her stand-up routine, she gains confidence. She starts to believe that the things she has to say matter. So, she starts using her voice in other areas of her life. Like her friendships and at school.
I think this book does so many things all in one story, but it did them all really well. There are some really tough topics (most obvious is the toxic relationship, but there are also discussions of racism and discrimination). I thought that all of these tough topics were discussed thoughtfully and with care. But take that with a grain of salt, as I am not a part of any of those represented in these conversations (aside from queer and female). I love all of Henry’s work so far and I am very eager to see what she will write next.
delaney572e4's review
4.0
Such a delight! I really enjoyed Katie Henry's Heretics Anonymous and Let's Call it a Doomsday, so I can only kick myself for putting this off for so long. The only thing I was disappointed by is there seemed to be a hint of nonbinary questioning that I would have liked explored a little further. Especially because the quote "Do I really not feel like a girl, or is it just that I don't want to deal with all the baggage that comes with it?" is one of the most relatable things I have ever read.
As a content warning, the main character is in an emotionally abusive relationship for much of the book, and that can definitely be difficult to read, but the book really empathizes with why she feels like she should stay in the relationship, while also making it clear that it is abusive, which I think is a really important representation for teenagers to be able to read.
As a content warning, the main character is in an emotionally abusive relationship for much of the book, and that can definitely be difficult to read, but the book really empathizes with why she feels like she should stay in the relationship, while also making it clear that it is abusive, which I think is a really important representation for teenagers to be able to read.
stbeaners's review
5.0
As far as YA goes, this is heavy. And yet a delightful story. Mrs Maisey meets As You Like It. I don’t think I can write a review that will articulate how much I enjoyed this story. You’ll have to try it for yourself.
jugglingpup's review
5.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I got an ARC of this book.
I got this book not expecting much. It sounded like it would be too much and I was kinda excited for a train wreck. I was so wrong. This book might have cured my reading slump. I flew through it and wanted more. I loved it so much. I really should stop judging books by the cover and maybe three lines of the description.
I was so, so incredibly worried about the controlling boyfriend plot. My first boyfriend was this guy. Needed to know where I was, alienated me from my friends, would do everything he could to spin stories (like the time he punched the wall next to my face in front of all his friends, but by the end of the day I was being accosted about why I hit him). I understood how magically it can feel to be on the good end of that energy. I also know how scary it can be to be on the bad end. The way the characters reacted were amazing. The best friend who left, because she was so overwhelmed with the situation. The way an adult reacted and said that only weak people stayed in those relationships. This was me in high school at sixteen.
Also me at sixteen was befriending a bunch of college students and starting to come out. I read the MC as nonbinary and I got so excited at one point when she is talking to her college BFF about what it means to be a girl and why does she does the things she does. It sounded like it was going to be the “I think I am nonbinary”, but it was a reaction to sexual harassment which is a lot less fun. The sexual harassment was a bit scary. I was afraid at how far it would go. My heart was in my throat.
There was casual queer content and casual explanations of privilege. It was a social conscious book and it didn’t read like it was preaching. It was wonderful. It was very much the conversations that I had in college and how my friend group talked. It felt so real and so close to my life. I loved the jokes. I loved the friends. I loved so much about this book. The MC also had an auditory processing disorder that remained unnamed. How badass is it to have a MC that has an auditory processing disorder? I LIVED FOR HER. I got so excited and started sending everyone links for the book before I had even finished chapter two. I was already sure I was going to love it all.
The weirdest part of this book to me is that around this time in my life I started going by Izy. I was starting to transition and Izy was a gender neutral name, because I was not 100% sure I was totally a guy, I knew I wasn’t a girl, but there are a lot of other options. So seeing this Izzy going through things and reading her as nonbinary made this book so close to me. I think that really added to the charm.
Overall, this book is much more serious than the cover allows. I was delighted to be proven wrong about my expectations. I loved this book and I look forward to more from Henry.
I got an ARC of this book.
I got this book not expecting much. It sounded like it would be too much and I was kinda excited for a train wreck. I was so wrong. This book might have cured my reading slump. I flew through it and wanted more. I loved it so much. I really should stop judging books by the cover and maybe three lines of the description.
I was so, so incredibly worried about the controlling boyfriend plot. My first boyfriend was this guy. Needed to know where I was, alienated me from my friends, would do everything he could to spin stories (like the time he punched the wall next to my face in front of all his friends, but by the end of the day I was being accosted about why I hit him). I understood how magically it can feel to be on the good end of that energy. I also know how scary it can be to be on the bad end. The way the characters reacted were amazing. The best friend who left, because she was so overwhelmed with the situation. The way an adult reacted and said that only weak people stayed in those relationships. This was me in high school at sixteen.
Also me at sixteen was befriending a bunch of college students and starting to come out. I read the MC as nonbinary and I got so excited at one point when she is talking to her college BFF about what it means to be a girl and why does she does the things she does. It sounded like it was going to be the “I think I am nonbinary”, but it was a reaction to sexual harassment which is a lot less fun. The sexual harassment was a bit scary. I was afraid at how far it would go. My heart was in my throat.
There was casual queer content and casual explanations of privilege. It was a social conscious book and it didn’t read like it was preaching. It was wonderful. It was very much the conversations that I had in college and how my friend group talked. It felt so real and so close to my life. I loved the jokes. I loved the friends. I loved so much about this book. The MC also had an auditory processing disorder that remained unnamed. How badass is it to have a MC that has an auditory processing disorder? I LIVED FOR HER. I got so excited and started sending everyone links for the book before I had even finished chapter two. I was already sure I was going to love it all.
The weirdest part of this book to me is that around this time in my life I started going by Izy. I was starting to transition and Izy was a gender neutral name, because I was not 100% sure I was totally a guy, I knew I wasn’t a girl, but there are a lot of other options. So seeing this Izzy going through things and reading her as nonbinary made this book so close to me. I think that really added to the charm.
Overall, this book is much more serious than the cover allows. I was delighted to be proven wrong about my expectations. I loved this book and I look forward to more from Henry.