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aliciaflattt's review against another edition
3.0
Oh what a book!
Any time I need to stop a reading lull I get a comedian's memoir and it really does the trick.
Read this book if you:
- like raunchy humor
- are a parent or have good friends who are parents
- love learning about as Asian American experience and are looking for a crass, colourful telling of that story
I laughed out loud and cringed and made sure my kids were never within earshot when listening this. But I also felt seen as a working mother. Could not relate to her wild escapades in Vietnam or her stand up career but that's what made the book so great.
Tip for when you pick this up - do not skip the afterword by Allie's husband. But also you might fall in love with him. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Any time I need to stop a reading lull I get a comedian's memoir and it really does the trick.
Read this book if you:
- like raunchy humor
- are a parent or have good friends who are parents
- love learning about as Asian American experience and are looking for a crass, colourful telling of that story
I laughed out loud and cringed and made sure my kids were never within earshot when listening this. But I also felt seen as a working mother. Could not relate to her wild escapades in Vietnam or her stand up career but that's what made the book so great.
Tip for when you pick this up - do not skip the afterword by Allie's husband. But also you might fall in love with him. Don't say I didn't warn you.
jbradley_reads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
emleemay's review against another edition
4.0
I've felt an increasing amount of jealousy and resentment from certain white male comics... I hear that line a lot: 'Me, I'm just another white guy.' Here's a solution: Try being a funnier white guy.
I had such a fun time reading this book!
[b:Dear Girls|44600621|Dear Girls Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life|Ali Wong|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553635552l/44600621._SY75_.jpg|69234815] was given to me as a gift and, at first, I wasn't sure how much it was really my thing, or even if I was going to read it. I like Ali Wong's stand-up just fine, but I don't read many books by comedians (just [b:Born a Crime|29780253|Born a Crime Stories From a South African Childhood|Trevor Noah|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473867911l/29780253._SY75_.jpg|50150838], which you definitely should read). Also, I say I like Ali Wong because I love how she tells really relatable stories and doesn't sugarcoat them with nice words, but I'm also not a huge fan of crude humour. Look, I grew up in Yorkshire where everyone has a crude sense of humour. In the beautiful land of God’s Own County, you might hear a passing child yell something about “p***y” (I’m only sorta joking). I'm immune to it at this point.
But, you know, this book was really entertaining and surprisingly sweet and heartwarming (in a hilarious way). Wong writes the book as a series of letters to her young daughters-- about life, love, sex, dating, careers, motherhood, and being East Asian. It's a good one of those funny-serious books in that she's talking about important things but is determined to never lose her sense of humour or trim her hairy bush. As we say in Yorkshire, "good lass".
What Ali Wong does is normalize all the gross and embarrassing stuff that many people do but won't talk about: fart during yoga, grow a huge forest in the pubic region, date multiple guys who lose their erections... it's quite refreshing.
Sometimes it seems like Ali Wong is fearless because her comedy is so without inhibition, but she also confesses to her own worries and fears and failures in this book. She leaves her daughters with a powerful message (though they are going to cringe so hard when they finally read this, lol) that it's okay to fail, to mess up, to sleep with the wrong person, to pick yourself up again and laugh about it. How wonderful that these girls have a mother behind them who is simultaneously so strong AND willing to be vulnerable.
Oh, and the food. All the talk of delicious food in this book made me so hungry
dreamwritten's review against another edition
4.0
Originally got ahead of myself and rated this 4 stars before hearing the afterward by her husband. That touching letter bumped this up to a 4.5. Ali is as hilarious and raunchy as ever in this book and her husband seems like an incredibly caring guy. I feel bad for her kids if they ever read this, though ... I don't think I'd ever want to know this stuff about my own mom!
The grumpy vegan in me wants to take a star back because she converted her husband back to eating meat, but I'll let her have this one.
The grumpy vegan in me wants to take a star back because she converted her husband back to eating meat, but I'll let her have this one.
jolly_joshy's review against another edition
5.0
This book is actually pretty funny. I don't think I've chuckled at a book this much before. It was a lot of fun reading it, but is also very brash and visually-extreme in some parts (Ali Wong style). I think if you're extremely traditional/conservative, you might have a hard time digesting some of her writing, but that's something that I think you should overcome as a reader. I pretty much knew nothing of Ali Wong before reading this, but now am kind of down to watch her comedy specials.
I definitely recommend boys to read this book too. Although a lot of it may seem unnecessary for guys to read (like all the chapters and mentions of pregnancy or child birth), I think that is what makes this even more essential for guys to read and learn. A lot of the experiences detailed in this book are experiences that I could never imagine for myself, and possibly would never have imagined if not for reading them in this book. Without making this review into too political of a statement, I think it is correct for me to say that boys would have a lot to learn and gain from reading this book that's primarily targeted towards Ali Wong's own daughters.
This was a quick and fun read for me, and I hope it is for you too. The only thing I didn't like was how she sometimes talks down on herself (like calling herself an idiot), and I get that it might be for comedic purposes, etc, but I think sometimes she goes overboard. That's all, enjoy!
I definitely recommend boys to read this book too. Although a lot of it may seem unnecessary for guys to read (like all the chapters and mentions of pregnancy or child birth), I think that is what makes this even more essential for guys to read and learn. A lot of the experiences detailed in this book are experiences that I could never imagine for myself, and possibly would never have imagined if not for reading them in this book. Without making this review into too political of a statement, I think it is correct for me to say that boys would have a lot to learn and gain from reading this book that's primarily targeted towards Ali Wong's own daughters.
This was a quick and fun read for me, and I hope it is for you too. The only thing I didn't like was how she sometimes talks down on herself (like calling herself an idiot), and I get that it might be for comedic purposes, etc, but I think sometimes she goes overboard. That's all, enjoy!
profesorem's review against another edition
1.0
i'm giving this a little-one star, not because it's bad, but because i don't want to look back on this year thinking about this as one of the greats. i enjoyed the book. to me ali is the best female stand-up comedian i've stumbled upon, because of how real and authentic she is. and to me her humour is the best kind, mostly because it's just a tiny spark of how i view the world and often act around other people. i try to be funny while giving out most intimate details about myself, my life and my partners, not because i am an ass, but because it's how i try to connect with others.
i wish she could have dropped the phrase ,,dear girls!" and talk to the readers (women or men) instead of talking to her daughters. it became boring after four or five chapters. but i was glad i get to know much of the vietnamese culture and what it's like to be asian american in a comedy world.
i will remember this book as being the first one i read on my amazon kindle paperwhite and that to me speaks volumes!
i wish she could have dropped the phrase ,,dear girls!" and talk to the readers (women or men) instead of talking to her daughters. it became boring after four or five chapters. but i was glad i get to know much of the vietnamese culture and what it's like to be asian american in a comedy world.
i will remember this book as being the first one i read on my amazon kindle paperwhite and that to me speaks volumes!
gloating_elixir's review against another edition
Did not finish before due date and did not feel compelled to renew