Reviews with content warning for Excrement - I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are

This was a quick, fun read! I loved the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend so I was interested in learning more about Rachel and her journey to get there. It’s fun to see just how much of herself she poured into her character and I thought she did a great job of narrating.

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annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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funny reflective fast-paced

4.75

i’m in love with Rachel Bloom
this was funny, thoughtful, touching. i just wish more time was dedicated to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

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readswithcocktails's review

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I don't know how to say this without it sounding like I'm trash talking Rachel Bloom. It's really hard to read a memoir of someone who thinks they're self-aware, but actually lacks that quality. The opening chapter where she gatekeeps who can say that they were bullied was a lot. Especially when she acknowledged how much privilege she actually has to have never been bullied because of her race, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc but then doubles down on how her bullying was the worst. Bullying of any sort is awful and traumatic. Everyone's trauma is their own, but listening her explain why her trauma is worse than others even while acknowledging her privilege was a lot. It didn't feel like punching down, but it did feel insensitive. This level of almost self reflection and poorly calculated jokes continued to happen until I couldn't any more. Maybe the humor just isn't for me? There were some really funny and touching parts, but that wasn't enough to keep me going.

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sharkycharming's review

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funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

4.25

If you enjoy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, you are likely to enjoy the memoir. If you've never seen it, try to catch an episode (or watch one of her videos on the internet) because her sense of humor is what my 74 year old roommate would call "earthy." She doesn't hold back about her own bodily functions, for example.

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spaghettireads's review

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funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.0

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charlottereadsthings's review

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emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

From the co-creator of Crazy Ex Girlfriend, I Want To Be Where The Normal People Are sees Rachel Bloom share an insight into her past. It covers many hard topics such as her history with anxiety, grief and OCD, the world taking a dramatic turn into a pandemic along with other chaotic madness fans can expect.

I listened to the audiobook, as I feel that's the best way to consume non fiction and it didn't disappoint. There were lots of extra nuggets from entire musical numbers to Bloom's witty remarks about things you were missing out on by not having the physical book. I laughed out loud at so many points and found myself rewinding sections to hear them again.

The somewhat overarching theme is Rachel's quest to be perceived as normal and I admire that given global events during its creation, that tone could have shifted to wanting a "pre pandemic normal" or the "normal beyond a pandemic" but instead she chose to stay on course and the messages still land.

The only thing I found a little disappointing was that it didn't touch too much on the time making Crazy Ex Girlfriend as I woule have liked.

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