A review by meganmikaelian
Girl Walks into a Bar . . .: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle by Rachel Dratch

funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

3.0

This was a re-read for me but I hadn’t read it since I got it in 2013. Someone here described it as an adult coming-of-age story and I’d say that pretty accurate. 

The first half of the book is quick and fun while the second half tackles some more serious issues and kind of drags out the story. Rachel Dratch has a strong POV from the beginning that she maintains throughout, but there’s also a decent amount of growth that makes the story compelling. I liked the shorter chapters, but it felt like she could have combined a few because a lot of them made the same points. 

I  appreciate how vulnerable Rachel was at times and how honest she was about her feelings of inadequacy and disappointment in show business. I don’t think it’s fair to compare her book to Tina Fey’s or Amy Poehler’s or anyone else’s because it just that - HER book, full of HER stories, written in HER style.