A review by heixiong
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae

2.0

I read a lot of lady comedian memoirs, despite the fact that I think most of them are pretty bad. I was hoping something would be different with this one, since I've enjoyed Insecure so much this past year, but it really fell flat for me in the way a lot of these memoirs do--it seems like the humor either goes way too broad in ways that feel a little lazy or ends up coming off somewhat offensive (see: description of queer people of color for an example of both). I liked the book best when Issa talked about her relationship with her parents and her relationship with Senegal, but as a second-generation immigrant, I think those themes about family/diaspora are always going to be what I look for as a reader.