felix_minka_mcintyre 's review for:

How Not To Be a Boy by Robert Webb

4.0

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Robert Webb is best known as Jeremy “Jez” Usborne in the cult UK tv series Peep Show, bumbling through his awkward and anxiety-inducing existence alongside comedy partner David Mitchell. They also have their own suitably absurd sketch show, That Mitchell and Webb Look, that is filled with parodies and spoofs of pop culture and British life. If you haven’t seen either of these shows before, I definitely recommend catching a couple of episodes on Netflix before reading this book.

I’d never really paid that much attention to Robert Webb before – mainly because he’s been overshadowed by David Mitchell, who must have now appeared on every UK panel show around (and we are all the richer for it). So, I didn’t really know what to expect from this book. I’ve watched both his shows before but as the style of comedy tends to make me insanely anxious (especially Peep Show), it’s generally not a fun experience for me. I was, however, very interested in all the press attention this book was receiving because it wasn’t your typical memoir from a male writer/actor/comedian. If you’ve stumbled across this book too because of what you’ve heard, then I definitely recommend you give it a go. This is a very personal and tender account of what it’s like to grow up as a man, the expectation to perform this tired and toxic concept of masculinity, and the struggle to have meaningful relationships with family, friends, partners and children while trying to uphold this. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny, pretty much the entire way through the book. One of the loveliest things about this book for me was reading it in tandem with my male partner on our beach holiday; not only was he chortling the whole way through this book but, being only a couple of years younger than Webb, he identified a lot with what was being described. A really wonderful read.

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