patty_pages 's review for:

I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood by Jessi Klein

4.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

---

"When you have a child the ordinary has a way of feeling both insane and banal at the same time." In this collection, Jessi Klein describes ordinary moments as a mother with hilarious and relatable detail to show how these trials leave women irrevocably changed. If that sounds familiar, it's because she aptly frames her stories using Campbell's hero's journey. This gives her essays about postpartum padsicles, picky eating, potty training, night nurses, car seats, and Halloween costumes a lot more weight and significance. While I enjoyed and related to so many of these stories, I found there was something slightly off about certain essays that's never really addressed. Although she's the first to acknowledge her many privileges, her nannies and night nurses, and her husband's role in co-parenting and regulating her neuroses, there's a sense that motherhood has left her traumatized. She mentions several times that she feels inadequate, like she's badly performing the role of a mother, and turns to elaborate fantasies and alcohol to escape feeling trapped, bored, and lonely. I wanted her to unpack these feelings more instead of making light of them with self-deprecating jokes and observational humor. I felt like she buried her discomfort and vulnerability under layers of stand-up comedy material that she's workshopping. While it was mildly entertaining to read her thoughts on Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, and cracked feet, I felt like these detours ultimately took away from the payoff of her hero's journey.