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A review by trin
Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby
2.0
Mystery box book #18!
Look, I think Samantha Irby is genuinely funny; I've seen her perform live and she can absolutely own a crowd. But this book just made me feel bad, which is not a great thing for a supposed humor book to do. Irby's style -- her whole schtick, really -- is self-deprecation, which I know a lot of people find refreshing and relatable. But here, especially when the other main theme is aging, it just feels to me like we're listening to Sam -- our cool, clever, witty friend Sam -- call herself a dumb bitch for 300 pages. Would you say that about your friend, Sam? No? Then stop saying it about yourself! Stop making it the load-bearing pillar of your work! Because every echo of "yeah, this is me, I'm just a dumb bitch too!" does not feel like a healthy mental space to put myself in.
Look, I think Samantha Irby is genuinely funny; I've seen her perform live and she can absolutely own a crowd. But this book just made me feel bad, which is not a great thing for a supposed humor book to do. Irby's style -- her whole schtick, really -- is self-deprecation, which I know a lot of people find refreshing and relatable. But here, especially when the other main theme is aging, it just feels to me like we're listening to Sam -- our cool, clever, witty friend Sam -- call herself a dumb bitch for 300 pages. Would you say that about your friend, Sam? No? Then stop saying it about yourself! Stop making it the load-bearing pillar of your work! Because every echo of "yeah, this is me, I'm just a dumb bitch too!" does not feel like a healthy mental space to put myself in.