Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

 

Book Jacket

Mindy Kaling has liven many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck-impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence "Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I'll shut up about it?"

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages).  If so, you've come to the right book, mostly!

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently place stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls.  Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door--not so much literally anywherein the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

Review

I am officially a fan of funny comedy writers and their self-deprecating and sneakily insightful autobiographies.  (See also: Tina Fey's Bossypants.)

Mindy Kaling is one of those celebrities that you think would make a great BFF.  And I'll be honest, after reading her book, I kind of feel like we are BFFs.  I just...doubt that she realizes it.  So much of Mindy's past echos mine--the nerdy tendencies, the late introduction to bikes and subsequent hatred of them, and of course, the awful huge glasses on a tiny child's face.

I loved her honesty about her weight, and how some people are jerks about anyone who is not stick-skinngy, but how the people who matter love you, duh.  Her insights into friendship, men, and working were always funny and scarily true.  I could basically quote the entire book here as evidence that you should read it, but....instead, you should just go read it for yourself!  You will laugh out loud at least twice.  That's a guarantee.

Five out of five pliests.

Release Date:  November 2011
Reading Level: Grade 9+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection:  Not currently in Dunlap's collection.