Wow, No Thank You.

September 10, 2020 7:47 AM - by Irby, Samantha

An essay collection from Samantha Irby about ageing, marriage, settling down with step-children in white, small-town America.
posted by ellieBOA (7 comments total)

Was thinking about reading this one. Curious what others think of it.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:40 PM on September 10, 2020

I'm part way through it. I put it down awhile because the first essay didn't land for me and I thought the whole book was that way but it isn't and I've liked a couple of the others I've read.
posted by small_ruminant at 8:39 PM on September 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed it, it’s easy to put down and pick up since each chapter is its own essay, it was really funny. I haven’t read her first book Meaty yet.
posted by ellieBOA at 11:57 PM on September 10, 2020

I listened to We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, and I want the audiobook experience for this book too. Unfortunately, I'm on my library's waitlist for it for 18 weeks.
posted by gladly at 5:51 AM on September 11, 2020

I really like Samantha Irby's books; this one I got on audiobook and kind of wish I had the print version, though she reads it well. There are two essays that are basically Twitter joke formats in list form, which would be skimmable and I'm sure perfectly enjoyable on the page, but I found twenty. solid. minutes. of "Sure, sex is fun, but have you ever--" oneliners, uh, not ideally suited to the audio format. (The chapter's longer than twenty minutes, but that was when I couldn't take it anymore and skipped to the next one.) I'm definitely glad I picked this one up, though.
posted by jameaterblues at 1:47 PM on September 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

To be honest, I didn't love most of this. The "I hate my wife" jokes and the Twitter listicles were just not as funny and insightful as some of her other work. Interestingly though, I liked it better as it went on and found the last few pieces to be the most compelling, for me.

She talks a lot about being unambitious, which is admirable and real, but I can't help but wish she would be a bit. She'd write a great novel. Or I'd love to see that TV show that never came together, or a movie script.
posted by latkes at 4:52 PM on September 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed this. It's been a while since I read it, but I don't remember it being "I hate my wife" so much as "I am a crappy spouse myself," but I could be wrong -- it's a book you read quickly.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:15 PM on September 24, 2020 [1 favorite]