Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
I recently read this book in something like super-speed, speed-of-light, I-ate-that-too-fast-and-now-I-can’t-stop-burping time. If you need a little pick me up, or a palate cleanser between War and Peace and the next tome of Russian literature, this book is a bit of a winner.
I watch the Mindy Project and I find it funny. Mindy (yes, we’re now on first name terms) is hilarious. She is a classic product of current American society, or the current American society she grew up in, along the same high-pitched, girly, smart-alec lines of Lena Dunham. Yet, like Dunham she is also very smart and her humour is observational and to the point. Kaling owns who she is, owns up to her foibles and gives off a I don’t really care what you think about my voice, kind of attitude.
Kaling’s book is structured in a similiar way to Dunham’s and Tina Fey’s books. They are anecdotal and, like the former, full of lists. It begins with her childhood, her learning who she is and what she prefers when it comes to socialising – i.e. the ‘saturday’ friend she has, who watches comedy stuff with her, as opposed to her school friends/posse who aren’t really interested in what she is interested in – and whips through her youthful twenties in New York, to her stint at the Office and a little soupçon on her interactions with the male gender. It isn’t groundbreaking but it’s funny and honest.
While Dunham and Fey alluded to giving some sort of illuminating insight to their success, Mindy just seems to want to chat about her life and her work and the way she deals with the world. It’s really enjoyable and a quick read. I thoroughly recommend it.
This is a blog/tumblr of hers if you want to have a taster of her writing/conversational style.
http://theconcernsofmindykaling.tumblr.com
badgerandbaboon 