Why Not Me?

Author: Mindy Kaling
Genre: Humour
Type: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Source: Random House Canada
Publisher: Crown Archetype (Random House)
First Published: September 15, 2015
First Line : "In the seventh grade I started a new school."

Book Description from GoodReads: In Why Not Me?, Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it’s falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you’re constantly reminded that no one looks like you.

In “How to Look Spectacular: A Starlet’s Confessions,” Kaling gives her tongue-in-cheek secrets for surefire on-camera beauty, (“Your natural hair color may be appropriate for your skin tone, but this isn’t the land of appropriate–this is Hollywood, baby. Out here, a dark-skinned woman’s traditional hair color is honey blonde.”) “Player” tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. (“I had been replaced by a younger model. And now they had matching bangs.”) In “Unlikely Leading Lady,” she muses on America’s fixation with the weight of actresses, (“Most women we see onscreen are either so thin that they’re walking clavicles or so huge that their only scenes involve them breaking furniture.”) And in “Soup Snakes,” Kaling spills some secrets on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and close friend, B.J. Novak (“I will freely admit: my relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell.”)

Mindy turns the anxieties, the glamour, and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into a laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays that anyone who’s ever been at a turning point in their life or career can relate to. And those who’ve never been at a turning point can skip to the parts where she talks about meeting Bradley Cooper.

My Review: Mindy Kaling is back with her second book filled with her signature humour and down to earth personality that have so many people clamouring to know more about her.

When I requested to review this book I, of course, knew a bit about Mindy Kaling but I admit that I wasn't a die-hard fan.  I knew that she'd always come off as down-to-earth (I love it when celebrities feel like they're normal people) and she's a funny comedienne. Funny with a capital "F", y'all.  I also knew she was on the American version of The Office and has her own show, The Mindy Project which she produces, writes and stars in.  In the past I had watched episodes of her show but wouldn't have considered myself a Mindy Minion, so to speak.  But I'm definitely changing my tune now.

See, I love funny.  I'm Canadian so, generally speaking, we know funny. Good funny. We enjoy a good 'giggle in a public place while you're reading' kind of funny.  This is that kind of book.  In her second foray into the world of comedic self-deprecating literature, Mindy honestly shares her ups and downs, her heartaches and joy with her readers in a collection of short essays which include looks into her life in Hollywood, her search for a man, her friendships, sorority tales and even her beauty secrets.

Mindy has got the tongue in cheek humour down pat and is the kind of girl I'd love to hang out with.  I realize that she already has the role of Best Friend filled (darn it, Jocelyn!!) but I could totally see filling that role should Jocelyn not continue to fulfill all of the requirements.  Mindy comes across as normal gal living in the totally ca-razy world of Hollywood and she often has the kind of responses that I could see having (perhaps in a milder way) in the same situation.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading about Mindy's continuing coming of age story.  She's a funny lady with heart and has a good message that she gives readers -- you are entitled to have dreams.  It's great to have ambition!  Why shouldn't you follow your dreams?  If you work like hell you may just achieve them.  But the defining factor of Mindy is that she's funny and the masses of us normal folk can't help but like her.  And while I wouldn't say every chapter was mind-blowingly funny (she's not Canadian after all) I loved this light, make-me-snort-laugh kind of read and plan to watch more of The Mindy Project to increase my Mindy Minion status.

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Disclaimer:  My sincere thanks to Random House Canada and Crown Archetype for providing me with a complimentary hardcover copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.