Thursday, March 22, 2012

"Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" By: Mindy Kaling Review

"Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?"
By: Mindy Kaling
Synopsis from Amazon:
       Mindy Kaling has lived 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 placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.
 My Thoughts:
       First off, I am such a huge fan girl of Mindy Kaling. I started my fangirldom when I first saw her on "The Office" and love reading all of her articles and interviews. She's fun, interesting, and not your normal Hollywood startlet, which appeals to me. Her quirky sense of self always makes me smile too, although her character on "The Office" drives me crazy sometimes!
       "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me" is kind of a tongue in cheek view on life. Mindy shares some childhood experiences, but this is by no means a biography of her life. She kind of makes her way through topics with a randomness that is at times funny while other times confusing. One minute she can be talking about being chubby in her childhood and the next sh is describing the right shoes guys should wear to appear attractive. The book is seriously funny though and made me laugh many times. She requests that you don't compare it to "Bossypants" By: Tina Fey, but it does remind you alot of the tone of that novel.
       If you have a spare evening, check out "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" Very cute, funny, and a great way to get you out of a funky mood. I'm in the mood to watch some Kelly on the Office now, so I'll see ya!

Excerpt
(My Absolute FAVORITE passage...love Colin Firth!)

MARK DARCY
       All women love Colin Firth: Mr. Darcy, Mark Darcy, George VI — at this point he could play the Craigslist Killer and people would be like, "Oh my God, the Craigslist Killer has the most boyish smile!" I love Colin Firth in everything, even as the obsessed, miffed, tortured non-Ralph Fiennes husband in The English Pa­tient. But the role that makes me cry is Mark Darcy, from Bridget Jones's Diary.
      When we first meet Mark, he's kind of a, well, dick. He's arro­gant and judgmental and seems to take himself so seriously. But he is secretly wonderful (and not so secretly gorgeous). There is a part in the movie — I've seen it six or seven times, and I swear to God, every time I see it coming, I start tearing up in anticipa­tion — when we first see that Mark    Darcy is not a bad guy. In fact, we see that he is the best guy ever.
       Do you guys remember the scene when Bridget is sneaking out of the horrible couples dinner, having humiliated herself in front of all of her "smug marrieds"? And when she's at the door, Mark stops her and he says, "I like you, very much. Just as you are."
      It's ridiculous that I love this so much. It's so simple. It's not a witty, perfectly phrased, Ephron-y declaration by our charm­ing, neurotic hero. It's so . . . plain. But the idea is the most beau­tiful thing in the world. So, obviously, it makes me cry. (PAGE 171)
Book Details
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Date of Publication: November 1, 2011
# of Pages: 240
ISBN: 978-0307886262

1 comment:

  1. I've heard this mentioned before--it sounds really good!

    ReplyDelete