Bossypants

What a letdown, this is the least profound and insightful nonfiction book I think I’ve ever read. It’s not a memoir, not an autobiography as it is a collection of essays that reveal absolutely nothing about its author, Tina Fey. It was as TIna Fey wrote it as an SNL character. The writing is so self aware, cringe-worthy in its self-deprecation. The only section that garnered any genuine emotion is when she (very briefly) talked about the incident that caused the scar on her face. The stories completely lack any depth, reveal nothing about what makes Tina Fey tick. The stories she chooses to share–her stint working the front desk of a decrepit YMCA, literally following a college crush up a mountain–aren’t interesting. I think this is what happened:
Fey’s Agent/Manager: You know, there’s so much interest in you, what makes you tick. You should write a book about yourself.
Fey: No! No one’s interested in me. I wouldn’t know what to write. My private life is private–I don’t want to share stories about me and my family to the world.
Fey’s Agent/Manager: I think the publisher would be willing to pay an advance in the high six figures.
Fey: Well, let me think about it.
So this is what we got, a group of stories that have nothing to do with each other, told by the character “Tina Fey” (versus the real person), that are about as deep as a mud puddle. Big disappointment.

Like an episode of SNL, Tina Fey’s book reads like a quick succession of sketch comedies, some funnier than others. But I laughed out loud quite a bit. It got to be so bad, that I was forced to stop listening to the audio version (read by Fey herself) during work hours as my loud giggles, snickers, and snorts were unprofessional, to say the least.

For me, the most enjoyable parts centered around the backstage shenanigans and politics of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. Hearing Tina recount her first day as a writer on SNL, when she draws the short straw and has to be the one to tell host Sylvester Stallone that he needs to “enunciate” more, was pure comedy gold, and I was at once laughing at her, as well as laughing with her.

There’s nothing too deep here. Even the story of how she received the trademark scar on her cheek is glossed over with (funny) jokes and snide remarks. But did we really expect anything else from the most recognizable anchor of the Weekend Update?

If you can get the audio version, do. It’s worth it to hear Fey’s self-deprecating voice narrate her own words.

Tina Fey’s book was fine. That’s it. I had high expectations after hearing how it was laugh out loud funny, but even if I went in with no expectations I don’t think this would have gotten more than 3 stars from me. I didn’t laugh out loud once and only occasionally cracked a smile The book is a collection of essays/stories that lacked focus as a whole and didn’t have much to offer individually. I wasn’t expecting anything profound, but they had nothing to say and the sarcastic humor often just felt too mean to be funny. I’m a fan of Tina Fey and find her hilarious in general, but the humor didn’t come through her book for me. Some stories were enjoyable but I was left disappointed as a whole. I still gave it 3 stars because I think it could be a great read for the right reader, but for me it was just okay.

I so loved this book.
I especially loved it in her wise-cracking voice.

Last year, I invested my time in listening to Tina,

Amy Poehler

,

Steve Martin

and plenty of other comedy luminaries.

Tina was an exceptional start of the year.
Listen carefully (and yes, I totally appreciated hearing to the verse in her voice).
She maintains her comedic chops even between the lines of the book.

To totally engage every word of her exceptional spoken word commentary, I used the wonderful

as a way to increase my smile as Tina’s lovely voice whispered every word.

One thing: Make sure to either wear earphones/headphones. Or set your car stereo to “voice” rather than “Led Zeppelin”.
There are extremely funnily timed passages she throws out at the end of lines that, if missed, you miss a LOT of the fun.

Highly recommended for road trips.
Tina Few makes even the mundane entertaining.
Great observational, sometimes cynical. Always self deprecating.

Totally entertaining.
Very authentic.
An excellent peek inside a brilliant comic artist.

Was a pretty good read and I was about 20 pages from finishing and I just got tired of Tina Fey crying about boys. This book made me.kond of dislike Tina Fey. Sorry it took guys telling you, you would look prettier wearing makeup, maybe figure it out instead. It was a good read. Cool to read of her experiences with SNL and fame as well as cool to read about the life Tina lived that lead her to that. She seems like a smart, hard working person who’s, successful, married with kids and famous and very rich….and still crying about boys. Good content, just be ready for a complaint about men every 1/7 pages.

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