Why Not Me?

by Mindy Kaling

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

Let me preface this review by saying that I freely admit that I was probably born without a funny bone or at least one that is so deeply buried as not to understand wildly-laughed at humorous things. I will also admit that I have never watched The Office (I never found it funny.) or The Mindy Project. So why did I chose to listen to Why Not Me?? Well, the little I know about Mindy—a successful, self-assured woman in Hollywood—I admire and I was hoping to learn a little bit more about her and her success.

There were bits within Why Not Me? I really enjoyed. I loved the Hollywood secrets/confessions portion of the novel. I found myself laughing out loud at Kaling's revelations. It dispelled that myth that being an actress is the "easy life." Maybe it is an easier life than some, but it is not the easiest life out there.

As the book progressed, I started to get lost and a little bored with the essays. The section of the novel where she shares her alternate dream life of being a teacher at a stuffy prep school didn't seem to translate well to audio as it was told mainly through email exchanges. (Imagine the same email signature being read over and over again.) Kaling's voice started to grate on me the more bored I got and I couldn't wait for everything to wrap up.

Perhaps this novel wasn't a good selection on my part because I have not followed Kaling's career and her brand of humor. So this memoir might be a good fit for someone more familiar with her work than I am.
 



This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews