Friday, September 14, 2012

Audiobook Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Bossypants is the hugely successful memoir by comedian Tina Fey and, like her, it is intelligent and witty. The author reads the audio herself and it is like listening to one of her monologues on Saturday Night Live - I caught myself laughing out loud on my walk home from work and smiling to myself while listening on the subway (fortunately, this really doesn't stand out much in NYC!). In addition to laughs, however, Tina Fey delivers commentary on how women can succeed in the workplace - even though her workplace is very different from the one most of us go to every day - and a peek into the family that made her who she is and the family she has created with her husband.

 I use the word "peek" intentionally because while Tina Fey has an amazing ability to laugh at herself and therefore can be quite revealing I was impressed by how she held some parts of her story to herself. I certainly got a well drawn picture of her family growing up - from her frugal Dad to her Mom who had Tina as a "change of life" baby. Tina's love and respect for her parents and how they have shaped her also shines through but there is nothing voyeuristic about this memoir - I get the feeling Tina could easily sit at a family dinner after writing this memoir and not look sheepishly around at the family she exposed in her book. In much the same way, Tina shares funny anecdotes about her husband - their courtship and their honeymoon (more about that later) but she doesn't slavishly reveal their entire relationship. It is almost as if she recognizes that she has decided to live a public life but doesn't want to subject her family to the exposure that accompanies that public life.

Now - on to the laughs. Tina's dry, sarcastic wit is evident throughout this book as she tells anecdotes from her personal and professional life. The one I found funniest and the one which still brings a smile to my face is the story of her and her husband's honeymoon cruise. The couple decided on cruising because her husband is afraid of flying. After enjoying a few days of extravagant buffets and formal nights, Tina and her husband are enjoying a day on the ship when they hear one of the cabin maids desperately bleating into the intercom "Bravo, Bravo . . . ". They later learn this is code for a serious emergency aboard and discover their cruise ship is on fire! Something about her breathless delivery of the maid's alert over the intercom still makes me laugh.

On the professional front, Tina recounts her time at Second City in Chicago, her early days on SNL and her success on 30 Rock. She also takes us through her period of playing Sarah Palin during the 2008 election season Tina tells many self-deprecating anecdotes about her professional gaffes and occasional humiliations. However, in the midst of those, a theme emerges - Tina has worked very hard in a male dominated field to achieve what she has and it was by no means arrived at through pure luck.

If you are looking for intelligent, witty and laugh out loud funny, pick up Bossypants (preferably in audio!)

18 comments:

  1. I don't know why I didn't add this to my list before, but you've hooked me. Thanks, Colleen. Happy weekend!

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  2. One of the things I really liked about this book was that she pointed out to women that they're not only competing with other women and that employers will sometimes try to divide and conquer women by implying that they are. I really enjoyed this book and wish I'd listened to the audio version.

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    1. That is a great point, Kathy - I thought her insights into how women can succeed in the workplace were very good and unexpected.

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  3. I love when authors narrate their own audio books (provided they have a decent voice, of course!). Who else has a better idea of the kind of inflection the author intended, the "voice?"

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  4. You definitely make me want to hear the audio version of this book. I'm still listening to 3 Cups of Tea but this could be my next one. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  5. I want to be Tina Fey's best friend, and I think you capture what makes this memoir so great-- she shares but she doesn't overshare. You get a glimpse of her life but never too much to make her overfamiliar. And she is just so funny. I think the audio is the way to go with this one … reading it just wouldn't have the same pizazz.

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  6. My fiance and I both laughed out loud throughout this entire audiobook too! And we agreed we will now never take a cruise because of it! great review!

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  7. The audio was fun, but I wanted to know more.....

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  8. I had listened to this audiobook sometime back, but unfortunately never finished it because I didn't get time to listen to it. I do plan to go back to it, so I'm glad that you enjoyed this book!

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  9. Colleen, thanks for linking this in to Books You Loved. Have a great week.

    PS I am following your blog now and would love you to follow Carole's Chatter back!

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  10. I enjoyed this book so much also, and listened to it as well. Yes, the honeymoon section is my absolute favorite, and I laughed aloud while driving the whole time I was listening to it.

    I agree that Tina does a great job of writing a memoir that tells us who she is without sharing too much. It was a nicely balanced book.

    I also found the Sarah Palin section fascinating.

    Great review.

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  11. I loved this book. Now I wish I had listened to the audio! There were a few pictures in the print version though that completely cracked me up! (One of her as an adolescent nearly killed me, I had tears rolling down my face. It wasn't that the picture itself was hilarious but her comments about it were!)

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    1. That is one thing I missed with the audio - no photos. Although audible says there is a downloadable pdf file but I couldn't figure it out.

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  12. Loved this book - so often am disappointed in books by comedians I love. (Like David Cross' I Drink for a Reason).

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  13. I really liked this book too, but I read the print version and I'm thinking I should listen to the audio too!

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  14. So funny- I couldn't put it down. Kept trying to read it all out loud to my husband and he said "Stop it- it's only funny if Tina Fey was saying it"..He's wrong- it's a hilarious read, but I betcha the audio version, in her voice, is wonderful.
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