Publisher: Crown Archetype
Pages: 240
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis
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 “Player” tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. (“I had been replaced by a younger model.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 Thoughts
I love Mindy Kaling. I love her TV show. I love her books. I love her. If there is one thing you learn about me it is this, I. Love. Mindy. Kaling. She could have written 240 pages on mathematical equations and I probably would have read it and loved it because to me, whatever Mindy says goes.
Why Not Me starts off with the section For the Ladies which, of course, is hysterical. Kaling covers everything from her Hollywood beauty secrets to the things she would want you to bring to her dinner party. In the essay titled Some Thoughts on Weddings, Kaling describes how her friendships have changed since college by saying that her friends "will never come home to each other again and will never have each other's undivided attention. That version of our friendship is over". With graduation in the Spring, this quote hit a little close to home. But its not all sentimental, when describing her time in a sorority Kaling describes her horror at being fined for not attending an event. Which is hilarious if you know that this is absolutely common. Per usual, everything is absolutely relevant and completely clever.
The next section of essays covers Kaling's television series The Mindy Project. In the essay A Day in the Life of Mindy Kaling, Mindy's assistant Sonia documents and timelines an entire day for Mindy Kaling. Truth bombs from this essay include "Prop cake is the sweetest kind of cake because unlike with regular cake, it has no calories because my character is eating it, not me. Thats how it works". Kaling reflects on when she found out that The Mindy Project wasn't nominated for an Emmy and how she chose to "be gracious so people would continue to think I'm professional and classy". As if you needed another reason to idolize her!
Love Dating and Boys Who Ru(i)n The World had me constantly underlining statements and simply annotating them with a simple 'yes.' Everything here was exactly straight out of my brain. Being perpetually single has its ups and downs and Kaling 100% gets it. "What I am asking for is not that much. I just want a boyfriend who is sweet and trustworthy. That's it". That is how the essay A Perfectly Reasonable Request begins. Of course Mindy doesn't stop there. You'll have to read the whole essay to see what other requests Kaling has, but its hilarious.
In the last section of Kaling's book I was faced with the impending tragedy of the book actually ending. All the Opinions You Will Ever Need is really that. In what was probably the most relatable essay in the book, Kaling discusses what it is like to be a body role model but also her struggles with remaining body confident. My favorite essay of the whole book is in this section and titled Unlikely Leading Lady. Kaling admits "I don't wake up in the morning, look my naked body in the mirror and say, 'Good Morning, body. Once again you've nailed it, you gorgeous imperfect thing." This essay really captured Kaling's thoughts of herself and also allowed me to relate to her. Mindy also included a copy of her Harvard Law School Commencement Address which is so funny and so great. (Confession: I love watching commencement addresses and Kaling's is up in my tops!)
Overall, this book was a fabulous description of Mindy and it just made me love her more! Definitely read her first book if you haven't already and then grab this one too!
My Favorite Line
If you've got it flaunt it. And if you've don't got it? Flaunt it. 'Cause what are we even doing here if we're not flaunting it?
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