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 “Player” tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. (“I had been replaced by a younger model.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.”) – Goodreads
Let me start by saying — I love Mindy Kaling. I wish we were friends. Hell, reading her books (and watching copious amounts of The Mindy Project) kind of makes me feel that we are.
This is Mindy’s second book, and though I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first, it was still a fun read. Rather than focusing on her biography as her first book did, it talks more about her current career and time in Hollywood. She does have a weird relationship with BJ Novak, America is incredibly fixated on women’s weight (her commentary is hilarious while tackling a serious issue) and other Hollywood drama.
I adore Mindy’s writing style — I read it in her voice and the humor reads just like the writing on her show. Her sense of humor is quirky and punchy, which I like.
Overall, I would rate this one a 3.5/5. It wasn’t super intriguing — I would read a chapter here or there when I had a moment or wanted a laugh, but I wasn’t driven to read it in one sitting. I still highly recommend her first one, though!
lifebetweenreads.com 