Author Samantha Irby started out as an accidental blogger who according to her accidentally transitioned into an author. But her essays and storytelling in her new book Wow, no thank you. are insightful, hysterical, easily relatable and so honest it hurts, but still makes you laugh.
At 40 years of age she is finally coming into herself, which as she is a medical accident waiting to happen, and with her many illnesses and even though ailments are not funny, Irby somehow is able to not only make light of them, but makes the reader laugh out loud and then feel sort of guilty that they did. She immediately catches our attention on the dedication page as her book is dedicated to Wellbutrin!
Her essays explain her pretty sad childhood, being unable to pay her electric bills (and how to steal someone else’s) to becoming homeless and living out of her car. She writes of her love of music and how she is constantly being confused with writer Roxane Gay, always gladly accepting the compliment.
She explains when she worked as a veterinarian assistant she would jot down stories on napkins. She would leave work and go to a club and share her stories, never believing they were anything special, just stories. Everyone else did, but not her.
She explains her life in movements…for example, when she gets up in the morning (afternoon) she retrieves everything she needs for the day then goes downstairs as she refuses to make the trek upstairs more than once! She has a bowel issue…that’s all I am going to write.
This past year she was asked to write for the Hulu comedy series Shrill. She moved to LA for three months. She describes the differences in living in LA and living in Chicago…just imagination those essays! Yes, I am smiling as I am reliving what happens to her.
But throughout the book I learned many important lessons, laugh at yourself, laugh at other people, push yourself, go ahead, be paranoid in your head because everyone is to one extent on another, don’t take everything seriously, have fun…or try to, hone your craft when you can and finally, listen…to yourself, to others and to your surroundings because boy, there are certainly stories to tell! And quite honestly, Irby seems to have stayed the same throughout her rising fame, only now she and her wife live in a house.
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