Abbi Jacobson

I love Abbi Jacobson and I loved this book. While I did listen to the audio-book and therefore miss out on the art and illustrations, I don't feel like I got less of an experience. Jacobson was a great narrator and I wouldn't have wanted to listen to the audio version if anyone else were reading it. There's a raw aspect to Jacobson's storytelling that is appreciated and that I think fans often look for and don't get from their favorite performers. Obviously, Jacobson is funny and the book is show more funny, but it's more in a "wow isn't this relatable" kind of way rather than a laugh out loud kind of way. show less

I read this book as an electronic advance reading copy provided by Edelweiss, and I have submitted my comments to the publisher via that web site.

I love this book! (Full disclosure: I already love Broad City, so I am perhaps a little biased.) The author's voice is smart, funny, warm, and inclusive--she uses the word "we" a lot, which I appreciate. She takes risks with her writing and shows how brave it is to be vulnerable, especially in public. I think that sitting (comfortably or show more uncomfortably) with uncertainty is a hallmark of a fully actualized human being, and this book explores ambiguity and uncertainty in a hilarious and relatable way. The book is ostensibly about a solo road trip after the end of a romantic relationship, but the observations are broader than romance, touching on self worth, career, and friendships.

One minor quibble: I read this book on a black and white display Kindle, and while I loved the author's line drawings, I wish I had seen them in color (if that is how they will be reproduced in the print book). Highly recommended for all libraries. show less

Best for:
Anyone who likes a good road trip story. Anyone who is feeling a bit lost.

In a nutshell:
Writer and actor Abbi Jacobson (of Broad City fame) decides to go on a three-week road trip after breaking up with her girlfriend. She documents her time.

Worth quoting:
“People who can talk while exercising—anything more than a hike or walk—are insane to me. You want to tell me the drama that’s currently going on at your office? Ohh, your co-worker plays their music too loud?? It’s show more distracting and no one else seems to care?? I can’t breath right now!”
“It’s okay to not figure it all out. It’s okay to feel broken and alone and scared sometimes. It’s okay to not know everything. It’s okay to not eat where everyone tells you to, or not take a selfie in front of everything you’ve seen or done and post on the internet for friends and strangers to see.”

Why I chose it:
I like funny women telling their own stories.

Review:
It seems as though my world has changed dramatically since I bought this book and started reading it. I purchased it when I was visiting Seattle in mid-February, two weeks before their first case of COVID-19 was detected (but after one had been confirmed in a neighboring county). I had dinner with a good friend who works for the health department there, and we could tell it was just the beginning, but no one really knew what was coming. I stopped reading this book until this weekend not because it isn’t great (it is!) but because my brain is full. I feel like if I have time to read, I should be reading the news, talking to my friends who are dealing with kids home from school for the next six weeks, keeping up on Twitter.

But my brain needs a break. Sometimes that comes in the form of re-watching Parks and Recreation (only 8 episodes left!), but it also needs to come in the form of books. Good books. Books that either make me laugh or that make me feel connected to others (especially as we’re all being told to take a step back in our physical connections). This book definitely helped with that.

Abbi Jacobson is probably best known to you as one half of the amazing duo responsible for Broad City. The stories she tells in this book come from a road trip she took in the summer of 2017, right before the final season was shot and right after breaking up with her girlfriend. She spends three weeks traveling mostly along the southern bit of the US, along the way exploring her heartbreak, her feelings about the future, and many of the general issues anyone with some introspections struggles with.

It isn’t a lighthearted take, but there are parts that are very funny. It feels honest and yes, vulnerable, but not self-pitying, if that makes any sense. It’s just good reading.

Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Pass to a Friend show less

Things I liked about this book:

1. It made me laugh. A lot of it is rambling, but at least it's mostly funny rambling.
2. I totally related to a lot of Abbi's ridiculous, negative self-talk. (Not the stuff about being incapable of being in love, but the stuff about being a guilt-ridden overprivileged white woman who shops too often at Whole Foods.)
3. I became intensely curious about the identity of the woman Abbi dated and broke up with so I asked the Internet and it pointed to Carrie show more Brownstein of Portlandia. That's fun even if it's not true. It certainly lent the story some (imaginary) depth to be able to fill in an actual person for the otherwise nameless cipher girlfriend.
4. I'm a big fan of Broad City and this gave some insight into its creation and the relationship between Abbi and Ilana.

Things I did not like about this book:

1. The pointless rambling parts that were not especially funny. I skimmed through a bunch of it.
2. Intrusive negative self-talk is actually kind of sad and I'm glad Abbi's in therapy and I probably should be too.
3. I understand the need to protect the identity of the ex-girlfriend, but it's hard to care about the breakup when there are so few details about the relationship. There were a lot of generalities that are true of practically any significant romantic relationship and that does not make for super compelling writing.

Overall, I think there are certainly better non-fiction memoir-ish books by funny ladies out there. My favorites are Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Samantha Irby, and Scaachi Koul. show less