I'm Just a Person

If you're looking for a light, funny read, look elsewhere. This memoir is honest, intimate, real, and uncensored. It's dark and human and full of tragedy but I personally find beauty and hope in the midst of this type of story. It's good to see people suffer and continue on, because we all have our share of suffering coming to us. I feel like Tig's story has a lot for everyone and calls us all to contemplate our blessings and remember that we aren't guaranteed anything in life.

A very personal and touching account of the darkest year of a person's life and how she got through it.

Although I give every respect to Tig for writing this book, baring so much hurt and sadness with honesty and humor, I had trouble enjoying it. The writing was sparse and straightforward. I don't read many memoirs, but I felt this one was fairly scattered both chronologically as well as in the way the events were strung together to make a whole. Without her voice and delivery, the humor fell flat for me. I enjoy her stand up, but take the book as one I hope helped her process a difficult time (and perhaps help others in similar circumstances) rather than a must-read.

Tig Notaro is extraordinary. How do you deal with the worst that life can throw at you and come out a stronger person? And how do you write a book that takes the topics of cancer and death and turn them into wry humor? Notaro did it, and her recent book, I’m Just a Person, tells of her sudden tumble when she suffered through pneumonia, C. diff, the unexpected death of her mother, and a diagnosis of stage II breast cancer, all in a period of four months. But when she climbed slowly out of this hole, she arrived at a positive and stronger place.

Notaro, a talented comedian and actor, is a native of Pass Christian, Mississippi. Readers may have seen her autobiographical and critically-acclaimed series on Amazon Prime, One Mississippi, in show more which the main character returns home to live in the not-quite fictional town of Bay St. Louisa (only a letter away from the real town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi) after suffering illness and the death of her mother. Events portrayed in One Mississippi closely parallel the story in Notaro’s book.

I liked this book because Notaro tells her story without pretending to have faced her monsters fearlessly or with a plan. Instead, she deals with her situations as anyone would: with ups and downs and scares and surprising moments of laughter.

It’s the story of someone who was suddenly dropped into a hostile wilderness without a map or training, yet somehow she finds her way home. And she wrote the book with intelligent humor and without appearing maudlin.

Much of the book focuses on the author’s relationship with her mother. Notaro’s love and respect for her mother, Susie, clearly comes through, in no small part because of Susie’s quirkiness, loyalty and in-your-face honesty. This book is a commemoration of Notaro’s mother almost as much as it is about Notaro’s survival. Or perhaps the story here is that Susie gave Notaro much of the strength to survive.

Other friends and family members have important roles in her life, too. For example, Notaro discovers relationships with her stepfather, Ric, and her brother, Renaud, that she may not have found but for the tragedy of Susie’s death.

In another part of the book Notaro tells of her now-iconic comedy performance, taped just a couple of days after her cancer diagnosis, in which she riffs to the audience: “Good evening. Hello. I have cancer. How are you? Hi, how are you? Is everybody having a good time? I have cancer.” Bluntly honest, her performance brought tears to the audience, but also uproarious laughter. The recording went viral, and literally overnight became one of the most widely-sought comedy albums available. The soundtrack, entitled Live, is distributed under the Secretly Canadian label. Live, by the way, rhymes with give.

I’m Just a Person is not a long read, but it is engrossing and worth picking up. show less

In 2012, stand up comic Tig Notaro made headlines when she began one of her performances with "Good evening, hello. I have cancer. How are you? Hi, how are you? Is everyone having a good time? I have cancer." The video clip of that performance went viral and the world soon knew of Notaro's situation.

But that wasn't all. In the space of four months, Notaro nearly died of a C-Diff infection, her mother died in a freak accident, and she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Her memoir I'm Just A Person shares Notaro's journey of those months.

The book opens as Notaro is taking a cab ride from the hospital back to her mother's house in Texas after her mother died. Tig had recently been discharged from a hospital in Los Angeles after a show more harrowing infection which resulted in her being unable to keep any food down.

She was weak as a kitten when she got the call from her stepfather about her mother. Notaro shares stories about her unconventional mother, a woman for whom "drinking with friends by the pool was (her) nine-to-five job and she took it very seriously."

Notaro was a poor student, held back twice in the eighth grade. She eventually dropped out of school and ended up in Los Angeles with some friends where she became a working standup comic.

I'm Just A Person deals mainly with her four month ordeal. She writes matter-of-factly about her illnesses and fears, but it is her relationship with her free spirit mother and how Notaro came to terms with it after her mother's death that truly resonates here. Her description of going into her mother's home and looking at photos and her mother's belongings, and the memories that conjures up is moving.

You'll read I'm Just A Person in a few hours, it is a slim book, but Notaro's story will stay with you a lot longer and maybe give you pause to reflect on your own mortality and relationships. She packs a big punch in a few words. I recommend it. show less

I’m pretty sure the first time I encountered Tig Notaro’s work was in that This American Life Story, but it might also have been when she had a role in the sweet film “In A World.” I watched her documentary, and then her comedy special, and really enjoyed both. I find her to be intriguing and unpretentious, and so had to pick up her memoir.

If you have somehow managed to not heard her story, Ms. Notaro experienced a pretty brutal spring four years ago: she went through a breakup, fought a brutal C. Diff infection, lost her mother unexpectedly in a fall, and then was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer.

Yeah.

This book is mostly focused on that time in Ms. Notaro’s life, and her recovery from it. She shares a lot of herself in show more a way that is genuine, sweet, and at times (but not always) funny. This isn’t a comedy memoir, but it is a memoir that will make you feel good. It made me feel good.

Not every good book is full of loud, declarative, life-altering statements that you want to immediately stitch on a pillow. Some are quietly strong, but awesome just the same. I loved this book. I can’t recommend it enough. show less

Good thing someone from the future didn’t tap me on my shoulder and whisper, “I know this appears to be rock bottom, but you’re actually only halfway there.”

“Halfway” was Notaro’s physical devastation from a life-threatening intestinal infection, followed a minute later by her mother’s sudden death from a head injury during a fall. The rest of the way (of a whole-way timeframe of just four months) included a relationship breakup and bilateral breast cancer. Notaro is a successful actress (+writer/producer/director) and successful comic, whose deadpan style is apparent in this memoir. A very fast read. Looks like the Amazon series, “One Mississippi” covers the same material and I may take a look at it.

Tig is an understated kind of comedian and writes her autobiography in an understated way about one tragedy after another but also about the deep love one can feel for a very flawed yet amazing person. Very interesting, and it has me watching her Amazon series, One Mississippi.