This Will All Be Over Soon: A Memoir

You know that you're not supposed to call or text your ex while you're drunk. I think there needs to be a new commonly shared rule that you shouldn't write a memoir while depressed. I just finished [This Will All Be Over Soon: A Memoir] by [[Cecily Strong]]. I love Cecily Strong on SNL, she's funny in many different ways, she can sing, and she's beautiful. I'm still a little miffed that they pulled her from Weekend Update with co-host Colin Jost and substituted Michael Che. That would have been something to address in the memoir, wouldn't it? No. Instead, she goes in-depth into her emotional reaction to every death she has experienced. Her young, talented, inspirational, fun cousin Owen died of a brain tumor. She starts this book of show more interconnected essays with that and repeats it over and over in essay after essay. Unfortunately, Strong struggles with clinical depression and Covid has hammered her psyche. You would think her psychiatrist would have casually mentioned that her obsession with the death of others, especially this cousin, is diverting her attention from something of her own that needs to be examined. If she did, we get no insight into that. All we get is death after death of people she loves. Someday, when she has recovered from this pandemic, I hope she writes another book that showcases her humor. show less

this is a really lovely tribute to her cousin owen, who died of brain cancer in jan 2020, and whose death she had trouble grieving because of the isolation of the pandemic which came soon after. (although she was never isolated totally alone. she had a bubble of people she isolated with.)

i'm just not sure that it should be a public tribute? like this felt more personal, for her and her family. that she shouldn't share with me, where i can judge that the writing isn't very good; that a book of this kind maybe needs more time and distance before publication (and probably writing); that she read it sounding as if she was about to cry through most of it (and i'm sure she was); that it was arranged choppily and felt poorly edited. or maybe show more this is useful for someone else going through grief and i was just the wrong audience?

i can't help but say that i don't understand - i feel like i'm the only one (other than the victim and her family, i'm sure) that remember what kobe bryant did. i suspect he probably was a good father and it's certainly tragic that his daughter died with him and that his wife and other daughter lost a husband and father. but the national mourning that happened annoyed me at the time and made me think of the woman he raped so violently and what she must be going through seeing all the tributes, and i was surprised to have to revisit that in this book. that's all i think about whenever his name comes up and i'm constantly surprised that nationally, everyone seems to have forgotten.

she did some things well - this is moving and heartfelt and poignant but didn't feel universal or necessary for a general audience. show less

A lot darker than I expexted. I should have seen the cover as a hint. Good book, but definitely not what I expected.