Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck--impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence "Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I'll shut up about it?"

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you've come to the right book, mostly!

In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door--not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

My Review:



I know, I know, you are thinking I can't be serious - a book written by the super self-absorbed and shallow character from The Office? Yes, yes I am serious.



I found her humor well rounded, and I caught myself relating to her way of thinking many times. That she could laugh at herself, or be so "self-actualized" that she doesn't care is something I could strive for. She has built herself up to where she wants to be in life, while still chasing her dreams. Just because she is successful, does not mean she will become complacent anytime soon.



As indicated in the beginning of the book, there are a lot of essays, lists, and some personal photographs (admittedly, I listened to this on an audiobook, so I'll be taking her advice and browsing through this book the next time I'm in a library/bookstore just to see the photographs).



Her style of writing was easy to follow, and the fact that she narrated it herself, made it really easy to visualize Mindy herself. I honestly first came across Mindy on The Mindy Project, and I have loved her ever since. I am glad I have read/listened to this book and I would totally recommend this if you are interested in a quick, humorous read.



Favorite Quotes:

“I simply regard romantic comedies as a sub-genre of sci-fi, in which the world created therein has different rules than my regular human world.”

“When smart people are nice, it's always terrifying, because I know they're taking in everything and thinking all kinds of smart and potentially judgmental things.”

“I didn't completely forget how to be nice or feminine because I have a career.”

“Maybe the point is that any marriage is work, but you may as well pick work that you like.”

“No one ever wants to hear how stressed out anyone else is, because most of the time everyone is stressed out.”

“...stay in school and be a respectful and hardworking wallflower, and go to an accredited non-online university”

Read from August 11 to 12, 2015

Top 5 Genres*: Non-Fiction, Humor, Autobiography/Memoir, Biography, Humor/Comedy
*According to Goodreads
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My ratings system
5 stars - I absolutely loved it
4 stars - Good book and would recommend
3 stars - Decent book, but wasn't spectacular
2 stars - Not good, but was able to finish it
1 stars - Did not finish (DNF) and I don't usually rate a book I haven't finished (just to be fair to the author)

View all my reviews