We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.: Essays
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This essay collection from the “bitches gotta eat” blogger, writer on Hulu’s Shrill and HBO's And Just Like That, and “one of our country’s most fierce and foulmouthed authors” (Amber Tamblyn, Vulture) is sure to make you alternately cackle with glee and cry real tears.
"A sidesplitting polemicist for the most awful situations.”—The New York Times
Whether Samantha Irby is talking about how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making “adult” budgets; explaining why she should be the new Bachelorette (she's "35-ish, but could easily pass for 60-something"); detailing a disastrous pilgrimage-slash-romantic-vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father's ashes; sharing awkward sexual encounters; or dispensing advice on how to navigate friendships with former drinking buddies who are now suburban moms (hang in there for the Costco loot!); she’s as deft at poking fun at the ghosts of her past self as she is at capturing powerful emotional truths.
Don't miss Samantha Irby's bestselling new book, Quietly Hostile!
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Community Reviews
Catchy title...funny...but eh.
The catchy title drew me in, and when the title finally found its way off the library shelf and onto my Kindle, I immediately began reading excited to find out more about this interesting title. I guess you can say there are so many reasons one would never meet in real life, and there are all the ways we can meet in the digital world, so it makes it a potentially powerful statement.
I plowed through the first chapter with gusto and found while humorous there was also some whining going on, eh, okay, this is acceptable...but then, as I continued to the next chapter I thought okay what's with all this judgement ... this negativity ... this whining, gripping, complaining about everything and stupid things, and nothings...and seriously my life sucks too, how about I take my journal and make some money...I've always been told my life is like a real live soap opera .... ha! I mean I do empathise with some of what she's saying, but thankfully she's a self proclaimed bitch and I don't have to be the one to call her that...whew. on another note, she drops way too many "F" bombs for my liking, not saying zilch was expected, I just don't really get the need for every 5th word to be $¥©€...seriously the word "f$@)" has become the most OVERUSED worthless word in use today. Need a noun, ... hey, I know use *f@$(*, need an adjective, *f@$(* works, or perhaps a verb, an adverb...hell..you can just use "f@$k" everywhere. F F F F F F.... ugh. So overused! Limited vocabulary much??!!
After a while of "f@$(s", and bitchy whining, after some long tedious and boring description of this or that, with a small morsel of funny or interesting sprinkled in, I began to wonder, when. will. it. end. ... I wish I could say I enjoyed the whole book...I didn't...but ...
I can relate to some of what was said, and of course I can only imagine some other parts, but I loved the part about driving a stick while wearing flip-flops....haha I've done that! Another favorite....a case for remaining indoors... seriously, why does no one believe me when I say this!!! People always think I'm weird when I say cold is better...cause you can always put on more, but there's only so much you can take off before you run out of things to take off, both legally and literally....to get cool...never had that problem before moving to a state that is friendlier to plants than humans. She describes this so well....
Anyways, it's not terrible, not great, just about okay, could have been better, but hey, I'm finished so that counts for something haha.
(Not avoidance of the F-bomb...but Amazon doesn't allow the use so review is written without it)
The catchy title drew me in, and when the title finally found its way off the library shelf and onto my Kindle, I immediately began reading excited to find out more about this interesting title. I guess you can say there are so many reasons one would never meet in real life, and there are all the ways we can meet in the digital world, so it makes it a potentially powerful statement.
I plowed through the first chapter with gusto and found while humorous there was also some whining going on, eh, okay, this is acceptable...but then, as I continued to the next chapter I thought okay what's with all this judgement ... this negativity ... this whining, gripping, complaining about everything and stupid things, and nothings...and seriously my life sucks too, how about I take my journal and make some money...I've always been told my life is like a real live soap opera .... ha! I mean I do empathise with some of what she's saying, but thankfully she's a self proclaimed bitch and I don't have to be the one to call her that...whew. on another note, she drops way too many "F" bombs for my liking, not saying zilch was expected, I just don't really get the need for every 5th word to be $¥©€...seriously the word "f$@)" has become the most OVERUSED worthless word in use today. Need a noun, ... hey, I know use *f@$(*, need an adjective, *f@$(* works, or perhaps a verb, an adverb...hell..you can just use "f@$k" everywhere. F F F F F F.... ugh. So overused! Limited vocabulary much??!!
After a while of "f@$(s", and bitchy whining, after some long tedious and boring description of this or that, with a small morsel of funny or interesting sprinkled in, I began to wonder, when. will. it. end. ... I wish I could say I enjoyed the whole book...I didn't...but ...
I can relate to some of what was said, and of course I can only imagine some other parts, but I loved the part about driving a stick while wearing flip-flops....haha I've done that! Another favorite....a case for remaining indoors... seriously, why does no one believe me when I say this!!! People always think I'm weird when I say cold is better...cause you can always put on more, but there's only so much you can take off before you run out of things to take off, both legally and literally....to get cool...never had that problem before moving to a state that is friendlier to plants than humans. She describes this so well....
Anyways, it's not terrible, not great, just about okay, could have been better, but hey, I'm finished so that counts for something haha.
(Not avoidance of the F-bomb...but Amazon doesn't allow the use so review is written without it)
Well, at least she’s self-aware enough to acknowledge that she’s a horrible person, because yeah, she comes across pretty horribly in these essays!
I had no prior knowledge of who she was, but it fit a prompt of a reading challenge I’m doing so off I went with no backstory. Had I known her style or that she’s linked to Jenny Lawson (who I cannot stand tonally) I might had steered away.
It’s much too ‘try-hard’, and the over exaggerated, crass storytelling just isn’t for me.
I had no prior knowledge of who she was, but it fit a prompt of a reading challenge I’m doing so off I went with no backstory. Had I known her style or that she’s linked to Jenny Lawson (who I cannot stand tonally) I might had steered away.
It’s much too ‘try-hard’, and the over exaggerated, crass storytelling just isn’t for me.
This book of essays came highly recommended by Jenny Lawson, and since I love Jenny, I assumed I would love this book. I was right!
Samantha Irby is insanely funny and vulgar. She starts off this collection with her Bachelorette Application that introduces her to us.
“You know, what I really need is someone who remembers to rotate this meaty pre-corpse toward the sun every couple of days and tries to get me to stop spending my money like a goddamn NBA lottery pick.”
And we just go running from there. A few things she mentioned sounded crazy familiar, so I looked her up. Yup, she has Crohn's Disease. I had Ulcerative Colitis (a cousin to Crohn's) and I truly feel her pain. One of the fascinating things about people with IBD is the ability to speak plainly and often about butts and poop. Samantha is no exception, so if butthole talk makes you nervous, well.....
How about lesbian talk? Her essay on her first girl encounter, referencing an open-face, medium rare, roast beef sandwich and soft serve ice cream, is a visual. For real.
She details her "dumpster fire" of a childhood. Saying she had it rough is a bit of an understatement but she has the ability to make you laugh as her dad's ashes end up in her mouth instead of the river (damn wind!).
“I am a simple person. Kind of. I mean, I don’t really have any dreams beyond comfortable pants and unlimited sparkling water.”
Samantha Irby is insanely funny and vulgar. She starts off this collection with her Bachelorette Application that introduces her to us.
“You know, what I really need is someone who remembers to rotate this meaty pre-corpse toward the sun every couple of days and tries to get me to stop spending my money like a goddamn NBA lottery pick.”
And we just go running from there. A few things she mentioned sounded crazy familiar, so I looked her up. Yup, she has Crohn's Disease. I had Ulcerative Colitis (a cousin to Crohn's) and I truly feel her pain. One of the fascinating things about people with IBD is the ability to speak plainly and often about butts and poop. Samantha is no exception, so if butthole talk makes you nervous, well.....
How about lesbian talk? Her essay on her first girl encounter, referencing an open-face, medium rare, roast beef sandwich and soft serve ice cream, is a visual. For real.
She details her "dumpster fire" of a childhood. Saying she had it rough is a bit of an understatement but she has the ability to make you laugh as her dad's ashes end up in her mouth instead of the river (damn wind!).
“I am a simple person. Kind of. I mean, I don’t really have any dreams beyond comfortable pants and unlimited sparkling water.”
I really like Samantha Irby as a person, but I didn't like this one as much as Meaty. Possibly because I felt like she took aim at my own personal lameness in this one. Haha. (Ex: I once didn't have a TV and would totally talk about how I did other things, just like Irby mocked. I have a TV now though. It even has Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney so I'm not acting snotty about not watching TV. Ha!)
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