This book was such an odd/surprising reading experience:
(image from Target.com)
Little Weirds, by Jenny Slate (Target) (Amazon)
I started reading, and almost immediately was like oh, yeah, no: this is one of those PAY ATTENTION TO ME PAY ATTENTION TO ME PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEEEEE books where the author says gross things and bizarre things, and talks about her body and how horny she is, because she’s learned that those are good ways to get a lot of attention, and actually I think she’s had enough already.
By the end of the book, I was completely enchanted. She is a darling and a sweetheart, a brilliant and sensitive person, and no man is good enough for her. I felt like those memes where someone posts a picture of a cute little animal and writes “I WOULD DIE FOR THEM.” I went from “Whoo, good thing I got this from the library instead of buying it, because I don’t think I’m going to make it through the second essay” to PUTTING THE HARDCOVER IN MY ONLINE CART.
You know how some of us get all choked up at terrible school band/chorus concerts because of how PURE AND EARNEST the whole thing is and how so many people have worked so hard to make this happen? And how some of us almost can’t bear the sweetness of society deciding to go to considerable expense and effort to make playgrounds—with grown adults even specializing in playground equipment and playground design and so forth? That is how the author sees things, too. Her use of the word “little”; her references to treats; the way she felt about other passengers on the plane; the way she talks about her house; how charmed she was by other people putting effort into a little surprise for her; the way she felt about a question the landscaper asked her.
Anyway. I still recommend getting it from the library to begin with, because for all my change of heart, there is still a hearty measure of my first impression. But by the end, I was seeing it as The Artistic Temperament, and finding it a very valuable temperament indeed when combined with the intelligence and self-awareness she shows throughout.
Swistle I read a book that I couldn’t put down and I have to recommend to you. I AM COMPELLED. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I read it in 2 sittings, only because it was midnight and I had to go to bed. It was LOVELY.
Have heard so many good reviews of this book but my dang library doesn’t have it
Adding this enthusiastically to my library holds…
I am not the only one who cries at student concerts??
YOU ARE AMONG FRIENDS
Eight years ago when Oldest was in 4th grade I got so unexpectedly emotional at the 4th grade talent show. Look at all these kids with talent! I had no idea! Look at all of these kids brave enough to get up there and try! My usual cynical self was put on hold for two hours and it was lovely.
If you have not already, and you enjoy listening to books, I recommend the audio version. It is read by the author and she is a good reader and all the “and then I dieds” are so much MORE. I assume. I only listened but I can see myself reading it and being !?!?!?
In sort of related news, I just read The Right Sort of Man and it was cheeky and fun and ridiculous and smart (it was recommended by my local bookstore for fans of Maisie Dobbs and Bess Crawford of which I am one) and I was like THE AUDIO WILL BE AMAZING. And while it is growing on me, it could be so much better.
I was introduced to Jenny Slate when my daughter and her friends fell in love with “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” an animated short film:
https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/marcel-the-shell-with-shoes-on-two-jenny-slates-latest-adorable-short-film-104882/
Even now, we often say “compared to what?”
I appreciate your appreciation of the earnestness of terrible school concerts, because I spent the week putting together a “virtual concert” for my online band students and I was feeling pretty down about how terrible it is. BUT IT IS CUTE. TERRIBLE BUT CUTE.
Our middle school band/chorus teachers put together a virtual concert and I SOBBED all the way through it. SOBBED. WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A BAND/CHORUS STUDENT. We watched it as a Pandemic Activity. And I was so touched, seeing all those videos separately recorded by students in their assorted-backgrounds homes and painstakingly knitted together by the teachers. (SOBBED.)
Swistle, did you see Jenny Slate’s Netflix special “Stage Fright?” Lots of body/sex humor and also unexpectedly really sweet and moving!
I have not read this (but absolutely will) but somehow your review reminds me of books by Amy Krause Rosenthal which I love so much. Amy seems better known for her kid books (little pea etc) but I loved encyclopedia of an ordinary life and textbook Amy Krause rosenthal. And now I am once again sad she is gone :(
Oh! I’ve read Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life! In fact, I own/owned a copy! (I would have said “own,” except suddenly I realize I haven’t seen it in awhile, so it may not have survived the last book-purge.)
I was also coming here to tell you about Jenny Slate’s Netflix special. It sounds like the book in that she talks about how she is horny but also is so endearing and sweet that you can’t help but love her. I just want good things for her, ya know?
I like this kind of review – I just put it on hold at the library!
Agree! I love Jenny Slate as an actress, so charming and funny. My first reaction to this book was “ugh, too twee, so precious and self-indulgent.” I picked it up again after a year because it is small, neither dystopian nor important, and I was utterly delighted. Some essays I still skim; it may depend on my mood?, but Slate is an original and there are treasures to be enjoyed.