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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2011: Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself). From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation. Some of the funniest chapters feature the differences between male and female comedy writers ("men urinate in cups"), her cruise ship honeymoon ("it’s very Poseidon Adventure"), and advice about breastfeeding ("I had an obligation to my child to pretend to try"). But the chaos of Fey’s life is best detailed when she’s dividing her efforts equally between rehearsing her Sarah Palin impression, trying to get Oprah to appear on 30 Rock, and planning her daughter’s Peter Pan-themed birthday. Bossypants gets to the heart of why Tina Fey remains universally adored: she embodies the hectic, too-many-things-to-juggle lifestyle we all have, but instead of complaining about it, she can just laugh it off. --Kevin Nguyen
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.Review
Once in a generation a woman comes along who changes everything. Tina Fey is not that woman, but she met that woman once and acted weird around her.
PRAISE FOR TINA FEY:
"You'd be really pretty if you lost weight."—College Boyfriend, 1990
"Tina Fey is an ugly, pear-shaped, overrated troll."—The Internet
"Mommy, where are my pretzels?"—Tracy Morgan
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BOSSYPANTS:
"I hope that's not really the cover. That's really going to hurt sales."—Don Fey, Father of Tina Fey
"Absolutely delicious!"—A Guy Who Eats Books
"Totally worth it."—Trees
"Do not print this glowing recommendation of Tina Fey's book until I've been dead a hundred years."—Mark Twain
"Hilarious and insightful. Laugh-out-loud funny -- oh no, a full moon. No! Arrgh! Get away from me! Save yourself!"—A Guy Turning into a Werewolf --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
PRAISE FOR TINA FEY:
"You'd be really pretty if you lost weight."—College Boyfriend, 1990
"Tina Fey is an ugly, pear-shaped, overrated troll."—The Internet
"Mommy, where are my pretzels?"—Tracy Morgan
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BOSSYPANTS:
"I hope that's not really the cover. That's really going to hurt sales."—Don Fey, Father of Tina Fey
"Absolutely delicious!"—A Guy Who Eats Books
"Totally worth it."—Trees
"Do not print this glowing recommendation of Tina Fey's book until I've been dead a hundred years."—Mark Twain
"Hilarious and insightful. Laugh-out-loud funny -- oh no, a full moon. No! Arrgh! Get away from me! Save yourself!"—A Guy Turning into a Werewolf --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
625 of 680 people found the following review helpful
By
Alan Mazer
on April 5, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Verified Purchase
16 Comments
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I enjoy a good memoir. It seems there's always something good to learn from other people's life experiences. And while I'm not a huge Tina Fey fan, I enjoyed her as Sarah Palin on SNL and occasionally watch 30 Rock. So after reading a review of the book, and being without anything to read at the moment, I took a chance and bought Bossypants, and I'm glad I did.
It seemed a little uneven starting out, but quickly transitioned into some very interesting pieces about her early jobs, her work with Second City, and then her transition into writing for SNL and her eventual creation of 30 Rock. Interspersed are stories about growing up and dating, her eventual marriage, and her struggles to balance work and family life, as well as some candid advice for other women on how to make it in a male-dominated industry.
Perhaps what I liked most about the book is that even though there is a lot of self-deprecating (and distancing) humor, my sense in the end was that Fey gave us an honest look at who she is: imperfect, stumbling, but always rising again, persevering, and continuing to do what she loves. I would say the book is well worth reading for any fan of Tina Fey, 30 Rock, or SNL, as well as for any woman who struggles to balance the roles of worker, spouse and mom. It was a good read!
It seemed a little uneven starting out, but quickly transitioned into some very interesting pieces about her early jobs, her work with Second City, and then her transition into writing for SNL and her eventual creation of 30 Rock. Interspersed are stories about growing up and dating, her eventual marriage, and her struggles to balance work and family life, as well as some candid advice for other women on how to make it in a male-dominated industry.
Perhaps what I liked most about the book is that even though there is a lot of self-deprecating (and distancing) humor, my sense in the end was that Fey gave us an honest look at who she is: imperfect, stumbling, but always rising again, persevering, and continuing to do what she loves. I would say the book is well worth reading for any fan of Tina Fey, 30 Rock, or SNL, as well as for any woman who struggles to balance the roles of worker, spouse and mom. It was a good read!
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272 of 294 people found the following review helpful
By
Meghan C. Wilker
on April 10, 2011
Format: Hardcover
8 Comments
Sending feedback...
I almost gave this book 5 stars, and it is damn near perfect.
Let's start with the good stuff:
- It's extremely funny. And not just "laugh out loud" funny, but "laugh *so* out loud your spouse asks you to go read in another room because you're keeping him awake" funny. If you enjoy Tina Fey's humor, you'll really appreciate this book. It's damn funny.
- It's (unexpectedly) full of really good advice about how to be a good boss. I mean, maybe I should have gleaned that from the title but I expected it to be more of a comedic autobiography than a sincere look at how to effectively manage people. And she's got some really great thoughts in this book about how to be a leader.
- Where books by other comedians are pretty much only for laughs (see: Chelsea Handler), this book also contains some social critique. And, not in a preachy way - in a very funny way. But Fey raises some excellent questions about how women treat each other, being a working mom, dealing with institutionalized sexism, and other hilarious topics!
I found myself wanting to know a bit more about SNL, or 30 Rock, but she keeps those experiences (and her personal life) at a pretty surface level. It appears to be a very conscious choice, and one I respect; you can tell she doesn't want to be a tell-all kind of person, and she's not interested in being the sort of celebrity that rips her whole life open for all to see.
All-in-all, I loved this book and devoured it in one day (not an easy feat with two preschool-aged kids running around).
My only gripe is that it's a little hard to tell what this book is trying to be. It's part comedy, part biography and part managerial guidance/life lessons. Not that that's a bad combination - it was just a little unexpected. And, at times, felt a little jumpy.
Let's start with the good stuff:
- It's extremely funny. And not just "laugh out loud" funny, but "laugh *so* out loud your spouse asks you to go read in another room because you're keeping him awake" funny. If you enjoy Tina Fey's humor, you'll really appreciate this book. It's damn funny.
- It's (unexpectedly) full of really good advice about how to be a good boss. I mean, maybe I should have gleaned that from the title but I expected it to be more of a comedic autobiography than a sincere look at how to effectively manage people. And she's got some really great thoughts in this book about how to be a leader.
- Where books by other comedians are pretty much only for laughs (see: Chelsea Handler), this book also contains some social critique. And, not in a preachy way - in a very funny way. But Fey raises some excellent questions about how women treat each other, being a working mom, dealing with institutionalized sexism, and other hilarious topics!
I found myself wanting to know a bit more about SNL, or 30 Rock, but she keeps those experiences (and her personal life) at a pretty surface level. It appears to be a very conscious choice, and one I respect; you can tell she doesn't want to be a tell-all kind of person, and she's not interested in being the sort of celebrity that rips her whole life open for all to see.
All-in-all, I loved this book and devoured it in one day (not an easy feat with two preschool-aged kids running around).
My only gripe is that it's a little hard to tell what this book is trying to be. It's part comedy, part biography and part managerial guidance/life lessons. Not that that's a bad combination - it was just a little unexpected. And, at times, felt a little jumpy.
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237 of 273 people found the following review helpful
By
Kristin
on April 21, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Verified Purchase
23 Comments
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Like most women of my generation, I am a fan of Tina Fey. She is a weekly beacon of joy in a sea of unlikable, unrelatable portrayals of women in the media. So it kills me that I didn't like her book!
Two things:
1. Her dry, punchy humor is wonderful for writing performances, but I don't think it works well in long format. She's not so much the best story-teller. Rarely did I find myself captivated by anything in the book or wanting to read more, which made me feel like....
2. She's a very reluctant memoir-writer. The tone often made me feel like I was intruding somehow by reading what she wrote. There are points where she outright says she doesn't want to discuss certain events (*perfectly* understandable.) But her stories feel glossed-over and the people she discusses feel liks frameworks of characters.
(I loved the chapter about her father. It felt rich and I totally understood who he was and how he shaped her life. If the rest of the book had been like that, it would've been great.)
Love Tina Fey and I'll continue to watch 30 Rock like a junkie. But it kills me that I'm not recommending this to my friends. (I'm not a total downer: if you want a fun memoir, I'd choose Kathy Griffin's instead... just because I think she's a bit better at crafting a story.)
Two things:
1. Her dry, punchy humor is wonderful for writing performances, but I don't think it works well in long format. She's not so much the best story-teller. Rarely did I find myself captivated by anything in the book or wanting to read more, which made me feel like....
2. She's a very reluctant memoir-writer. The tone often made me feel like I was intruding somehow by reading what she wrote. There are points where she outright says she doesn't want to discuss certain events (*perfectly* understandable.) But her stories feel glossed-over and the people she discusses feel liks frameworks of characters.
(I loved the chapter about her father. It felt rich and I totally understood who he was and how he shaped her life. If the rest of the book had been like that, it would've been great.)
Love Tina Fey and I'll continue to watch 30 Rock like a junkie. But it kills me that I'm not recommending this to my friends. (I'm not a total downer: if you want a fun memoir, I'd choose Kathy Griffin's instead... just because I think she's a bit better at crafting a story.)
Thank you for your feedback.
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229 of 267 people found the following review helpful
By
Cornflake Girl
on April 5, 2011
Format: Kindle Edition
Verified Purchase
4 Comments
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I read this book in its entirety in under 24 hours (AND I still managed to stick in sleep, work, and 3 squares). This book is perfect for anyone who loves Tina Fey's sarcastic wit. It's an insanely fast read and it literally made me laugh out loud in spots. Granted, if you're not a Fey fan, you probably won't like the bulk of this book. It's no shock-and-awe campaign either; you won't find any secrets here. In essence, this book is exactly what I thought (and hoped) it would be: 280 pages of Feytastic wordage. Fey is quite the wordsmith - no surprise there - and she really can weave a story. Some chunks of the book are stuff you've probably already heard/seen/read - SNL sketch scripts, 30 Rock lines, etc. And if you get the Kindle version some of the graphics outside the regular text will be hard to read (unless I'm just a moron) - but I give this book 5+ stars. Tina Fey is a smart and sassy woman, and her book is no different. I highly recommend it to fans of 30 Rock, SNL, and cake.
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