The Saturday Review: Bossypants

Bossypants
Tina Fey
Published in 2011

Tina Fey, known for her work on "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" recently published her first book, a memoir called Bossypants. Fey writes about her first forays into entertainment, especially her job with a local children's theater and doing improv with Chicago's elite group, Second City.  She tells brief but significant stories about her time at "SNL" and describes her awkward transition to fame and becoming the boss at "30 Rock".  There are a few funny anecdotes about her personal life (snapshots from her childhood and adolescence, her disastrous honeymoon, the struggles of being a late-in-life working mom, treks between families at Christmastime) and the less fun parts of being in the public eye (magazine photo shoots and reading about yourself on the internet). 

I heard good things about Bossypants, and when faced with a ridiculously small audiobook selection, my road trip travel companions and I decided to give it a whirl.  We were pleased by the results, and it made an otherwise long car ride go very quickly.  The sections were short and punchy, with funny asides.  Fey writes about herself in an off-hand, self-deprecating way and doesn't shy away from describing her less-flattering attributes.  Surprisingly, I enjoyed her personal stories about her awkward maturation and current personal life more than the stories about working in television, which was the initial draw.  Women will identify with her social ineptitude and self-consciousness about her looks, but her stories are universally funny.

Fey reads the auidobook, so you can hear her words in her voice, how she intends it to be read.  If you regularly listen to audiobooks, this is a good one to add to your collection.  The book is well-written and funny, but like most autobiographies, your enjoyment of the book will directly correlate with your feelings about the author.  I would definitely suggest this book for fans of Fey, "SNL", or "30 Rock".