Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling.

Book: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? ( And Other Concerns)

Author: Mindy Kaling

Pages: 255

Read On: Kindle

How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days

Plot Summary: 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.

General Thoughts: This book was so hyped and generated so much buzz when it came out. A lot of people loved this book and obviously it did pretty well. I thought I'd read it then but never got around to it. Truth be told, I am not the target audience for this book. I am no Mindy Kaling fan..I don't hate her or anything but I have never seen The Office and I have seen only a few episodes of The Mindy Project and I didn't like it at all. But this book was on my Kindle and I thought why not give it a go!

Things I Liked:

1. The book was so funny in parts that I giggled uncontrollably.The bits about Colin Firth were so on point and she has a whole chapter dedicated to the quirks of of her Jewish friends which was hilarious! The humour really is spot on.

2. The book is more a series of essays than a memoir per say, so it's a great book to dip in and out of.

3. Even though this is a book written by a celebrity, there is so much of her life prior to her success. It's a nice rounded book in that aspect.

4. She talks about her childhood quite a bit in the book and those parts were funny, relatable and very enjoyable.

5. She does a good job at showing behind the scenes of her life and her success. It shows just how much work goes into building a career in showbiz or any other field for that matter.

6. The best bit about this book is how honest it is and how genuine and real Mindy comes across.

7. A perfect read for fans of The Office...I am sure this book will be treat for die-hard fans of the show.

Things I Didn't Like: 

The main issue for me in this book was that I am not an Office fan, I haven't seen any of it. And so a lot of the time she talks about the show or the actors in it..was not something I fully got.

Also even by the end of the book I didn't really feel like we got to know Mindy. I know this was a series of essays and not in the truest sense a memoir. Yet I felt it was a little hollow in a way.

Rating: 3/5