You'll Grow Out of It

I'm a bit of a sucker for essay collections written by comedians. I adored Mindy Kaling's books (Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) and Why Not Me?), Amy Poehler's Yes Please is full of fantastic wisdom, and how can you not adore Tina Fey (Bossypants). And so it brings me to Jessi Klein's You'll Grow Out of It. What was different about this collection-- from Mindy, Amy, and Tina (yes, we're on a first-name basis) -- is that Klein is not on a TV show, or a recognizable comedic persona. Rather, she has made a name for herself behind-the-scenes, as head writer for "Inside Amy Schumer", a show that is known for its sketches that address sex and womanhood. The reason I read this book is actually thanks to another book review, "Jessi Klein's New Book is Better than Therapy" on The Cut, which wrote "How each chapter will resonate depends on each reader's particular station in life, and I suspect neurotic, semi-dorky Jewish girls in New York who love writing and comedy might feel the hippo-tortoise affinity most keenly." (You'll have to read the book to understand what the "hippo-tortoise affinity" means). She focuses on growing up and coming into her own as a woman, and I think her best chapters were her most weirdly specific ones, like the essay on the Bachelor or getting an epidural. Here's one of my favorite passages from the book, in which she describes her "type" 

Noses are of key importance. I need a large nose. Something with a bump. I cannot abide by a small nose on anyone, really--men or women. I need the kind of nose that suggests some sort of Jewish/Italian/Green/African influence. The kind of nose that says, "at some point in the history of my people, we were forced to flee." 

Rating: ★★★★