Sunday, June 5, 2011

Bossypants

Bossypants
by Tina Fey, April 2011, Hachette Audio 5hrs. 35 mins.

Fey is witty, intelligent, sarcastic, surprisingly serious, and self deprecating – her memoir is all of the above.

I will be participating in Audiobook week hosted Jen at Devourer of Books this week so I will post a couple of reviews of audio books I’ve listened to. I just started listening to audiobooks last year.  Here is a link to some of my favorites last year.  I'll post later this week on this years favorites.

Bossypants is far and away the funniest of the books I've listened to recently. Tina Fey reads her memoir herself and her comedic timing as always is excellent. The memoir is part comedy, part life advice and part assessment of social mores. On more than one occasion I found myself laughing out loud at the comedy. She relates stories, with great characters and descriptions from her experiences in the Summer Stage program at Upper Darby HS (full disclosure Fey grew up near me and went to high school near my parents’ home in Drexel Hill, PA). Her Greek parents, her time at Second City in Chicago, and her work at Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock all have segments in this story. Some of the funniest sections are the descriptions of how the Sarah Palin role came about.

Her life as a female comic in a male dominated world is fodder for much comedy but also many insightful suggestions for women facing gender discrimination. She draws some universal life lessons from what she learned in improve theater, also very funny. Soooo, in summary this audiobook is worth your time. Fey is witty, intelligent, sarcastic, surprisingly serious, and self deprecating – her memoir is all of the above.

I listened to a copy of this story that I downloaded from the Free Library of Philadelphia and there was an annoying problem with this production. At the end of Fey’s sentences the volume would become lower for the last two to three words. Not sure if it was a function of the download or the original production

10 comments:

Erotic Horizon said...

I am not a fan of biographies but I have heard so much good things about this one - so much so I bought it...

I am about 10 mins in and I have already had a chuckle or two...

I love her voice...

:)

Nise' said...

I've read such great reviews of this audio that I have got to listen!

Zibilee said...

I also have heard a lot of good things about this book, and although I don't really follow Tina Fey, I think this would make for a really fun read. Great review, and glad that you liked it!

Jen - devourer of books said...

I noticed a few sentences where the end was quieter, but it seemed to me when that happened it wasn't a production issue as much as just Tina Fey's cadence, a couple times she would speak very low and it was difficult to hear her.

Kathy said...

Thanks for all of the comments. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.
Jen, I agree that Tina's delivery does lose volume at the end of some sentences, but I thought it was the sound engineer's job to make sure we could hear it!

Teresa said...

I've heard so many great things about this on audio. Adding to list now...

Molly (Restless Reader) said...

I'm listening to Bossypants today! It's only my third audiobook, but my first one for audiobook week.

Melissa said...

I'm not a big fan of Tina Fey, but this book looks (sounds?) like fun!

Unknown said...

I've read mixed reviews on this one, but I still want to read it--or listen to it after reading this review.

... visiting via Cym Lowell's Review Party.

Jenn of Frequent Reader, Infrequent Blogger said...

I'm not much for biographies myself, but it sounds good.