Tina Fey’s Bossypants debuted April 5th, and despite concerns over the creepiness of the book’s jacket cover, now sits on several bestseller booklists. The book is a memoir of sorts, holding a collection of essays that cover a variety of topics. Fey’s stories feel like vignettes, windows to awkward moments in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Some pieces fall a little flat, lacking the detail that makes a memoir great, but others are stellar examples of Fey’s talents as a comedian.
Fey writes about a wide range of moments in her life. We learn about her youth in Pennsylvania, her college years of unrequited lust, her work with Chicago’s Second City improv group and, what she’s most famous for, her time spent working on Saturday Night Live and her portrayal of Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. Particular favorites are when she stops to detail the difference between male and female comedians (they pee in jars) or when she dives into her efforts to pretend to try to breastfeed.
Bossypants tells a messy story of the person Tina Fey has become. It’s all loosely held together by how well Fey has become at laughing at herself and the world of entertainment she inhabits. Everything is told with what now has become Fey’s trademark deprecating humor. Even when the book falters, it manages to be wildly entertaining. Most of all, Bossypants is an accurate depiction of the type of person Fey is: hectic, busy, wanting and juggling it all, but also the first to make fun of herself, and perhaps the best at it too.
Sarah McBride is a self-proclaimed pop-culture enthusiast. Her thoughts on music, film and life can be found at sarahism.com. You can follow her on twitter @sarahism.