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

By Mindy Kaling

Genre: Humor, Autobiography, Writing, Essays, Funny, Non-Fiction

Rating: 4 stars

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Synopsis:

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.

My Review:

This book is going on my permanent re-read, reflective and funny reads list. It is rare, in my opinion, to find a book that successfully doesn’t take itself too seriously (or seriously at all) while simultaneously being insightful and relatable.

Mindy talks about her life, personal experiences and opinions on her career, true friendships, her zany personality, and parties (the celebrity A-list & the intimate, friend-gathering Averaged–list types).

What I love the most about Mindy and this book was the fact that she has this f**k it positivity and keeps a steady exterior-level of confidence in life, even when she admits that the confidence was not mirrored on the inside.

I found that the main thing I took (and what everyone can take) from this book is that it’s okay to be off-beat and different as long as you stay true to you, have confidence in yourself and remain determined to do the things that you love. Being a screenplay writer and a hopeful TV (future) writer, the aspects that stayed with me the most, obviously, were the parts where she discussed her life after college in New York and how she made her way into writing for Television, but I also greatly enjoyed the segments on friendship and relationships in this book as well.

As always, Mindy, thank you. This big, crazy world would be less funny and empty without you. 🙂

Until next, time guys,

Gia.