I'd love to be able to laugh at my life the way this author does, and then describe it that way to you. Laurie Notaro's stuff is occasionally hilarious to the point of snorting with mirth (admit it, you've done it, too), but mostly is milder humor of the look-at-how-absurd-life-is variety. It's fun! She reminds me of a friend of mine from graduate school who has a regular life like the rest of us, but who when she describes said life sounds like she is in the midst of a major comedy. I think my friend should start writing her stories down. Like that one where she took her fat cat to the vet..... I simply cannot do it justice. So I will leave it to my friend and Laurie Notaro.

The funniest book I have ever read! Loved it!

I made it halfway and was just so bored. It was just not amusing - and in need of an editor. Seriously.

The author was pretty funny more often than not. I found myself cackling at times, but some stories felt like a you-had-to-be-there moment and were blah.

This just didn't amuse me, EXCEPT for the chapter about how she played The Sims and made herself beautiful and her husband fat with a mullet so he wouldn't think he could cheat on her or anything, and then her Sim set the stove on fire while making dinner and caught on fire and died, and all her Sim husband did was stand there and scream. I laughed myself silly over that chapter.

My first Notaro book, and I enjoyed a lot.
She has a way of writing that makes you think you could have also said the same things. You obviously didn't.
If you are the weird one more than often, here's Laurie to tell you you are not alone. ;)

Other atrocious lies: I LOVE this book.

Too subtle? This book f--king sucks.

this was just the book to read when the chill of winter forces one to attach to the sofa with a heavy blanket... i laughed, i winced, i became more thankful for my mom, and i found the words to explain my sporadic disposition of annoyance and frustration towards my darling children and husband:
"In all honesty, I really wouldn't even identify myself as a mean person; rather, I would classify myself as a Pointer-Outer of Extraordinary Acts of Incredible Foolishness and, on Occasion, Rudeness. Some people would call these experiences meltdowns, but I would rather consider them Opportunities to Enlighten (others)."
i totally respect her decision to remain childless but i can only imagine the stories that would come out of her experience.

so dumb. life is funny, but not worth this many pages. i guess maybe i'd rather talk to funny people than read their stories. every thing seems really exaggerated. boogers, bad interviews, bad dates. i dunno. not into it at all. too forced.

This book was bad. I did not like it one bit. But I didn't feel like getting into something else. Reading it made me uncomfortable. The author was SO self-depricating. The whole time I just kept thinking that she needed a new therapist.

Update: Still thinking about this book incessantly! The incorrect grammar doesn't matter, if that is your "voice" when you're writing. I just finished The Old Man and the Sea, and Hemingway does his own thing too, and I wouldn't say he was a "bad" writer. Of course. However! Sometimes Notaro's writing doesn't sound like how I imagine her voice would sound, and it isn't correct grammar, so its a little jarring. If it had a flow to it, because thats how she thinks, I probably wouldn't have even noticed. However! What if Notaro's voice actually includes these improbable differences... I could write a book about Notaro's book :) But I won't...

Laurie Notaro is HILARIOUS! Every single page caused me to laugh out loud! Just a note to self, there are a lot of swear words, "potty" humor, and incorrect grammar. I hope Laurie never reads this review, because I think if we met in real life we would be friends, and then I would feel bad about saying she's not a "good" writer... However! Her life and writing are super funny!!!

I'm not going to finish this one.
I'm never quite sure if the writer is telling the truth. She seems to stretch things so far that they can't possibly be true, and instead of laughing, I just feel duped. I like a writer who can take poetic license but carries the readers along, as if we are watching the joke unfold. Here I just feel like I'm part of the joke.
There are so many other really funny writers.