Steve Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

May 26, 2011 by shanyn

Title: Bossypants
Hardcover, 275 pages
Author: Tina Fey
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Publication Date: April 5, 2011
Source: Purchased
Buy: Amazon

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Book Summary:
Before Liz Lemon, before “Weekend Update,” before “Sarah Palin,” Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon — from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we’ve all suspected: you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.

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Steve Review:
Hahahaha.  Haha.  Hahah.  That was a literal audio clip of me as I read Bossypants by Tina Fey.  Shanyn can confirm that there was much of the l-o-l’ing.  I do have to confess that I am not a neutral party coming into this book.  I bought it already loving on some Tina Fey.  Did you guys watch Mean Girls?  I mean cmon, that alone is enough to make anyone want to read pretty much anything she writes.  (Tina Fey wrote Mean Girls for those of you living in a cellar with no internet/TV/movie availability for the past 10 years.  Btw, how are you reading this review??!)  Not to mention the glorious weekend updates on SNL of yesteryear or her TV show 30 Rock; one of the few shows I DVR consistently. So I was already very partial to Ms. Fey and her work.

The book itself surprised me.  I had no idea what to expect but the summary alone was enough to make me want it.  It’s kind of an autobiography. Heck, even mostly an autobiography.  But that being said, it is not even 300 pages long, she only broaches a few different subjects in a random haphazard way, and she smatters the text with dripping sarcasm.  Smattered drips of sarcasm? Yes, please.

I don’t know about you guys, but from now on this is the ONLY kind of autobiography I want to read.  If it had been a serious 700 page tell-all, I would have read it cover to cover. And I most certainly would not have enjoyed it nearly as much as I enjoyed Bossypants.  I laughed, I learned a bit about TFey, and frankly I think I got my moneys worth even with the short length of the book.  All autobiographies should strive to take themselves less serious and insert a ton of exaggerations, understatements, and self deprecation.

Tina Fey simply tells some of her story in that Tina Fey way, and to me it is definitely worth a read if you are a fan of her or any of her projects.

I know Shanyn has removed the points scale since I last posted.  But she hasn’t removed the points scale from my heart.  Let’s do this:

Points Scale:
Cover: 3/5 – The cover with her funny face doesn’t really need those weird man arms does it?
Title: 3/5 – She explains the title choice, as good as any but not amazing.
Plot: 8/10 – The plot goes all over the place and nowhere at the same time.  Resembling some form of chronological timeframe is a stretch but the randomness inserted and real life content bumps this grade up.
Characters: 10/10 – Tina Fey, cohorts, and references to many a random person.  Definitely great.
Writing: 9/10 – Love it. I was not exaggerating with the lolling.  I was doing it
Ending: N/A/10 – It ended with a section of *’s that she clarified from earlier in the book where she made a bunch of hilarious statements.  A good ending but I don’t really think the “ending” of an autobiography of someone who is still alive is really much of an ending at all or applicable to a points scale.

Total: 33/40 – Short, hilarious, Tina Fey story.  I actually got more enjoyment out of this biography than I thought I was going to.  Like I mentioned above, I think all biographies should be this entertaining.

Buy: Amazon

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