Book Review: You're Embarrassing Yourself: Stories of Love, Lust, and Movies

 

Title: You're Embarrassing Yourself
Author: Desiree Akhavan
Genre: Humor; Memoir; Short Stories
Publication Date: August 13, 2024
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

Writer, actor, and director Desiree Akhavan shares the stories she was told to shut up about—hilarious, horny, heartbreaking tales of a life in pursuit of art, love, and the metabolism of Kate Moss circa 1995.

There was a time before shame. A time of POGS, Tamagotchis and the Macarena. When birthday party invites were a given, books came with charm necklaces, and whoever was in your class was automatically a friend. Then puberty hit and everything went weird.When it comes to shame, Desiree Akhavan knows what she’s talking about—whether it’s winning the title of The Ugliest Girl at her high school, acquiescing to the nose job she was lovingly forced into by her Iranian parents, or losing her virginity to a cokehead she met in a support group for cutters. 

In You're Embarrassing Yourself, Desiree goes to the rawest places—the lifelong struggle to be at peace in one’s body, the search for home as the child of immigrants, the anxious underbelly of artistic ambition—in pursuit of wisdom, catharsis, and lolz. Equal parts funny and heartfelt, these seventeen essays chart an artist’s journey from outcast to overnight indie darling, to (somewhat) self-aware adult woman. The result is a collection that captures the pathetic lows and euphoric highs of our youth—and how to survive them

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Rating

*I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

Hello Fellow Readers,

Have you ever felt there was someone so relatable to yourself despite just being completely different than them? That's how I felt with Desiree Akhavan's book You're Embarrassing Yourself. Once I started reading this I couldn't stop, Akhavan is funny and witty, yet so honest and emotionally raw. I couldn't imagine barring myself in such an intimate way yet it seems to have been so effortlessly done here. There are so many highlights on my Kindle with this book. I felt like I was highlighting something on every page.

I also felt very connected to Akhavan (not in a stalkerish way...) even though we led completely different lives her words just resonated with me in a way that most memoirs don't. I enjoyed the open honesty in which she writes and the way she interjects humor on even heavier topics. 

Overall, one of my favorite reads so far.