Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling

Title: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns
Author: Mindy Kaling
Page Count: 219
Rating: C
Keywords: Comedy, Autobiography, New York, The Office 
Genre: Memoir
Younger Readers: Some language and some sexual scenes. This was written by an adult, not for children. Maybe younger teens.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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:

I read quite a few rave reviews of this memoir and was excited to give it a try. Plus I really liked the cover and spine of this book. First, I did enjoy reading this and believe it has some important lessons within its pages. However, I cannot be ecstatically in love with this book as many others have been.

Many of her antidotes were entertaining but I did not find myself laughing out loud as promised. And I absolutely do not fault the book for this. It is more I have a different sense of humor than Kaling. Those that are familiar with her other work would most likely be far more entertained and enjoy the memoir more fully.

I did notice a slight generation gap between myself and the author. As a young woman in my early 20s I did not understand all of the pop culture references she made concerning her past. When I asked people several years older than me (late 20s and into their 30s) they were far more familiar with what was being said, some even smirking or laughing at the content.

I did enjoy much of what she had to say about growing up and being the awkward child. Many of her stories of being odd I could relate to but I also believe that they are important for a younger audience. Mindy Kaling is undeniably successful and a self proclaimed ugly duckling as a child. Just because you are an awkward/strange/unpopular/just plain different child does not mean that you will not one day grow up to be successful.

I enjoyed the book overall and the parts that I was not overly fond of should not necessarily reflect badly on the memoir itself. Sometimes a reader is not entirely compatible with a book. This was one of those cases. If you are a Mindy Kaling, The Office, or just comedy in general fan then absolutely check this one out. You will not regret it.