A Review of 'Bossypants' by Tina Fey

Note: this is one of a few reviews that I am trying to write and post before I start in on things that I have read in 2016.  Thank you for your patience!

"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."

This book has been on my radar for quite some time, but it was only until a few months ago that I started to read this book.  After listening to Amy Poehler's memoir, I was a little disappointed, but Tina Fey's book was quirky in ways that Amy's wasn't.  It's a little hard to explain.  I hate to lump Amy and Tina together, but I'm going to do it any way.

I appreciated the path that she took to get to where she is today.  What was interesting to me is that she came from a background where she wasn't the best performer, but she loved what she was doing while she worked her way up in the improv world, making it into Second City and into Saturday Night Live in not the most expected way.  She didn't have the predisposition to be in entertainment, but she found what she loved and chased it down mercilessly.  I think that's admirable.  Certainly there were hiccups along the way, but who doesn't have those?

I loved Tina Fey's views on motherhood towards the end of the book.  As someone who is not a mother but is the age where everyone around her is magically having children it seems, I've thought a lot about what it means to be a mother.  I love that she took time to be with her daughter and didn't apologize for it.  I love that she kept pursuing her work and didn't let her identity split between being a mother and being a writer/performer.  This is a very real struggle I've noticed for mothers, maybe even especially fairly new mothers.  You want to be there for your child, watch them grow and support them, but you can't completely lose yourself in the process.  So how do you strike a good balance?

I wish that I had written about this book a little bit sooner or taken notes on it after I read it... I'm having a little trouble remembering my thoughts and feelings on this book.  I do know that it was a fascinating read.  I enjoy reading the stories of well-known people to see how they got to the position they are in life.  I love hearing their wisdom.  Tina Fey has an interesting life and is full of wisdom that I can only aspire to have as I get older.  You will not regret reading this book.

I give 'Bossypants':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude