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

It’s Mindy Kaling from The Office, so of course it’s funny. It’s not as funny as we wanted it to be, but it left us wanting more. This book could have been three times as long. It made us want to be best friends with Mindy. We were really impressed with her ability to create a play where two women played Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and have THAT be her big break. We liked her essays, lists, and honesty. The best parts of this book, for us, were her childhood memories. We also liked her observations on romance. We don’t get one-night-stands either, Mindy. This book is less "laugh-out-loud comedy" and more "amusing memoir", as is usually the case with comedians. If you want to get to know Mindy Kaling, pick it up. If you just want to laugh at comedy essays, go get a George Carlin book.

We ended up wanting to know Mindy and laugh at her life, partly because she is so relatable in her book. If everyone is hanging out without you, Mindy, we would love to hang out with you. She's a little like Kelly on The Office, if Kelly were really smart and not a horrible, devious, and desperate person. This book made us wish that someone this obsessed with comedy could get another gig now that The Office is worn out. They’ve done all they can with those characters. Move on. This is someone who hit comedy gold with a female version of Ben Affleck. Give her another show! We did like her behind-the-scenes tidbits about The Office and the people who work on that show, including what the work environment was like.

We especially enjoyed her smart, eerie take on Steve Carell. He’s a nice, polite, genius with integrity…who observes people so well that he is able to create a bumbling character like Michael down to the mannerisms. We shudder to think of how he would imitate our unknown foibles and dorky moments. We are a little scared about how Mindy keeps talking about wanting to star in a romantic comedy. No, Mindy, you’re too good for those. Clearly, Mindy needs to write young-adult novels that are humorous and real. We know Mindy Kaling is going to have a great future and this book just made us love her more.

Book grade (for a memoir): B+

Book grade (for a comedy book): B-