Burn It All Down – Nicolas DiDomizio

I knew I would love this, and not just because James Patterson blurbed it, raving about its addictiveness. It is, by the way, super addictive. It’s the type of story that you start and finish deep into the morning. Forget about getting your beauty night sleep, which likely won’t happen when it comes to this book. In my particular case though, I’m simply typically a night owl and prefer to fall asleep when I just can’t keep my eyes open anymore and fall into slumber the moment I close my eyes. This book will make it hard to close your eyes, but hey, I’m not complaining.

I also knew I would love it because after I finished watching the movie French Exit, I was subconsciously dying for another mother-son story. This is very different from the movie mentioned above, but it does feature that strong mother-son connection that I really liked from the movie and touched the part of me that adores seeing strong familial connections. Joey and his mother Gia Rossi certainly have that connection, especially when it comes to men. They both get their hearts broken by jerks and handle the heart breaks together. This time, however, they both got their hearts broken at the same time and they decide to get their revenge on. It’s cathartic for them and entertaining for the reader.

The first 100 or so pages of this book are thrilling, the rest are a bit calmer. I do admit that I prefer when it’s the other way around—when stories start in a chill way and gain energy the more I read—but for Joey and Gia Rossi, the storm never really dies. After completing their revenge plans, exteriorly they might seem okay-ish and certainly the environment they are in is more peaceful, but both mother and son are actively dealing with the aftermath of what they’ve done and how they feel, sometimes together and sometimes on their own. Of course, as interesting as it was to see Joey and Gia interact, more like friends than mother and son, it is not necessarily a very healthy type of dynamic, and both have to grow up in their own ways.

It’s part thriller, part literary, part romance and almost all coming-of-age. There are secrets and revelations, beautiful and dark moments, tears of happiness and despair and a lot, lot, lot of love. I adored it. If you like unconventional stories, this one is for you. Enjoy.

Thank you Hachette Book Group Canada for the copy in exchange for a review.

I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are – Rachel Bloom

I felt similarly reading this memoir—or collection of essays, rather—to reading Ali Wong’s. Both Ali Wong and Rachel Bloom are comedians in their own respective ways. Both of these women are straight-forward and do not censor themselves when discussing sex and other such topics. I like when authors don’t beat around the bush. But somehow neither Rachel Bloom’s nor Ali Wong’s humor is for me. I don’t find bullying or excrement particularly funny. To me, making jokes regarding those—especially the toilet-related ones—seem rather immature. As much as I respect Rachel Bloom’s assertiveness and openness through writing, I have to say I do not find her very mature or amusing. I’m mainly saying the last point because while she entertained me at times, she did not make me laugh the way Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish and Yvonne Orji are able to.

And since this is a collection of supposedly humorous essays and chapters, not laughing or chuckling actually made me feel like an outsider, which is funny because that’s how Rachel Bloom felt growing up and still feels today. There were some chapters that were more serious that resonated with me, for instance when she discusses her experiences at university, the comedy club and with men. My favourite chapter was the one in which she writes about feeling like there is a relationship curse put on her when she was younger. While, not all chapters worked for me, I have to give it to Rachel Bloom: she doesn’t lack originality.

This is a pretty unconventional non-fiction work, because it’s filled with non-traditional stuff. To give you an idea, Rachel Bloom wrote down her LinkedIn profile, built a sort of amusement park for adults and then described it, and even created a short musical for us. While I did not finish Ali Wong’s memoir, I did finish Rachel Bloom’s work and the reason for that is that it reads fast and it’s so diverse in content that even though I didn’t find it particularly funny or meaningful most of the time, I was still curious to know what the next chapter would hold. I do recommend it if you’re a Rachel Bloom fan. I didn’t know who she was prior to picking this up, and clearly she’s not the right comedian for me, but if you feel differently you might love this!

Thank you Hachette Book Group Canada for the copy in exchange for a review.