Is It Hot in Here (Or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth)?

Zach Zimmerman’s writing held me hostage in the best way possible! I could not put this book down. The writing was excellent and he was able to portray meaningful, deep topics in a hilarious way that provoked self-reflection. The only critique I have is the book was full of images that mentioned copyright laws. I wish they weren’t there or any artwork for the book was viewable.

Zach Zimmerman’s essays are full of enough humor and amusement to get you comfortable and, when you’re unsuspecting, a poignant truth sneaks up on you. These stories feel incredibly close to home, like they could be about you or someone you know. With hilarious descriptive prose and a pen dipped in truth, Zimmerman delivers anecdotes and stories that grapple with identity, family, love and growing up gay in a Southern, religious household. This is a book I’ll be sharing with all my friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of “Is It Hot in Here?” in exchange for an honest review. There’s a lot that I appreciated about this. The way that Zimmerman weaves between grief and humor is effective and impactful. I particularly enjoyed his use of form. I don’t feel like the collection ended with a bang. While it makes sense, the way that identity and acceptance are explored throughout the work — I found myself wishing for just a bit more at the conclusion. Ultimately, I enjoyed it and would recommend it. 3.5.

Zach Zimmerman's debut collection sways between lighthearted silliness and poignant self-reflection. A quick, enjoyable read that sheds a bit of light on what it might be like to grow up gay in a religious household, with a family that loves you but doesn't really understand you as your whole self. Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the opportunity to read this!

I really enjoyed this short, funny book even though I knew nothing about the author. A couple of times I laughed out loud. Highly recommend.

I found this to be enjoyable in most spots! He intertwined the humor & grief perfectly. I wish the ending gave a little more but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. Quick and easy to read story, nothing too hard to digest.

Infused with a unique and comedic voice, Zach Zimmerman's essays are darkly funny, engaging, and thought-provoking. Reading this book feels like catching up with a friend, and the essays are short enough to keep you wanting more every time you finish one.

Including Dunkin cold brew in your acknowledgments for a personal memoir is such a mood.
This book touched me in a certain way that all Southern queer folk relate to each other, I suppose. I felt seen in his conversations with his parents about being queer. These essays were delivered in such a beautiful way that the highs were very high, and very funny and the lows really came for the juggular to make you cry in the breakroom at work while you’re just eating your lunch and looking for a happy lil gay book to read.
The last 3 essays: Sot Down with Satan, Breadsticks and Questions for God were my favorites. I want to buy this book

My book rotation usually consists of heavy topics and have a serious tone. But then sometimes, a little voice tells me to try something different than what I normally read and I am ALWAYS grateful when that happens.

Because then I read books like this!

This is a collection of memoir style personal essays that force you to pull out deep buried thoughts about your existential crisis, but will make you laugh as you do.

I loved the voice in this writing. It felt like I could hear the author telling me these stories as we sit down for drinks. This book is full of razor sharp wit. I loved it and certainly recommend it!

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyable book, chapters are short so it's easy to skim through a part that doesn't hold your interest. Looking forward to reading more by the author!

First, thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the ARC of "Is it Hot in Here?".

Zimmerman pens a collection of essays that is both a quick light-hearted read and self-reflective look at what it is like to grow up queer in a southern religious household. This book touches on grief in a way that feels incredibly approachable and humorous.

A fun, easy-to-read collection of Essays and Thoughts and Lists that includes blunt but effective prose. Whether it is the story of how family members may disagree over food choices, or the end of the authors pizza career, or a snarky made-up account of the creation of the universe that recounts why capitalism doesn't work in all aspects of life, it was easy to get through, and I never knew how quickly I flipped the pages. An ideal airport read that is also extremely engaging.

I am not a huge fan of non-fiction, but I couldn’t pass up this cover! I’m glad I read it because by the end my face was covered in tears from laughing and crying. Sometimes they were separate experiences, sometimes they were the same.

Comedian and essayist Zach Zimmerman has written a stunning debut collection of essays and listicles that vacillate between the absurd and the profoundly personal. Mining his life experience as a Gay person from a conservative Christian upbringing, Zimmerman mixes the traumatic with the mundane to offer a colorful and often hysterical account of his life and his outlook on the world around him. This book will break your heart and make you laugh the whole time.

Disclosure: I received a free ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher through Netgalley. My review is my honest opinion.

Most of my appreciation for this book is based on my common background with the author. Both Bible Belt escapees. Both ex-evangelicals from true believer families. Both apostates destined, so we are told, to spend eternity with the boogeyman. He writes very well, tells a good story, and I enjoyed most of it (some topics didn’t interest me, and I didn’t read them). Enjoyable like a Little Debbie snack cake, and about as substantive.

This was book had some great laugh out loud moments. I am so glad I read this. I am picky when it comes to essays bit this collection was so good and so entertaining.
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So good! Hilarious from the first page to the last, instantly endearing, and an easy read. Zimmerman writes like your best friend sharing story after story where you don’t want them to stop. A great read!

I've been a huge fan of Zach Zimmerman for a little while now, so I was eager to read and review his book. One of the larger hurdles for a book of this style (memoirs, biographies, essays, etc.) that's been written by a prolific speaker or entertainer is ensuring that the text "sounds" like the author. Fortunately, Zimmerman clears that hurdle on page one. As a standup, Zach is able to go from sweet and wholesome to spicy and wicked at the drop of a hat and he's able to do so in print to great effect. I really liked the disordered way in which the book was presented; jumping around through Zach's life to reflect on the memories that built him. From his childhood in a family defined by their faith to an adult who has cast that lifestyle away to be his true self, the stories Zimmerman tells are touching and sad and funny all at once. I also like that so many of the stories happened to be set around various Thanksgivings. I really can see myself revisiting this book in Novembers to come. My one real complaint about the book was how short it was. Books written by comedians are never doorstops, but this one seemed especially short.

I adored this book. It was so hilarious, I laughed out loud several times. There were also parts that were quite poignant and heartbreaking. Zimmerman is a really great writer and I look forward to seeing what he will do in the future.

I really love Zach’s writing and I love that he's a deconstructed former church kid that isn't afraid to grind the axe he has from the pain he’s experienced and talks openly about what the absence of "god" has hilariously and achingly felt like sometimes. He wrestled with his love of his parents, trying to not parent but coexist with them as an adult, and this huge bucket of empathy that his upbringing has left him with to hand out in interesting situations in his adult life. Reading this book felt like being a little less alone, a little more horny, and left a large craving for cheddar bay biscuits.

This was a quick read, I loved every second of it! Being part of a rural conservative town.. having this book offered in our library would be amazing! I felt like I knew Zach by the time the book was over!

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Love this quick read! So many funny essays and lists. Though he deals with difficult patients, such as strict religious parents who do not support homosexuality, Zach finds a way to make light of it and make jokes with his family about his lifestyle. I surprisingly enjoyed the flow of lists, stories and personal essays jumping around, it actually made me read it faster. The essays are very light, quick, and conversational. Look forward to more from him!

Every gay kid needs to read this book! I was blown away by how funny and raw this book is. I am now a huge fan of Zach! I related to this essays so much.

This was a very funny, very quick read. If you are a millennial perpetually having a bit of a crisis due to the world around you, these essays will be deeply relatable. This collection genuinely got some laughs out of me and so many of the topics bridge the gap between funny and reflective.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed Zach Zimmerman's hilarious essays spanning topics such as Olive Garden, ex-vangelical guilt, and even a New Yorker-style interview with satan himself. I mean, what more could one ask for?

'Is it Hot in Here...?' is very funny, but there are also moments that are touching, tragic, and self-reflective. I would love to explore this book a second time if/when it gets an audiobook release, as I am sure hearing it read by Zach would elevate the stories even further!

Favorite line: "Two thirteen is a bad guess for pi and a good time for a nap, but it's not a living wage"

A quick, entertaining read, by turns wryly hilarious and moving, and extremely relatable if you're a gay man of a certain age who grew up with Southern Baptist parents.

His way of describing things absolutely makes you feel like this is someone you know. That you're sitting around a table and hearing stories from a friend or family member. His hysterical view of life and the way he slowly grew into himself and his identity. What it was like growing up in a strict religious household and what that meant for his authentic self. You equally acknowledge his childhood and experience as a gay man in college and beyond and the things he faced. The entire time dying of laughter from his humor and bluntness.

I don’t always look to reading essays as a “for fun” reading thing to partake in. As I grade essays every week as part of my job, I usually skip this genre for recreational reading. This book is different than most and I’m thankful I was given the opportunity to read it. The author’s dry humor is something that I appreciate, along with taboo subjects. I grew up with zero filter and it still spills into my adult life; I got this vibe from the author as well. Although I did enjoy his writing style, I wish there was more of it. This was a quick read, I was left unsatisfied. I wanted more lists; those seemed to have the most comedy to it. In my perfect world I would rearrange some of the pieces, but that’s not a deal breaker. I connected with the author even though we are from different worlds. I want to be his friend! The title and cover caught my eye right away, nice work!

When my sister introduced me to stand-up comedy in 2019, my life changed. (I became insufferable.) I began quoting Ronny Chieng. John Mulaney's relationship woes kept me up at night. Comedy Cellar videos began popping up on my TikTok. Stand-up comedy is so different from scripted comedy; though both are rehearsed, only stand-up comedy relies on the sole figure on stage, armed with nothing but a mic, a stool, and a trembling glass of water, to leash the crowd and be funny while doing it.

It is that kind of practiced ease with which Zach Zimmerman approaches his debut essay collection Is It Hot in Here? Zimmerman tackles topics ranging from capitalism to his religious upbringing. Favorites of mine include "#2," "The Seven Days of Creation under Capitalism," and "Testimony." These essays are both reflective and determined, subdued and dry.

However, the collection is not perfectly cohesive, and I found some of the essays anticlimactic, especially given how short they are. Given that some of the essays are reprints, however, it's unrealistic to expect perfect cohesion. While I don't think my humor aligns perfectly with Zimmerman's, I admire his enthusiasm; Is It Hot in Here paints a sweet portrait of not only a young comedian but also a young man—and all of the complications that come with that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore when memoirs are written in short essay form. It always makes it such a quick, interesting read.

I did lose interest every once in a while and some of the essays were anticlimactic. But such is life.

I definitely recommend!

I enjoy the essay format, although it is sometimes hard to review books full of essays because, as with short story collections, it is a very rare occasion when I like all of the component parts equally. Zimmerman has presented a melange, some of which is quite funny and some of which left me a little perplexed. On the whole it was a fun and funny read in bits and pieces. I did find that I couldn't read too many in a single sitting, but that's fairly typical for me and the essay/short story format.

Excellent writing, very intelligent author, hilarious, relatable, interesting. Book was a little short. Would love to see him write something longer or with more depth!

While I can definitely relate to the disposing of life-long religious guilt and trauma, as well as molding one's life into something more "you", this memoir is kind of "meh" as far as memoirs go. Zach is humorous and his tales made me smile, but for the most part, I just wasn't interested in what he had to say.

Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher for this ARC! Zimmerman has a refreshing and funny perspective which I really enjoyed. His story is authentic and vulnerable while providing insight, growth and plenty of laughs. I wished the pace moved along a little faster and felt distracted rather than entertained by most of the bulleted lists and things like the interview with Satan. When sharing his lived experience Zimmerman writes with style, humor, true feeling and a strong point of view. While I felt it could have benefited with more cohesion, I liked the book and plan to read more from this author.

The essay format of this book is an excellent choice and gives the reader the chance to enjoy each memory individually. Each essay wove through the grief and humor of Zimmerman’s life in a nice pace. Zimmerman has curated an experience for his reader in this debut. I did lose interest in some of the essays but would feel re-engaged in the next. I feel it gives an authentic feel to this memoir.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of “Is It Hot in Here?” in exchange for an honest review.

This book of humorous essays was entertaining and easy to read. I will say I don't seem to have a grasp of who the author is as a person outside of those vignettes, but I enjoyed his story telling. It's a good read for when you're traveling or otherwise can't give your book 100% of your attention and focus. Thank you to the publisher for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big fan of Zach's standup so I was probably predisposed to like his book, which I very much did. Incredibly clever, at times cutting, and entertaining.

My one critique is that I wish he'd peeled back the layers a little bit more, gotten a bit more vulnerable or openhearted. That was likely not the intention behind the book, so I can't fault him for it. But I left the book thinking "Yeah, he's very funny" but not feeling as though I got to know him exceptionally while through reading.

After reading this, it makes me feel more comfortable growing up close to NYC. Hilarious and eyeopening. It was like hanging out with one of my good pals. Thoroughly amusing, would love to see him perform live one day.

This was cute, but unfortunately I think the title and cover art were my favorite parts of the book. Could’ve been partially that my ebook was formatted in a weird way that didn’t allow me to fully appreciate the organization of the book and I got distracted. Related almost too much to the part when at the end he talked about his sauna experience (not relatable) and his inner monologue about his tumultuous relationship with Allen (very relatable)