So I don’t know how to take Samantha Irby.

I've read Meaty and (now) We Are Never Meeting in Real Life and I have Wow. No Thank You to read but I still cannot decide what I really feel about her writing. Is it the content? Not really. I have often found it amusing. I think it might be the format. I'm not big on reading essays. Or if I do read them I think the style I prefer is of a more serious tone. I think Irby's glibness sounds awkward in this format. I am willing to persevere though and give her another go.

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby is available now.

For more information regarding Knopf Doubleday (@doubledaybooks) please visit www.doubleday.com.

This year, Samantha Irby, best known for her blog Bitches Gotta Eat, released her newest book of essays, “We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.” Irby’s pieces are emotional rollercoasters, capable of taking her readers on joyously funny highs and tender lows. Witty and insightful, Irby’s newest is worth the read. Interview posted on rebelliousmagazine.com

Samantha Irby is awesome! I loved her first book, Meaty, and I was not disappointed by this second offering. Irby is honest to a fault and has zero fucks to give--my kind of girl.

I am now a lifelong fan of Samantha Irby thanks to this book. She's relatable and hilarious. This is a raunchy title, and one that doesn't shy away from tough subjects, but it's so fun to read!

We are Never Meeting in Real Life

by Samantha Irby

Samantha Irby has a lot to say about so many things. She writes, and sometimes rants, about a wide range of subjects in this collection — race, sexuality, poverty and cats — with an overwhelming sense of calm and rationality. With her razor-sharp wit, the moving, rip-your-heart out moments comfortably balanced the laugh-out-loud ones (I don't watch the Bachelorette, but I would if she sent her application in). Having no previous knowledge of Irby, I found myself checking out her blog and you tube videos for more. Despite being named Chicago's funniest writer when her first book, Meaty, came out, Irby continued to working as a receptionist at the local animal hospital; though to be fair, this experience provides perfect fodder for her writing. I admit, there were some extremely graphic scenes I could have done without, but the excessive swearing was expected (her blog, after all, is "bitches gotta eat"). If any of that offends you, consider yourself warned. In the meantime, I'll be checking out her other books.


For Goodreads:

Why I picked it — I love essay collections, especially ones written by people who say things like, I'm "35-ish, but could easily pass for 60-something"

Reminded me of… Nora Ephron, Jenny Lawson, Roxanne Gay

For my full review — click here

I read New Year, Same Trash and died laughing. So I definitely wanted to grab We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. Samantha Irby encapsulates every little awkward moment I've ever had in her essays. It's easy for me to laugh along. There's anger but there's also lightness and happiness behind her words. I was snickering in the bathroom trying to sneak in extra pages of reading throughout the day.

Definitely need to read Meaty!

This book is both hilarious and poignant. Irby manages to talk about the ridiculousness of dating, her (not so serious) aspirations to be on "The Bachelor", and poop with the same level of skill that she talks about growing trauma, loss, and family. I have found myself recommending it to anyone who will listen, texting and emailing my friends the link to her website to bring them into the Irby Fan Club fold.

I am not familiar with Sam Irby' s blog and this is the first of her books I've read. She is funny with some sad realities seeping through. This book of essays had some hit and miss material. Transitioning to the country, the adoption of her cat, awkward dating scenarios are all hits. It by writes unapologetically in a graphic and sometimes painfully honest way.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

I would recommend this book to ANYONE. Sam Irby is hilarious and it's the kind of hilarious that comes easy, like talking to your best friend. This book of essays is just like reading through a group of emails from your best friend.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

In We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Samantha Irby writes about various aspects of her life with sharp wit and dark humor. She is not afraid to get real about the messiness of life and the fact that things aren't always a bed of roses. Ms. Irby covers various aspects of her life, such as her cat, her ex-boyfriends, her job, and her experience in college, as well as answering things like a Batchelorette application and 13 questions to ask before you get married. I think all readers will find something to relate to in her memoir. Some chapters were better than others for me, but overall, it was a highly enjoyable read. I will say, however, that if you are looking for a clean read, this book is not for you. In addition to cussing and sex talk, the book also delves into some deep issues.

Irby should be a stand-up comic. Like, I want to see her doing a Netflix special at The Apollo right this second. She would be amazing. (Alas, if there is anything her book taught me it's that she is an introvert, so this will probably never happen, but I will still hold out hope). She is laugh-out-loud, pee-your-pants, I'm-not-crying-you're-crying funny & I can't say that I've ever laughed this much whilst reading a book before. I've heard many others say it, but I just want to wholeheartedly concur - in this collection she has written the funniest poop story I have ever read. That in itself is a serious accomplishment. I'm looking forward to devouring her entire blog & will anxiously await her next book!

Non-fiction isn’t really my thing. Biographies/memoirs? Not so much. But essays? I’ll take those in spades. Especially if they come from a genuine place, are sometimes funny, and mostly relatable. Enter We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby.

Now, I’ll be honest. I had no idea who Samantha Irby was or that she had a popular “laugh about my crazy life” kind of blog. All I knew was that it sounded funny, and it was in essay format which meant it could be read in small bites instead of having to plow through big chunks in a small span of time in order to keep up with the overall story. I’ve been in a bit of slump, so small bites were just what I had in mind. And some laughs. I definitely was due for some of those. So, I jumped in expecting to take my time reading it, but to have tears streaming down my face while clenching my aching gut à la Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.

Truthfully, it wasn’t all that funny. One time I laughed out loud. Once. But, I finished it in 5 days instead of the many weeks I had planned (read one essay every night was the plan). And I really, really enjoyed reading it. Irby has such an authentic voice and though she is often a great deal more self-deprecating than I’m comfortable with, she speaks about her mess of a life with a great sense of humor and complete absence of shame. She is very much “This is me. I’m flawed. I’m messy and lazy and have lifelong physical ailments and I don’t really want to grow up. And I’m ok with that. If you aren’t, there’s the door.” We need more of that in the world.

In a nutshell: amusing but not really funny, refreshingly authentic, and hard to put down.

Hilarious! She is amazing and I can't wait to recommend this book to patrons searching for something smart, edgy, and funny!

I am in love with Samantha Irby after reading this. I was unfamiliar with her or her work before I started this (partially because of the cover), but I was laughing so hard during the first essay that I stuck through it. I included it in the best of what I read in May post, which you can find here: http://www.alexbooksit.com/2017/06/may.html

I thought this book was amazing. Laugh out loud funny and painfully real.

I never heard of Samantha Irby prior to seeing this book on Netgalley, and I'm not gonna lie, the scraggly looking kitten on the cover sold me on the book.

That said, I found this book to be hilarious. Being broke in a big city sucks. I feel ya sister!

Samantha Irby is a voice to be reckoned with. She writes as if she has sucked up all her feelings, all her angst and observations and pain and bellows it out in a single breath. Her essays are explosions of wit. She writes about her life, her being a large black woman with medical issues. She writes about sex and men and family, her cat and announcing her being a lesbian and about money and liking 'white people shit'. SHe's hilarious and real. Loved her first book Meaty and loved this one.

Get out your plastic and go use the restroom, because this book will leave you holding your sides. Samantha Irby mines what ought to be old material but isn’t, at least not by the time she is done with it, and her edgy, plain-truth humor may leave you breathless by the time the last page is turned. My thanks go to Net Galley and Knopf Doubleday for the DRC, which I received free and early in exchange for this honest review. This book has just been released and is available for purchase.

Much of the base level subject matter is eternal and well worn: needing to use the bathroom while stuck in traffic; dating; racism; attempting to lose weight. But Irby has a fresh take on everything. She refers to herself as “old”, and since at 36 she is the age of this blogger’s eldest child, I suspect that I am not her target audience. But so much of what she says is eternal, and her take on current social concerns such as cop violence and the horror of stumbling upon a bunch of white people in the hinterland performing a Civil War reenactment complete with Confederate flags is welcome and resonant. The thread in which she voices the horror of being away from a major urban center is one I share. I have not laughed at potty humor since I was twelve, but the essay containing the traffic jam bathroom emergency on the way home from the dorm made me laugh hard enough to shake the bed, and my husband—a silver-haired Japanese gentleman old enough for Social Security—laughed hard enough that he was doubled over. The passage where she discusses having squandered money on things she doesn’t need just to prove she can do it is just one instance where I laugh because I am surprised. What writer ever admits this? Irby does.

Other aspects of this wonderful collection of essays were more educational than resonant, but also good to read. Can Black women admit they have mental health issues and still be Black?

Her cover model represents the cat from hell, Helen Keller:

“’I know where they keep the euthanasia solution,’ I whispered into the downy fur on top of her head.”

Every book blogger knows the pressured feeling that comes with scooping up a galley right before publication. When I begin the book, all I want is to read it fast so I can review it in a timely manner; yet by the time I turn the final page, I am disappointed that we are done here.

Highly recommended to strong women with an offbeat sense of humor, and those that love them.

**Review will be published to blog May 30**

I chose this book because:

I’ve been reading more short story and essay collections, and I’m eager to find more. When I saw this one by a blogger, I was immediately interested. And I always love a good laugh. So this one by blogger and comedian Samantha Irby seems like it’ll be the jackpot! There are some parts of life you gotta laugh about. And there are some parts of life that aren’t so sweet. I’m excited to delve into these modern everyday adventures and “emotional truths.”

Upon reading it:

Hmm… I don’t know. I consider myself a pretty light-hearted person and pretty open to self-depreciating jokes. My sense of humour is from Tumblr after all. Those are my kind of jokes. But this was on a whole nother level, and the vibe I got from this book was quite a bit negative. However, looking at other reviews on Goodreads, it seems like most people really loved this kind of humour, saw it more as “raw” and “honest,” and could identify with it.

Being able to identify with these experiences was difficult for me, which was surprising, because the experiences outlined in the blurb seem pretty relatable, don’t they? I guess I just come from a completely different background. Of course everyone has different experiences, and I have read books that have shared different perspectives and that I could empathise with. But for some reason, I just couldn’t connect with this one, so I’m just going to attribute that to our different backgrounds.

However it seems like most people loved this book (Roxane Gay too!) so I’d still say to give it a shot and make up your own mind.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book. It made me laugh and cry and I might have ignored my kid so I could finish reading it. Ten stars.