Jessi Klein continues to be witty, smart and nail the perspective of a generation of women who are coming into their full adulthood.

The essays are fun and sharp.

Definitely for those who like humor mixed in with their introspection.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

Oh man. This book. This book! After reading the very first essay on becoming a mother, I actually had to put the book down, take a beat, and just take it in for the night before reading any more. It was hands down the realest, rawest piece of writing on motherhood I have ever read. I felt like I had been SEEN and also like my heart had been ripped out a little bit I don’t know, man, it was just almost too real. It really got me. The following essays were just as wonderful, but none impacted me the way the first did. Some beautiful and hilarious writing here. I will be purchasing for my library and myself.

I'll Show Myself Out by Jessi Kelin, is a comedian's commentary on motherhood and her own "Hero's Journey" taking care of her kids while working. I don't have kids, however, I found this super entertaining and will be purchasing it for all my friends who currently have toddlers. It is the perfect amount of funny, genuine, relatable, and emotional,

\This is exactly the kind of book I yearned to read in early motherhood. I felt really seen as I read Klein’s Starbucks bathroom essay… and the car seat one… and Halloween… and little books. For as much as I loved the content, I found myself doing a million things other than finish it (many of those things motherhood or middle aged related that maybe I should write my own essays about).

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of essays by Jessi Klein. We're right around the same age, so a lot of what she wrote about felt extremely relevant to me, and she is HILARIOUS. A few essays really stood out for me: Bad News, In Defense of Drinking, The Car Seat, and My Future Lesbian Wife.

But "Underwear Sandwich" was my absolute favorite and should be required reading for anyone who is pregnant or will ever think about maybe becoming pregnant or impregnating someone.

"...even though I never heard a whisper about the brass tack details of what happens to the female body during and after birth, I know for certain I was taught MULTIPLE times over, in different health classes throughout NYC public junior high and high school, that boys have "nocturnal emissions"... but why did I need to know this? Why did I, a teenage girl, need to be instructed REPEATEDLY that teenage boys have fantastically vivid sex dreams that end with them [redacted] in their sheets... and yet none of us needed to learn about the details of birth that bring us into this world? Why is so much of this knowledge made to feel like a dirty secret that can only be unearthed at the exact moment it's needed?"

YES. WHY?!?!?! Not a single person told me anything about what would happen to my body and my emotions after I had my first kid -- I was given instructions about what to do with the baby (kind of), but absolutely zero information about the physical and emotional horrorshow that is the aftermath of birth. Yes it's gross and awful and not fun to read about (though arguably less gross than reading about what's going on with teenage boys and their boners), but literally EVERY SINGLE PERSON EVER BORN came from a woman's body in one way or another, so maybe share that information somewhere along the way?! aagh.

Anyway, this was a great essay collection that made me laugh a lot and get a little teary-eyed a few times. Read it.

This was every bit as good, if not better, as Jessi Klein's first book which I devoured in one sitting. This one had some additional emotional heft, as she's describing how having a small child and being a working mother a little later in life, changes your life considerably -- for better, and for worse. I truly loved her list of things she doesn't have time for anymore (Billie Eilish. Harry Styles. TikTok. Worrying about being the prettiest in the room. I wholeheartedly agree, and have been wondering what's wrong with me. Nothing! Thanks Jessi Klein).

The author's love for her son is so obvious, and the self-deleterious, wearying effects of being a mom are illustrated not as sacrifices, but as necessary steps in "the hero's journey" - the very reason for this stage in life, a phase that is fortifying and transformative. This memoir is smart, wryly hilarious, and refreshing to read. Not to mention a relief! I'll recommend it to any moms of young kids, and any fans of the shows Jessi Klein has worked on / written for.

Thank you very much for allowing me to read and review the advance galley of this excellent book.

I really liked Jessi Klein's first book, and I enjoyed this one as well. I appreciate that she acknowledges her privilege as a fairly affluent White woman while also admitting that being a new mother (and even a not so new mother) is hard. These anecdotes were quirky, a little neurotic, and overall charming. The only essay that I didn't really get on with was the one about having a future lesbian wife - I think it was sarcastic but there was something about the kind of glib suggestion that you can decide to change your sexual identity (and I don't know, maybe she does identify as pan or bi or something other than straight) based on life circumstances. But overall, I enjoyed this and I laughed out loud several different times.

Funny, smart, brutally honest look at motherhood and middle age. I loved that Klein incorporated Joseph's Campbell's Hero's Journey and applied it to motherhood. Reading Jessi Klein is like having lunch with an old friend who doesn't pull any punches and we all need that friend.