Zarna reveals her journey from a teenage girl in India escaping an arranged marriage to becoming an American citizen, creating her own family of her own choice to full-on comedic success. Zara tells as with no filter, and the result is a laugh-out-loud memoir that motivates the reader to do her/his thing and dare to choose yourself without apology
Pursue your dreams at any age ...... 8, 18, 38, 78, 88.....!
I recommend this memoir to all. This book gave me a boost of thinking "I can", while laughing all the way.
#netgalley #ThisAmericanWoman #ZarnaGarg

Funny and moving. I wasn't even familiar with Zarna before I picked this up, but she has definitely had a life worth reading about.

This is an eye-opening memoir that made me both laugh and cry, then laugh again. Zarna delves into very serious topics but somehow kept it light and entertaining while also being informative.

I LOVED this book! I saw her do stand-up on the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler tour and loved her humor. I really enjoyed Zarna's telling of her upbringing in India, family dynamics, and living in America. Very funny but also vulnerable.

The audiobook version of this is awesome too.

There are too many great things to say about this memoir. I loved Garg's POV and humor. I loved reading about her tenacity, determination, and finding the hope that even in your forties, you can finally be who you were destined to be. There were many times I laughed out loud, which then startled my husband, which made me laugh even more. There were times I even cried where something seemed to connect deeply with something inside me.

I learned a lot about another culture while reading this and related to more than I expected. Somethings as a mother are often universal.
All I can say to finish this review, go read this book!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this work.

Already telling our library to buy a copy of this for others to read as I recommend it to everyone I know.

Zarna Garg’s memoir is an interesting read. Beginning with her life in Mumbai, Zarna recounts her upbringing as a member of the privileged class, that ended after her mother’s death when Zarna was 14. Since Zarna’s father didn’t want to deal with a girl who talked and argued all the time, his solution was to arrange a marriage for her. Leaving her father’s house and essentially couch-surfing with friends and family, Zarna managed to survive until a student visa to America, sponsored by her sister, came through.

Zarna attended college, got married, and had children, but the pull of stand-up comedy was strong, and Zarna began performing. Finding success, she continued performing, appeared on a TV show produced by Kevin Hart, and eventually headlined her own show. I was really impressed by her strength and determination to succeed. She’s funny and her stories are relatable. I enjoyed reading Zarna Garg’s memoir.

I have not heard of Zarna until recently. NetGalley sent me an eGalley of her book so I read it. To say she didn’t have an easy childhood is an understatement. Being forced into an arranged marriage or be homeless are not choices any teenager I know has had to make, much less right after their mother passed away. A voice like Zarna is not often heard and I hope she ushers in a big change. What’s so great about her is that while there are plenty of things that I cannot relate to I am glad to read something new to me. On the flip side there are other parts which I can relate to.

This was a powerful, wonderful memoir. I loved learning about Garg's life, experiences she's walked through, and how those brought her to where she is. Highly recommend!

I could NOT put this book down. I loved Zarna Garg's memoir right from the start. I did go into it thinking it would be short funny stories of snippets from her life, but quickly found out it's her real, raw, life and how she became who she is. I was tearing up during her first chapters learning about her mother and father and family dynamics. I also laughed out loud so much too especially talking about meeting her husband and dating him. I have followed Zarna on social media for a long time, but this was felt like a really nice window into her life and what shaped her growing up. I also appreciated that she was honest, she was from a nicer part of India, she did face really great success with her husband working at a hedge fund, but she also faced really really awful lows that included homelessness. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who has seen her on social media or the stand up circuit! Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC.

Zarna Garg is a comedian who I have never heard of before reading this book, which isn’t saying much since I am not a person who knows of comedians. I will say, this is one of the most humorous and charming books that I have read. Zarna is completely comfortable making fun of herself, even in the harrowing situations in which she lived as a youth. She is also someone who devoted many years to her family and found herself in middle age, trying to build a business and find herself, a position that I completely understand. I enjoyed every bit of this memoir, from Zarna’s troubled early life in India to her years in the trenches of child-rearing to her rise as a comedian, it is all good material. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

This American Woman is a wonderful book. There are many layers and lots of this and that s..It is truthful, very funny, and heartwarming and it was,very heartfelt to me in all the layers. Zarna has quite a story.! She is remarkable women.
Her her voice writing style is brilliant! I don't want to give away any part of this book, except to say..I highly recommend.
Thanks to net galley and the author ZarnaGarg for the opportunity to read and review this book

Before reading this book I never knew of the author or her story. She has given her readers a in depth story of her immigration to America and her escape from a terrible life. I enjoyed reading this and learning of her success story and her courage.
Thank you to Net Galley, the author and publisher for the opportunity.

Okay, Zarna! I had no clue who you were before (sorry!) but you have easily won me over with this memoir.

Funny, engaging, but also thought-provoking walking through the heartache of losing a parent and being abandoned by the other, navigating her way in America with cultural differences, and finding her own path after being a stay at home mom for 20 years.

I teared up, I lol’d. Highly recommend for anyone, even if you don’t follow comedians or read many memoirs. The added pieces by her family were such a nice aspect and Zarna is wildly endearing.

From a homeless teenager on the streets of Mumbai to an affluent housewife on the Upper East Side, Zarna Garg’s story is nothing short of extraordinary. At 14, she fled India to escape an arranged marriage and eventually became an unlikely stand-up comedian with a Netflix special to prove it.

From a young age, Zarna was deeply introspective and fiercely ambitious. Once in the U.S., she navigated the culture shock of reinventing herself as a mother, wife, and Indian woman in a world vastly different from the one she left behind.

My favorite memoirs offer a window into a life completely unlike my own and THIS AMERICAN WOMAN does exactly that. It’s a heartfelt and often hilarious journey through identity, resilience, and reinvention, served with Zarna’s signature wit.

📚 READ THIS IF YOU:
- Believe it’s never too late to reinvent yourself
- Live for a Netflix comedy special
-Have ever dared to dream of a bold, unconventional life
RATING: 4.5/5 (rounded up to 5 stars)
PUB DATE: April 29, 2025

Every moment of the articulate, outrageously frank and hilarious Zarna Garg's THIS AMERICAN WOMAN was a true delight. I laughed, murmured understanding and so enjoying getting to know an intelligent woman straddling cultures and newly aware of herself as worthwhile with gifts we all desperately desire. I could not cite any one part that was my favorite, but the beginning, with Garg stepping into the national stage with her idols was the rousing wonderful invitation to get to know an incredible woman and enjoy her stories. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Whatever you’re doing right now stop and go get a copy of this book, clear your schedule and sit down and start reading. You can thank me later! Or rather and certainly more importantly you can that the author. This book is incredible, Zarna shares with us her journey from escaping a potential forced marriage at the tender age of 14 to the incredible strong, smart, funny woman she is. She is incredible and a force to be reckoned with. Somehow in all of the trauma she experienced she had and has so much self esteem and it allowed her homelessness and worrying about her next meal to always believing in herself. Not only is she riotously funny, but a brilliant writer, mother, woman and overall amazing woman. I loved this from start to finish.

Bookworms, I recently spoke about my favorite spring books, and this was one of the ten titles I highlighted. I hope you'll check it out!

Comedian Zarna Garg lived several lives before falling into comedy in midlife and realizing it was where she'd belonged all along. Her memoir is candid, poignant, funny, and always entertaining. I loved this peek into her fascinating life.

Zarna Garg fled her comfortable lifestyle and her widower father to avoid an unwanted arranged marriage at age 14. She begged places to stay from friends and acquaintances in Mumbai, homeless. Desperate for food and shelter and tired of overstaying her welcome and never having security, she was returning home and on the verge of agreeing to be married off, until her long-hoped-for visa to the US came through. Instead of becoming a child bride, she ran from home and began a dramatically different new life in Akron, Ohio. In midlife, she reimagined her future again and became a hard-working comedian who opened for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and then warranted her own headliner spots.

But along the way Zarna was not only a homeless runaway, but an Indian matchmaker, a law student, a stay-at-home mom, and a prizewinning screenwriter. On a dare from her daughter, she hopped onto an open mic stage, spouted off comedic takes on her life, and after lots of scrapping and scrambling, the rest was history.

In This American Woman, Garg offers an honest, funny account of overcoming sobering challenges and determining her own destiny after years of struggles and constant worries about being a burden on those who might help her. Her intense push to achieve is accompanied by doubt, periods of low self-esteem, and feelings of unworthiness that stem from her childhood.

At the very beginning the pacing felt a little uneven to me, but then Garg hit her stride, and I was taken with her frank narrative, her relentless optimism and drive, her self-deprecating accounts of her imperfections, and her poignant reflections.

I love an honest memoir that lets a reader into the author's inner world, and Zarna has lived a fascinating life that I wanted to learn more about. I laughed out loud repeatedly while I was reading this charming memoir by this strong, funny woman.

I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of Ballantine Books and NetGalley.

Thank you Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a title I was invited to view. Admittedly, I hadn't heard of Zarna Garg. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to read this book because she has just gained a new fan in me! Garg's story is an important one, especially in the climate we are living in with regards to immigration and the American dream. I am so excited to check out more of her comedy!

Thank you again for the ARC!

Zarna Garg details her life growing up in Mumbai, India and dealing with family expectations. When she leaves home after refusing an arranged marriage, she loses the status of being a daughter in a well-to-do family. She reveals her survival techniques before her arrival in the USA on a student visa and eventually marrying a man she chose. Interesting facts of what she went through to get her children into Manhattan private schools. After trying numerous careers, she finally discovers what she is meant to do - comedy.
An engaging read.
Thank you Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group | Ballantine Books for the advanced reader copy.
#This American Woman # RandomHouse #Ballantine #NetGalley

Truly a fun read, and my first from Zama Garg. First part of her life in India, leaves for America, and finally ends in the stand up comedy world of theater. Funny, tearful, enjoyable. Thank you NetGalley, and don't miss this one.