Issa Rae

"A collection of humorous essays on what it's like to be unabashedly awkward in a world that regards introverts as hapless misfits, and Black as cool ... [from] Issa Rae, the creator of the Shorty Award-winning ... series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl"--

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

An autoboiography from the Internet video star covers such topics as cybersex in the early days of the Internet, the perils of eating out alone, dealing with unsolicited comments on one's weight, and learning to accept oneself--natural hair and all.

I didn't like this as much as I wanted to. Issa's humor was still there but the storytelling of the memoir was really lacking for me. Also she was writing from such a different perspective than I was ready for! I think she's been marked as relatableTM so I have overly expected to identify with her and her beliefs. I really do not. She grew up at least middle class (maybe upper middle class) has non American Black heritage and is a millennial through and through. I think as a gen z low income Black AmericanTM I don't actually vibe that much with issa's viewpoints or experiences which shape her viewpoints. Obviously not her fault but I think is a weird side effect of the popularity of insecure with people just above my age range which made me think I would resonate with Issa a lot more. Not sure when this memoir came out originally but it feels a little dated with its race and identity politics as well as its body politics. Obviously cant blame Issa for telling the story through who she was at the time but I wonder if 2022 Issa would still say some of this stuff. I was most unhappy with her explanations of Black archetypes and how it relates to Black representation, her identity politics, and her body politics and diet culture rhetoric. What's weird about memoirs for me is even though the author is just telling their story and they're allowed to have differing viewpoints I think for me it feels like tacit support if I dont rate lower for points of contention that I strongly disagree with. All of which made Issa's memoir a much disappointing 3-star read for me.

Liyah 🤎

Bria

The narrative is a little lacking, and the timeline is confusing, but I really enjoyed all the black references. Issa talked about so many albums, tv shows, and movies that I grew up on, and I never get that in books.

Lauren Attaway

Funny and familiar, this memoir should be required reading for young women of all backgrounds. As an awkward black girl myself, I so loved reading her story and listening to someone like me. I can't say enough how important to me it was to read a funny black girl's story at this time in my life.

Yoomi

I'm rounding up from a 3 1/2 star rating.

I loved her sense of humor and I could relate to her experiences, being an awkward Asian girl. But when I heard her say "chinky eyes", it broke my heart. Because who hasn't said something stupid before? I still think she's hilarious. I will still watch her show. But I hope someone tells her those words are hurtful, no matter what the context.

Caitlin Berger

In general this book is great! However there were some problematic aspects to it, specifically the chapter entitled Fat. There’s a lot of fat-shaming and body-shaming and even though she is admitting how much she loves food, there are a lot of references to wanting to be thin and how that’s ‘clearly’ the best/healthiest/happiest/most beautiful way to be. That was frustrating to read. Otherwise, the writing is funny and heartfelt and I enjoyed most of it.

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

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