Kelly (and the Book Boar)'s Reviews > Well, This Is Exhausting: Essays

I’m always looking for something to listen to on my walks and while I’m attempting to dabble into books with more “plot” (term used as loosely as possible), my go-to of choice remains the humorous essay. This popped up on the library’s recommendation feature and the title was truly a “you had me at hello” moment. But while I thought said title was going to be a little funny ha-ha regarding the awkwardness of coming into one’s own, unfortunately it was a pretty good descriptor for how I felt while listening.

I knew nothing about this author before checking this out (see above regarding what an easy mark I am when it comes to titles/covers). Had I known she was “Twitter famous” I may have steered clear. And while I did get a few chuckles here and there – I mean I truly thought this was going to be a gem when it opened with . . .



And then telling people that they better have Google handy if they don’t understand pop culture references – sadly those moments were few and far between.

Mainly because I am a Boomer who doesn’t feel someone’s personal reflections on growing up need to be over explained as to not offend. (And sometimes, there is no differential to begin with. Dear 18 year olds, you are bad at sex things. Universally. Zero gender, race, sexuality qualifiers are necessary.) The fact that this book had ALLLLLLLLL the monikers used in every sentence – while being presented by a cis, white, straight, privileged upbringing woman came off very much like the well-intentioned social justice warriors who really end up hurting rather than helping any particular cause. And the ending saying this isn’t an advice book, accompanied with some self-deprecation “oh could you imagine? #cringecringe” – while also pretty much advertising she writes an advice column left me shaking my head.

This one is for the people who think Hannah from Summer House is a real knee slapper instead of insufferable.