Calls the mentally ill 'crazy'

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, fun & captivating.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

No, as too many separate stories and thus scenes.

Any additional comments?

I love the stories in this book, she tells them well too. Though more than a little offensive. Calls the mentally ill 'weird', 'crazy' & 'nuts. Uses offensive language like 'tranny'. And says people who self harm are after attention. I find this leaves a bitter taste in my mouth after reading the book.

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Not what I was hoping for but passed the time

I was drawn to this book for what I saw as the promise of its title, that of a funny, personal deconstruction of straight dude's dating expectations. In reality it only briefly alludes to the "support your man in his hobby, but don't expect him to care about yours" double standard, and perhaps not even that explicitly. There are many missed opportunities to comment on gender expectations and less solidarity with other women than I would have hoped. Also watch out for casual transphobia, a few dull stereotypes, and arguably a bit of kink shaming.

Klausner is clearly clever and has some witty observations and funny stories to share, but the prose can get overwrought and plenty of dead-end details should have been cut in the edit. I had a good enough time listening to this in the background but it's getting returned.

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'I'll show you a convincing Tr*nny'

There is was enjoying this fun romp through Julie Klaunser's 20's, I love her podcast 'How was your week' and her show 'Difficult people' and wanted to hear more of her work so I bought this audio book.... as I was listening with glee I heard her say the line 'you should me a straight woman with female friends she likes and I'll show you a convincing tr*nny'. This word is offensive to the trans community and represents decades of fetishisation, sexualisation and oppression. But most importantly, to me it felt completely out of left field and just a random crappy joke thrown in because Julie, at the time, didn't know any trans women.
I love her character 'Lola' in 'Difficult people' and I love how she's written an unlikeable trans character, played by the incredibly talented Shakina Nayfack, who is given so much to actually do in the show rather than being a token or 'brave minority'. And I know, if you asked Julie about this joke now she would probably think it was terrible and mean, but that doesn't mean I, sitting in my kitchen listening to this audiobook, didn't have to hear something that truly made me sad to be a fan of her work. As a fairly cis-passing trans woman I question myself every day, I walk out the door each morning and think 'Is this the day I get hounded in the street and beaten up?' Mainly trans people live their lives in fear of this, the idea that you can be 'convincing' and 'unconvincing', the idea that you have to blend in to be accepted and loved in our cis society. For me, this single, stupid line in this book, which was meant to be a throw away line, has kind of haunted me, it makes me sad. There, simple, plain, it makes me sad, it made me feel under valued as a person and unseen by a woman who has created such wonderful work that has made me laugh for years now.

Apart from that, this was a lot of fun... but not as good as 'Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me' which I think is a slightly better structured book that works better because there are just less names in it, this had a lot of 'my friend Stacey' and 'My friend Rachel' which is a little bit like 'ok, we get it, you have friends!'

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