Incredibly charming ... Shannon offers a sort of advice from time to time, a philosophy of hard work but also talking to everyone, making connections, and not being afraid to come up with absurd schemes. If I were to pull out any of the platitudes that she offers from the text, I’m not sure they’d feel like much. But they do work, within the context of her story, because it’s so clear throughout all these pages that Shannon actually means these things ... If there’s an alchemy to what makes Shannon who she is, it seems as much about that ache she describes as the solidity and play that she shows toward the book’s end. For every story of loss, of striving, and of doubling down in Hello, Molly!, there is also a determination to find joy and pleasure, to foster community, and to laugh. This seems, in part, to have come from her father, and the intensity and constancy of their relationship—but also from something ineffable inside of her.
Shannon peppers the memoir with inside-showbusiness anecdotes that make the memoir a hard-to-put down page turner ... Hello, Molly! paints a portrait of a resilient spirit persevering through tragedy and the cutthroat world of fame to build a fulfilling life for herself.
While there are plenty of laughs to be found here, there’s a large dose of vulnerability as well. Readers might expect the memoir to focus on Shannon’s six-year Saturday Night Live stint, and it does cover her time on the show with fondness, but there’s less reminiscing about her castmates or behind-the-scenes details than anticipated. Shannon instead devotes the majority of the memoir to her unconventional childhood ... Scattered but often-absorbing recollection, tending more towards anecdote than introspection, and becoming most thoughtful when Shannon reflects on her complex relationship with her father and her mother’s absence from her life.
Shannon spends plenty of time behind the scenes at SNL, giving readers a look into how sketches are developed, but most of this book is about her relationship with her father as he battles his demons. Told in Shannon’s bright, irreverent voice, this memoir is equal parts touching and hilarious, a real insight into the mind of a comedic genius.
A multi-faceted love story, a candid and touching memoir by Molly Shannon ... [A] beautiful father-daughter story is woven throughout the memoir, which includes many funny anecdotes about Shannon's hard work, dedication, resilience and sacrifice on her road to stardom ... Shannon expresses sincere gratitude for those who believed in and boosted her career. However, the story of her enduring love for her absent mother and sister—as well as the bond she shared with her bighearted father—casts Shannon in a new light, one that radiates with heartfelt sensitivity.
Surprisingly raw and personal ... While she packs in plenty of details regarding her SNL stint, what’s most resonant is Shannon’s unflagging story of perseverance, perhaps best embodied by her beloved sketch character Mary Katherine Gallagher ... Supremely inspiring, this will leave fans astonished.
Fans will be satisfied with the behind-the-scenes look at the germinations of her most famous characters, especially Mary Katherine Gallagher, but the standout sections focus on her relationship with her father and the self-awareness and drive that led to her success. Equal parts funny and touching, a cut above most celebrity memoirs.
