Samantha Irby has returned to the printed page for her fourth book following her 2020 breakout, Wow, No Thank You. The success of Irby's career has taken her to new heights. She fields calls with job offers from Hollywood and walks the red carpet with the iconic ladies of Sex and the City. Finally, she has made it. But, behind all that new-found glam, Irby is just trying to keep her life together as she always had. Her teeth are poisoning her from inside her mouth, and her diarrhea is back. She gets turned away from a restaurant for wearing ugly clothes, she goes to therapy and tries out Lexapro, gets healed with Reiki, explores the power of crystals, and becomes addicted to QVC. Making light of herself as she takes us on an outrageously funny tour of all the details that make up a true portrait of her life, Irby is once again the relatable, uproarious tonic we all need.
She finds the funny in the terrible — and thankfully for us readers, takes pleasure in making us laugh, too ... Irby has a keen ability to root out the absurd in the mundanities of her existence and life in general, then mine that absurdity for laughs ... Irby’s slightly askew perspective allows for some interesting views ... She takes readers in winding, surprising, emotionally vulnerable and strange directions, but you can ultimately see what she’s driving at. It all rings true — and it’s riotously funny, too.
She never wallows in loathing, self- or otherwise. Instead, she lets us all in on the joke. And what a joke it is ... Calling Quietly Hostile a collection of essays is a bit limiting. These 17 pieces are more like essays crossed with stand-up bits, and that punchline-driven rhythm serves the book spectacularly well ... Irby dexterously plays both sides: the awkward people-pleaser and the snarky cynic. Like a cartoon character in a tennis match against herself, she races back and forth between self-deprecation and scalding humor, never once missing a stroke. People may be shallow, Irby is more than happy to point out, but she's right down there with them — quietly hostile, sure, but also loudly irresistible.
A masterclass in situating pitch-perfect comedy and deep sincerity side by side ... Delightfully bizarre ... Irby is a truly hilarious writer and mines laughs from the wildest situations.
