The Book Tea

You’re nobody until someone calls you bossy.

I might just have to get this quote put on a t-shirt. As a woman who has often been called bossy since childhood, that quote alone spoke to me enough to pick up this book. Lucky for me, the book as a whole has even more to offer. Bossypants by Tina Fey is a fun, hilarious book of solid life advice with everything from improv tips to (sarcastic) beauty advice.

I flew right through this book. It grabs you and entertains the whole time. I am a lover of sarcasm. It is the brand of humor closest to my heart and quickest to my head. Bossypants is a sarcastic ride through Tina’s life and career. The book made me laugh aloud at least once a chapter with its quick sarcastic humor that accurately portrays the plight of women in the workplace. It might seem odd to find good life and career advice from a comedy writer, but this book is full of gems that any woman can use in her own life. Fey includes advice for work, management, acting, motherhood and everything in between. The humor makes you feel comfortable reading about Fey’s personal details without feeling like you’re prying. After this book I am not sure even TMZ could bring Tina down.

Fey makes her own life feel relatable to the reader despite being a mega successful star. She grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. She had self esteem issues and boy trouble and a crappy job after college. But it is the way she talks about her awkward self that makes you almost forget you are reading the words of an Emmy award winner. Her take on her own life makes you feel like if someone as silly and awkward as Tina can make it, then why can’t I? I am not usually a fan of self-deprecation but this book might just change my mind. She is delightfully self-deprecating when it comes to her looks and smarts and how she managed to be this successful. Hitting the right amount of self-deprecation while still acknowledging your own success is hard to do, but she manages to make you laugh with her and at her at the same time.

Within all of the witty banter and humor are some seriously good tidbits of advice. One of my personal favorites is her advice to collaborate instead of compete. She states that as a woman in any business people will try to make you feel like you are in competition with the other women, but this perception isn’t true. This is great advice because so often we are made to feel like we must be better than everyone around us to get ahead. Especially as there are fewer women in power positions it gives the perception that only a certain number of women will make it, when in reality we can collaborate to help each other out. Our success does not diminish the success of those around us. I also enjoyed her advice to “do your thing and don’t care if they like it”. Fey doesn’t have to specify who the “they” is for the reader to come up with their personal version. All of us have a “they” at some point in our life that will try to keep us down or stop us from being ourselves. In the end, it is “doing your thing” that will lead to a fulfilled life and Fey is a testament to that truth.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for good life advice in a book that is sure to make you laugh. Fey shows how staying true to yourself and not being worried about what other people think just might be the key to a successful life and career.