The New York Times Book Review - Sloane Crosley
…now that numerous writers have entered into a symbiotic relationship with the internet—trading personal revelations for page views—the confessional essay has lost some of its dignity. Too many invite only rubbernecking; the source of their power is their graphic or shocking revelations. Then a book like Jessi Klein's You'll Grow Out of It comes along to remind us just what an artful confessional essay can do…In these 24 short pieces, her irreverent and inventive brand of humor almost seamlessly transfers to essay form. Riffs on dating, aging, marriage, infertility and childbirth have the zing-and-run rhythm of sketch comedy, but structured for the page…One of the higher echelons of praise for confessional essays is that they mimic the experience of listening to your best friend. Klein's read as if you're texting with her and have been for your whole life.
Publishers Weekly - Audio
10/03/2016
Klein draws nicely on her own brand of stand-up comedy in bringing this collection of her autobiographical essays to life. Her delivery style seems akin to a confessional between an honest and approachable woman to a close friend over drinks or coffee, as opposed to a larger-than-life stage monologue. She utilizes a deadpan tone to convey the ironies and complexities of female identity across ages, whether it’s teen obsessions with bra size and hair imperfections, or the self-esteem roller-coaster ride of single life and dating, or the struggles of balancing pregnancy and motherhood as a successful television writer and producer. Klein’s anecdote about having to make special arrangements for her breast pump while walking down the Emmy red carpet captures the book’s essence with particular clarity, as the comic tension builds with angst that connects on an intimate level to her audience. Klein’s approach allows her to take on edgy topics of self-awareness and self-empowerment without coming across as heavy-handed. A Grand Central hardcover. (July)
Publishers Weekly
★ 05/09/2016
Comedian Klein, head writer of Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer, hilariously navigates the world of 21st-century adulthood, adding levity to the difficult stage of life for millennial women in the thick of it. From mundane topics (lingerie) to more significant ones (childbirth), Klein’s refreshing anecdotes explore the facets of being a modern woman with raw honesty and indelible wit. She proffers sound advice on love lost, fashion, sexism, and careers, mining her own experiences with oddball introspection. Readers journey along with Klein as she shares stories, such as attending her sister’s conservative Jewish wedding ceremony at Disney World, as well as the everyday elements of life, such as an exploration of her recent, somewhat guilt-ridden relationship with internet porn. Never afraid to share insights and reveal the raw truth behind her own stories, Klein makes readers laugh while inspiring them, a feat that calls to mind the work of the late Nora Ephron. This uplifting and uproarious collection of personal essays will be repeatedly shared among friends. (July)
From the Publisher
"Jessi Klein is a brilliant comedic mind and this book is a perfect reflection of that. It's like having a glass of wine with the best friend you wish you had."—Amy Schumer
"YOU'LL GROW OUT OF IT does an amazing job making me understand what my life might be like if I were a woman. Or if I were Jessi Klein. I laughed. Lots. Not at what it's like to be a woman! That would be sexist. I laughed at the parts that you're supposed to. Which are plentiful. Because Jessi Klein is truly really funny."—Ira Glass
"Never afraid to share insights and reveal the raw truth behind her own stories, Klein makes readers laugh while inspiring them, a feat that calls to mind the work of the late Nora Ephron. This uplifting and uproarious collection of personal essays will be repeatedly shared among friends."—Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
"Reading [Jessi Klein's] book is like watching her—doubtless superb—stand-up act."—Booklist (Starred Review)
"A gifted comedian turns the anxieties, obsessions, insecurities, and impossible-to-meet expectations that make up human nature into laughter."—Kirkus (starred review)
"Fans of Amy Schumer (i.e., everybody?) will fall in love with funny-woman-and Emmy Award-winning Inside Amy Schumer writer-Jessi Klein's relatable collection of humor essays....Klein is a truly witty PRINZESS."—Bust
"Klein shares her eccentric path to adulthood, from her tomboyish girlhood to sidesplitting dating tales and beyond in this uproarious, relatable, and irresistible memoir."—Harper's Bazaar
"A book like Jessi Klein's YOU'LL GROW OUT OF IT comes along to remind us just what an artful confessional essay can do."—New York Times
"Is it really a surprise that comedian Jessi Klein, head writer and executive producer for Inside Amy Schumer, would write a book of personal essays brimming with sharp observations and insights and poignant recollections but that above all is very, very funny? ...We guarantee that this book will quickly become one of your summer favorites."—Entertainment Weekly
"[Jessi Klein's] astute, hilarious essays about the perilous path to modern womanhood will have you wincing in recognition."—People
"Chances are Jessi Klein made you ugly-laugh... laugh even harder with the comedian's essay collection."—Marie Claire
"Jessi Klein... delivers a collection of confessional and-of course, hilarious-autobiographical essays about her real-life experiences (showing her Spanxs at award shows!) with the same rat-a-tat-tat timing of her iconic comedy bits."—Houstonia Magazine
"Her arguments are sharp, her confessions just light enough, and-most crucially-her quips LOL-worthy on almost every page."—Vulture
"[Klein's] collection of mini rants strike that rare balance of honesty, brutality, and soul."—Glamour
"Late bloomer? Tomboy? Award-winning writer for Inside Amy Schumer Jessi Klein is both, and in her memoir, YOU'LL GROW OUT OF IT, she'll make you laugh and maybe even wince a little in recognition as she relays life stories and lessons learned along her journey to womanhood."—PopSugar
"Klein should be considered a front-runner to fill the void left behind by the late essayist Nora Ephron."—Metro Canada
"This book, her first, is the kind you dog-ear to death because there are so many good lines."—New York Post
"[Klein] hilariously deconstruct[s] and critique[s] typically feminine activities, from lingerie shopping to barre classes."—Elle.com
"A sharp, witty collection of essays that will make you say, 'Same, TBH.'"—Flare
"A must-read for former (and current) tomboys everywhere."—Romper.com
"Authenticity, and a steady stream of truly laugh-out-loud lines... make Klein's new book of essays YOU'LL GROW OUT OF IT so much fun."
—The Seattle Times
"Deftly blending irreverent humor with poignant insights, Klein's writing is wonderfully intimate."
—New York Magazine
"It's heartfelt and funny in the same breath."—Paste Magazine
"It's a witty, conversational, consume-in-one-sitting book about what it means to be a woman—or, in Klein's case, a 'tom-man.'"—MTV.com
"[Jessi Klein] is so casually open at the most illuminating moments in her book that you feel you're sitting with a friend, wine glass in hand, picking up where you left off the Friday night before. It's the tagline of just about every female comic's memoir, but it rings especially true with Klein."—The National Post
"An excellent showcase for her self-deprecating, transgressive humor."—Toronto Star
"Jessi Klein is fiercely observant, self-deprecating, and just plain hilarious."—A.V. Club
"Both smart and absurd, Klein's essays are written with a David Sedaris-like affinity for language."—Winnipeg Free Press
Library Journal - Audio
10/15/2016
Klein's hilarious collection of autobiographical essays about the everyday trials of being female will appeal to readers who loved Tina Fey's Bossypants and Amy Poehler's Yes Please. Klein, best known as the head writer of television's Inside Amy Schumer, tackles such topics as working in comedy, dating, marriage, and infertility and pregnancy with a feminist perspective. Throughout, she writes in a conversational tone that imitates how a close friend might share embarrassing details. Many women will relate to and find solace in Klein's experiences. This title will be best enjoyed in the audio format, thanks to the author's excellent narration, which deepens the humor. VERDICT Certain to be popular with comedy and memoir fans. Highly recommended for all libraries. ["A complete pleasure to read; it's hard not to keep turning the pages, impossible not to laugh out loud": LJ 6/1/16 review of the Grand Central hc.]—Julie Judkins, Univ. of North Texas, Denton
Library Journal
06/01/2016
Klein, a comedian and head writer of Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer, in her debut essay collection centers on her awkward coming of age, which she cheekily admits extends well into her 30s. As a self-identified "late bloomer" and "tom man" (a tomboy who "never grows out of it"), Klein reflects on her bumpy path to womanhood in order to comment on American gender roles and gender role expectations during this time of third-wave feminism, that is, during a time when there aren't supposed to be gender expectations. The tension leaves many women, as she sharply observes, not feeling like women at all. As Klein was born and raised in Manhattan during the 1970s and 1980s, she has lived through this transition and contradictory messaging toward women. While some readers may feel alienated by the author's white, middle-class perspective, her humor often strikes on the universal. VERDICT A complete pleasure to read; it's hard to not keep turning the page, impossible to not laugh out loud. [See Prepub Alert, 11/30/15.]—Meagan Lacy, Guttman Community Coll., CUNY
SEPTEMBER 2016 - AudioFile
This sardonically read meditation on life as a woman in contemporary America is the latest in a summer flowering of books by female comics. Jessi Klein gives voice to the tumult of being a late bloomer who grows up to become a smart woman in Hollywood. Her reflections on the double standards for women's beauty and the pains of growing older under a microscope are told to the listener in a casually confiding way. Profanity and self-deprecation are sprinkled liberally throughout the pithy chapters. Klein bares all in an honest, level tone, revealing the heartache of breakups and infertility treatments. The result is a hip feminist anthem told in the sarcastic tone of an older sibling. M.R. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2016-05-10
From childhood to motherhood, comedian Klein's fresh takes on the perplexities of womanhood in America.Head writer and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning Inside Amy Schumer, the author demonstrates storytelling verve and instincts for the absurd as she targets outlandish ideas about and expectations of women. With her polished skills, honed on the gritty comedy club circuit, The Moth radio series, and as a TV writer, Klein crafts spirited gems that run through readers' heads like a sharp sitcom. In "How I Became a Comedian," the author tracks her career in vignettes of ambition, insecurity, and fear of performing. She has been told that doing stand-up is a brave act, but she disagrees. Any courage she has found grew out of a "desperate, aching need," and it took her years of therapy before she could get onstage. In the meantime, she was successful writing comedy for other people. Joan Rivers' "force and lust and decisiveness" were inspirations for Klein to finally make the leap. Throughout the book, there is no shortage of ludicrous behavior to riff on. Having never quite outgrown her tomboy spirit, she's confounded by the objectified images of women that persistently invade the female psyche, hers included. In "Bar Method and the Secrets of Beautiful Women," Klein chronicles her suffering through tortuous exercise in hopes of a tighter backside. In the hilarious "Lingerie Dilemma," the author, a cotton underwear sort of gal, prepares for a date with a new paramour by braving a French lingerie store where she tries on scanty undies under the watchful eyes of the "impossibly thin and beautiful" Frenchwomen who all look like Charlotte Gainsbourg. Ultimately, she writes, "lingerie is never really worth the agita." In the end, though, all the aggravation that comes her way pays off in this lively, irreverent collection, leaving the impression of a strong woman with a sharp eye for the ludicrous. A gifted comedian turns the anxieties, obsessions, insecurities, and impossible-to-meet expectations that make up human nature into laughter.
