“Because a goddess’s job isn’t to be good. It’s to have compelling stories lyre players can tell about her at the court of kings and princes.”
This book kept popping up in my Overdrive recommendations, and I kept ignoring it because I thought it was going to be a dive into reality TV and…meh. But it has a great rating on Goodreads and I needed an audio book so I finally cave and I’M SO GLAD I DID.
Branum grew up “different” (gay, kind of overweight, nose always in a book), and it troubled him for a long time. He tried to hide his true self, shoving it into a box and attempting to fit in. Like, to the point where he ended up in law school. He eventually discovered a bigger world, where he could fit in just as he is, but first he had to accept himself.
“I’m not supposed to like myself, and I’m certainly not supposed to think that I should matter. The world has spent a lot of time telling me that, and in the past thirty or so years, I often listened, because we all listen. The world is mostly full of fine facts and good lessons, but some of those facts and lessons were built to keep you down.”
Guy Branum did work on Chelsea Lately, and in fact there’s a whole chapter on his falling out with Chelsea Handler, which I didn’t know anything about. But that is such a small part of this book. Ignore the Chelsea Handler stuff. Instead, spend a chapter learning about Canada (a subject about which Branum is incredibly passionate) or the small town Branum grew up in (a tiny farming town in Northern California, largely populated by Punjabi Indians). Mostly, learn about Branum. This guy is whip smart and funny as hell. I finished this book two months ago and sections from it keep popping into my head (after reading it, you’ll never hear Bohemian Rhapsody the same way again). The reviews compare the book to Samantha Irby’s writings, and I agree — a great mix of humor and bitchiness and sharp observations about the world. And, like Irby, definitely one I plan to return to.