A quick note: I finished this book over two months (because I am a garbage person and that’s how far behind I am in my reviews) and I distinctly remember NOT LIKING IT. However, at the time of reading it, I also had distinct memories of NOT LIKING The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (for many of the same reasons, which I’m about to get into). That being said, I have since started re-watching Kimmy and I’m liking it way more now. So while this will be a fairly negative review, YMMV…
Okay, so: Ellie Kemper plays a very specific type in her acting roles. Think of Erin from The Office, or the girl (whose name I’m not bothering to look up because I’m 57 reviews behind) she played in Bridesmaids or of course, our dear Kimmy Schmidt. They’re all perky, naive, just a little dumb but in a really sweet way. When I see an actor play a character like that over and over, I don’t assume they’re also perky and dumb. I assume that’s a character they’re good at playing. But I can’t make that assessment for Kemper because My Squirrel Days was written by a Erin/Kimmy hybrid turned up to 11.
I’m sure that Kemper made a choice to tell her story (which is really very interesting, if you can get to it under at the layers of repetitive jokes and “I’m so awkward” stories) in this manner for very good reasons. But it did not work for me. It exhausted me — this book is like 200 pages and it took me a week to read. It just seems like she’s trying SO HARD to be funny, and it’s getting in the way of the parts that are actually funny.