This is a niche book for a niche crowd, but if you’re in that niche… Hooey are you in for a crazy ride.
Much like the author, it’s short, funny, and doesn’t pull its punches. If you’ve seen Crazy Ex Girlfriend, you know what you’re getting. Bloom talks about her struggles with mental health, her obsessions with Disney, romantic love, everybody liking her, being normal, not being normal, Harry Potter (and the difficulty of being a fan right now), and spending a lot of time in the bathroom.
The main takeaway is that you should absolutely, 100% listen to the audiobook. It makes no sense whatsoever to read the book. Yes, you’ll get through it faster, but you won’t get musical intermissions and you won’t get random bits of extra commentary added in after the book was published when Bloom was recording the narration. It’s easy to call this a memoir, but I think this “reads” more like a 5 hour one woman show and.
I do want to emphasize that while this book is very funny, it also offers an unflinching and very personal view of the kind of mental gymnastics that sometimes happen as a result of mental illness. For some folks, that is going to feel extremely validating and even hopeful because Bloom has been able to get her illness mostly under control and is seemingly happy both personally and professionally. For others, I imagine it might be a bit overwhelming to hear the intrusive thoughts that have occupied Bloom’s mind for much of her life, particularly if they can relate. The book also includes a brief but very vivid description of a feared miscarriage. So take care of yourselves.