Bossypants by Tina Fey

"One of the worst parts of [playing Tina Fey] was that I learned what it felt like to be a lightning rod. I got some hate mail and there are definitely people out there who will dislike me for the rest of my life because of 'what I did' to Sarah Palin. On an intellectual level, this doesn't bother me at all. On a human level, I would prefer to be liked. There was an assumption that I was personally attacking Sarah Palin by impersonating her on TV. No one ever said it was 'mean' when Chevy Chase played Gerald Ford falling down all the time. No one ever accused Dana Carvey or Darrell Hammond or Dan Ackroyd of 'going too far' in their political impressions. You see what I'm getting at here. I am not mean and Mrs. Palin is not fragile. To imply otherwise is a disservice to us both."

Had I not been leading the discussion of this book for our Page Turners group, I likely would not have finished it. I selected it from a list of our library's book bundles because I thought it would be funny. I don't believe I laughed aloud a single time in the reading of the book. Perhaps I could admit to an occasional smile or snicker. The funniest part was the script of Tina and Amy Poehler's skit portraying Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton because it brought back the memory of viewing that very humorous event on "SNL." Overall, though, I guess Fey's type of humor is just not my cup of tea. I gave the book a 2 rating.

When our group met to discuss the book, most agreed it was mediocre. The group's rating averaged 2.1, the lowest in quite a while.  I actually apologized to our male members for this selection---it was "chick lit" to the nth degree! As always, our discussion was enjoyable---much more so than the book. Some of the negative comments were about Fey's "potty mouth" and juvenile humor. Most agreed the cover photo was disgusting but it did seem to symbolize Fey's feminist ideas. We thought perhaps she told her story to inspire women to persevere in a man's world as she did. In our discussion, someone brought out the fact that many in our age group have not been exposed to Tina Fey's comedy on "SNL" or "30 Rock." It seems possible that younger adult readers, particularly female, would find Bossypants more entertaining and worthwhile.