Yes, please (and LOL), to ‘Wow, No Thank You’ | Book review

Wow, No Thank You

By Samantha Irby

Vintage Books. 311 pp. $15.95

Reviewed by Molly Sprayregen

With Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby offers yet another laugh-out-loud masterpiece.

In her third book of essays, the self-deprecating Irby muses on everything from her approach to stepparenting (avoid the children at all costs) to the pressure of caring for the “smelly, actively decaying body that [she] never asked for,” to the months she avoided replying to an email from a “very famous person.”

Irby, who made a name for herself with her blog, Bitches Gotta Eat, has become quite the famous person, herself. Now, as she says in the book, she can move a bunch of stuff off her Amazon wish list and into the main cart. Despite her rise in status, though, her writing is as raunchy and relatable as ever.

Wow, No Thank You is Irby’s exploration of life as a full-grown adult, navigating questions like “Do people clean their roofs or does the rain just take care of it?” and having a panic attack while wondering whether it would be too weird to put gummy bears on the group grocery list while working in a TV writers room.

As with her last two books, Meaty and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Irby is a delight. Wow, No Thank You is a perfect read at a time when we all could use a little comic relief.

From the Associated Press.