Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

Book 71 of my 2014 Reading Challenge

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

Summary (via Goodreads)

Get ready for big laughs as Chelsea Handler lets loose with more comic personal essays. In this new, no-holds-barred account of life on the ridiculous side, Chelsea mines the wealth of material that is her family, her sex life, her career, and her distinctively outrageous worldview. Here is young Chelsea discovering "The Feeling" during a third-grade sleepover and getting shafted by clueless parents over Cabbage Patch dolls...and grown-up Chelsea at the mercy of the remote control, Lean Pockets, and Sex and the City --but still managing to convince her boyfriend that there are Swiss Army knives in the soles of her $16,000 shoes. Through it all, Chelsea never lets anyone off the hook, even herself, as she delivers page after page of irreverent humor, biting wit, and deliciously off-kilter entertainment.

My Opinion

Very uneven and I disliked more than I liked.

What I liked: it was highly readable, parts of it were very funny, and she comes across as a loyal, dedicated friend (such as when she brought her driver on vacation).

What I didn't like: Parts of it went past 'funny' into 'mean', it made me uncomfortable when she would lie or make up stories just for her own amusement (my brother used to do the same thing and I would have sweaty palms just being next to him or hearing the stories of what he did), the angry parts about her dad were out of place in the lighthearted book I was expecting to read, and she repeatedly used the 'r' word (such as describing being intimidated by  someone because of the "starry, retarded way her eyes focused on me").

Continue to challenge Instagram and I'll support her all the way. As for her books...probably not for me.

Favorite Chapter

"Black-on-Black Crime" (which doesn't match what the chapter was about at all)