I Like You Just the Way I Am

Book 1 of my 2015 Reading Challenge

read from Jan. 1 - Jan. 4

I Like You Just the Way I Am by Jenny Mollen

Summary (via Goodreads)

Jenny Mollen is an actress and writer living in Los Angeles. She is also a wife, married to a famous guy (which is annoying only because he gets free shit and she doesn't). She doesn’t want much from life. Just to be loved—by everybody: her parents, her dogs, her ex-boyfriends, her ex-boyfriends’ dogs, her husband, her husband’s ex-girlfriends, her husband's ex-girlfriend's new boyfriends, etc. Some people might call that impulse crazy, but isn’t "crazy" really just a word boring people use to describe fun people? (And Jenny is really, really fun, you guys!)
In these pages, you’ll find stories of Jenny at her most genuine, whether it’s stalking her therapist (because he knows everything about her so shouldn’t she get to know everything about him?); throwing a bachelorette party so bad that one of the guests is suspected dead; or answering the eternal question, Would your best friend blow your husband on a car ride to dinner if she didn't know you were hiding in the backseat?
I Like You Just the Way I Am is about not doing the right thing—about indulging your inner crazy-person. It is Jenny when she’s not trying to impress anyone or come across as a responsible, level-headed member of society. With any luck it will make you better acquainted with who you really are and what you really want. Which, let’s be honest, is most likely someone else’s email password.

My Opinion

Wow, Jenny definitely puts it all out there!  Although I found some of what she said less 'haha funny' and more 'look how shocking I am', it was very readable.  She makes horrible situations (like with her mom) sound breezy and turned a tough childhood into anecdotes.  

With memoirs like this I always wonder about the family members/friends mentioned.  Jenny's obviously very open but if others aren't it could lead to some awkward holidays.  I'm thinking specifically of how she badmouths her mother-in-law and of the very detailed chapter about getting her husband a hooker for his birthday.  Not that that's something a person needs to worry about - why write a memoir if you're going to censor yourself? - but I'm always curious about reactions and interactions. 

Her descriptions were very vivid. That's great when engaging a reader but there's a flip side too.  I'm writing this review super late (I KNOW) using notes I took at the time but I don't need notes to remember how she described removing an ingrown hair...for some reason that stuck with me and probably will for some time.  

Even though a lot of this book made me cringe, I liked her writing style enough to peek at her social media posts and would probably read another one of her books.

A Few Quotes from the Book

"The stories you're about to read are basically true. Though I tried to do my best in depicting the events as I remembered them, there are exaggerations, some characters are composites, and some time periods are condensed. The only thing I'm sure of with complete certainty is that I was really thin and cute the whole time I was writing this."

"I took a minute to sum up the situation: I was currently locked in the bathroom, hiding from my therapist, pretending to be marrying a gay ex-con, and getting dropped by my mid-level talent agency. All at the same time."

"When self-obsessed people breed, they make empty people like me who spend the rest of their time on earth trying to gain the love and approval they didn't get as children. This doesn't excuse my behavior. It's just to say, if my parents had actually noticed me, I probably wouldn't care so much about whether everyone else on the planet adored me. Unfortunately, I'm a bottomless pit of need, and here are several people who have suffered because of it..."