Maeve Higgins

Didn't like these essays as much as those in her previous book. They meandered a bit; I would've liked more focus.

Wonderfully warm and funny. I listened to the audiobook so it felt like I was listening to a friend chatting!

I've loved Maeve on all the podcasts I've heard her on, but this book didn't live up to expectations. It was really hit or miss; not knowing if it wanted to be serious or funny. Not that a book can't be both, but it wasn't well balanced here. Even still, I could listen to Maeve read just about anything and be, at the very least, mildly enthralled from her voice alone. Her American accent is really quite good.

These fifteen essays from Irish-born, New York-based comedian Maeve Higgins explore immigration, friendship, family, and belonging. Gently humourous rather than laugh-out-loud funny, Higgins is at her strongest when tackling the absurdities of trying to code-shift between cultures as an emigrant who still travels home (and oh, she's so right about Americans and small talk). Very readable in the "nice chat with a friend from back home" mode.