Tina Fey’s Bossypants is peppered with enough great quotes about women, body image, and motherhood that it’s become a sort of hallmark feminist piece, which I don’t think was necessarily Fey’s intention.
Fey details her meteoric rise from a receptionist in Evanston, Illinois to writer and producer of 30 Rock and Mean Girls, actress, comedienne… and who can forget that epic Sarah Palin impression on SNL?
Tina’s stories were informative and sneaky; you don’t realize you’re reading a deeply existential commentary about her time working at the YMCA until you stop to ponder the story she’s been telling with a hilariously dry wit. I love her recollection of a man who repeated the same story and introduction every time she saw him around the northern Chicago suburb. It was through stories such as him through which she could slyly weave an otherwise obscure character into several chapters of her story without making it obvious that she was creating a theatrical production of her life.
In the meantime, you’re delighted by what reads like dozens of short, amusing stories about a dynamic celebrity and creative genius with absolutely no woo or ego. Her description of getting pampered at photo shoots while her closets desperately needed to be organized at home was a riot.
I came from the piece with an immense amount of respect for Fey and how hard she’s worked to accomplish SNL, 30 Rock, and her many roles starring in and writing movies. I don’t know if she has slept in the past two decades and every dollar of her millions was hard-earned. I also can’t help but to believe that she really doesn’t realize how absolutely beautiful she is, as the book revealed a fair amount of insecurity about beauty as though she was a frumpy outsider. If you’ve ever seen her she’s truly gorgeous so there was a deeper commentary about beauty culture in general around this.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this: the most quoted group of lines in Fey’s seriously funny book:
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