I just finished reading Chelsea Handler’s new book, Life Will Be the Death of Me… and You Too! Reading her books has always been one of my guilty pleasures, like when you take a walk on a hot summer day, pass by an ice cream store, and say to yourself, “Well, what the heck! I am going to get myself a double-decker chocolate cone.”
When I was young, growing up in Iran, I read fiction. I read all the classics – French, Russian, English – like Balzac, Tolstoy and Austen. Of course, they were all translated into Farsi. Later on, when I was more grown up, to prove to myself that I was already an adult, I refused to read fiction any more. Reading fiction, to me, was like looking at life in a sentimental way. It was sort of like watching a daytime soap opera or believing in fairy tales. I guess I just wanted to be wide awake and completely alert so that I can feel every bit of life’s pain, so that I would not end up living my life in a bubble.
When I was young and living with my family in Iran, we were taught to always write the truth and speak the truth and be brave. Books were certainly very important in our household. When our friends and relatives would come to our house, we would all gather around the table. Every one discussed books. Some of us had written new books, and all of us were in the middle of reading some great books. No matter what, it was important that we were reading or writing something of substance, for my parents put a lot of value on art, culture and literature.
In this book, Chelsea Handler is certainly brave and fearless in telling us her whole truth. She does not care if her words, her thoughts, or her behavior is not acceptable to us all. To me, however, she is that sensitive, tough kid in the playground, who bullies and pushes the other kids around but still has a soft side, is all heart, and shares the content of her pack of candies with all the other kids.
Handler digs deep into the very depths of her soul to pull out just about everything hidden there, everything that makes her personality ever so touchable and human. She talks about the passing of her brother when she was just a tiny little girl, the loss of her mother to cancer, and her father’s death. She also touches on her own shortcomings, her journey of self-discovery, her dogs, and her constant need to be taken care of by her assistant and her friends.
Life Will Be the Death of me… and You Too! is quite refreshing and will surely bring a smile to your lips, as does eating a whole double-decker ice cream cone in the month of July!
- By the book on Amazon
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Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Chelsea Handler
Posted in Book Reviews, Reviews |
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