Title: Official Book Club Selection, a Memoir According to Kathy Griffin
Author: Kathy Griffin
Publisher: Ballatine Book (2009)
Genres: Autobiography, Memoir, Nonfiction
Sub-Genres: Coming of Age, Hollywood, Humor
Plot Summary: Kathy Griffin, D-list actress and celebrity annihilating comedienne, details her lifestory. She examines her family, including her troubled brother and her eversupportive, drinking, and wisecracking parents. She looks back on her career, from paying her dues at the LA improv troupe the Groundlings and her big break on Sudddenly Susan. She takes a no-holds bar approach that shatters any illusion that making it in Hollywood is easy.
What I Liked: Griffin, unlike some other celebrity writers out there, can actually write. This memoir isn't perfect, but it's got a recognizable voice in Griffin - you can easily hear her say all the wonderfully awful things she writes - and her humor jumps off the page.
The most important thing about this book is that Griffin isn't afraid of digging deep and admitting her own weaknesses, whether it's her failed marriage, her dangerous brother, or her inability to keep her damned mouth shut. A lot of celebrity memoirs will skip on the introspection that is really pivotal to an engaging read (at least in my opinion) and while Griffin does balance it out by telling us the Hollywood gossip we love from her, its the soul searching that's really the heart of the book.
And you know a book's good when you laugh at the chapter titles alone.
What I Didn't Like: There's a few structure issues here, which isn't surprising given that Griffin isn't a book writer by trade. But she (or her editor) made the smart decision of trying to turn it into a joke. Sometimes it works, but by the third time, it gets a bit annoying. Besides a few flat jokes, though, this thing is gold.
The other major issue will be how dated this book might become when the celebrities she talks about, everyone from Brooke Shields to Paris Hilton, will be unknown. This isn't a book that could be read in a 100 years from now, not at least without some major annotations.
Similar Works: Funny Memoirs by Famous Women: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
by Chelsea Handler, The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee
by Sarah Silverman, and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
by Mindy Kaling.
Other Kathy Griffin Works: Kathy Griffin: She'll Cut A Bitch
, Kathy Griffin - Allegedly
, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List - The Complete First Season
.
Similar PFS Reviews: Bossypants by Tina Fey
Buy It Here!: Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin
Last Thoughts: Funny and insightful with more heart than you'd expect, Griffin still manages to stay true to her own (gossipy, foul, slightly insane) voice.
