Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? {A Nonfiction Annotation}

Title: Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me?
Author: Mindy Kaling
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Publication Date: November 1, 2011
Page Count: 222
Genre: Nonfiction
Time Period: Present Day
Location: N/A

Mindy Kaling has written a witty and self-deprecating memoir about what it was like growing up as a chubby Indian girl in California and eventually coming to the realization that being yourself is better than pretending to be someone else. She engages us with stories of making it (and not making it) in the industry and makes us laugh with tales of dating and growing up. At times you will feel like you're sitting with your best friend having a conversation while at others you will feel like you are reading stories from who great up in LA. Either way, you are in for an enjoyable read.

Women comedians
Celebrities
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Adult Books for Young Adults

Pacing

Fast-Paced

Tone

Self-deprecating

Writing Style

Candid
Conversational
Witty

Tone - "Tone is a description of how it feels to read a book" (Wyatt 21). This book felt very fun and light as I whipped through the pages and the audio book (I went back and forth between the two.) I felt as if I were just listening to a close friend regale me with stories of her time away from home.

Frame/Setting - Setting might be important to the reader, so this is a question you would want to ask the person to whom you are providing RA. With this title, it takes place mostly in LA with her childhood stories and then in New York when she is older. There aren't major descriptions of the areas, so to speak, but you do get a sense of the school, her office, her apartments, and things of that nature.

Language/Style - When providing RA, the language of non-fiction books for readers will probably be of huge importance. As Wyatt states, "the importance of language to the reader is idiosyncratic to the book and to the reader's mood and tastes" (21). This book's language is simple and conversational and fit the material of the book to perfection.

Characterization - 
Characterization is also a driving element for many nonfiction readers. While it may not seem like it, the author still needs to be developed in a memoir. The fast-paced narrative helps us to get to know Mindy fairly quickly (Wyatt 13).

Pacing - 
According to Wyatt, pacing involves getting to know the character, the amount of fact and theory involved in the the writing, and the speed at which the story unfolds. The narrative flow of this story is like a conversation for the most part, lending to its fast-paced narrative. (11).

I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee
Both of these memoirs are self-deprecating and witty and contain a collection of humorous essays.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler
This novel features the engaging and witty writing style as well as the self-deprecating tone that Mindy Kaling presents in her books.

I Don't Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star by Judy Greer
This is another adult memoir that has good young adult appeal with a funny tone and candid, conversational writing style, just as Kaling's novel.

NoveList | EBSCOhost. www.ebscohost.com/novelist.

Wyatt, Neal. The Readers' Advisory Guide to Nonfiction. American Library Association, 2007.