Book review: Samantha Irby's essays are 'Quietly Hostile' and sharply funny
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These essays are not for the prim or squeamish. And that’s a compliment. No essays worth reading are. Nobody wants to hear about a perfect life in a clean, well-appointed home. That’s what social media is for. Discerning readers want tension, anxiety and mess. They want Irby’s swig of honesty about what she really does on a Zoom call: “stare intently at my own visage, horrified by its many flaws and hoping no one has the kind of crystal clear resolution that amplifies my upper lip hairs.
Several years ago, FX optioned Irby’s first book, “Meaty,” and she almost got to make it into a real TV show. “Quietly Hostile” offers an essay about that experience, written as if it were a TV pilot, with acts, interior and exterior locations, and characters named “VERY NICE WHITE MAN, PRODUCER-SLASH-GRIEF COUNSELOR” and “SAMANTHA IRBY, CRESTFALLEN HOLLYWOOD OUTSIDER.
Another essay, “How to Look Cool in Front of Teens?” should be required reading for anyone who has even occasional contact with the over-12-but-under-20 crowd. Some subtitles from the essay: “Don’t talk to their friends!” “Swallow that story about how ‘it used to be.’” “Watch horror movies.” “Act like you’re doing incredibly interesting stuff on your phone.
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