Sarah Millican

Best for:
Fans of the comedian; those who enjoy witty but not overly snarky humour.

In a nutshell:
Comedian Millican shares her life experiences and what she’s learned from them in a fairly light-hearted but sincere and funny book.

Worth quoting:
I listened to this while running so while there were definitely times when I laughed out loud, I didn’t stop to write them down.

Why I chose it:
I’ve now lived in the UK for over five years, and am exposed to many more UK comedians and comics. Millican popped up in suggested books, and I figured I’d enjoy her work. I was right.

What it left me feeling:
Content

Review:
This is a fairly short book, but worth the purchase. It isn’t totally clean - there is swearing - but it was nice to listen to a memoir where I didn’t find myself blushing.

Millican is a middle-aged woman who isn’t skinny, which means she’s a demographic that isn’t often given a lot of credit or attention in the entertainment industry. She talks about this - one very memorable chapter she compares the review of her episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ (a popular UK show where they look into the genealogy of celebrities) with the review of the Paul Hollywood (of Great British Bake-Off fame) episode. Spoiler: they talk about her appearance but not his.

Millican is delightful - she’s sharp, witty, funny, but not unkind. I find her stories relateable (probably because I too am a middle-aged woman without kids who isn’t a size 6) but I don’t think one has to relate to her directly find her stories funny, insightful, and interesting.

This is not a name-dropping memoir, or a shocking one. There aren’t any hugely major twists or turns (you find out she has been through a divorce very early on); it’s just the story and humour of a woman I’d want to hang out with.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend to a Friend… (lisätietoja)

Among the things I love about Sarah Millican: her love of stationery, her willingness to keep pushing forward in the midst of adversity, her ability to see the positive side of things and yet still acknowledge that they have some shite aspects (no rose-coloured glasses here), and her unabashed frankness about all manner of things. I love when she calls out double standards in the media regarding women’s appearance, and I really love her chapter in this book about not wanting kids. Reading this book gave me a lot of insight into her life and made me appreciate her more. The only thing that didn’t quite work for me were the tips at the end of each chapter that kind of summarized what had gone before; some felt a bit overly reduced. But the stories themselves were great, and there were TWO photo sections (I like photos in non-fiction books). I’d recommend this if you like Sarah or other comedians in her circle.… (lisätietoja)