Book Review: I Was Told There’d Be Cake
Book reviews are probably not my forte, but I really liked this book and wanted to share about it. I first heard about this book on DailyCandy, then randomly saw a post about it on Pop Candy.
I Was Told There’d Be Cake is a hilarious look at the life of an East Coast twenty-something. Sloane Crosley unabashedly shares her life stories, however weird or embarrassing, with her readers. To her, plastic ponies are priceless and the Oregon Trail is a passive-aggressive way of getting back at the people who made her life miserable at some point or another – and she’s ok with it. She coolly relates the problems of being a vegetarian in New York City, a random moral guilt trip resulting in a disastrous volunteer stint at the Museum of Natural History, and that one time she meant to call the police on the construction workers next door but inadvertently called them on her obsessive-compulsive neighbor. Really, who hasn’t?
I think what makes this book so enjoyable is that Crosley never seems like she’s exaggerating about the events she’s writing about. It seems like an extremely candid look at her life, and I think that’s what people like to read about. They want to hear that someone’s first job was just as bad as theirs, if not worse. They want to hear about the family and the crazy wedding-obligations. They even want to hear about the potentially life-threatening health scares. Crosley realizes this and doesn’t hesitate to deliver. Even her most embarrassing moments are not off limits, and when writing about some of her more serious life epiphanies, she never loses her light-hearted and sarcastic outlook on life and never takes herself too seriously.
Basically I really liked it, even laughed out loud at some parts, and if you like memoir-type books, you will probably enjoy it too. It’s funny, hilarious even, especially if you’ve ever had a crazy boss, a crazy family, crazy friends, or are crazy yourself. All of which apply to me and about 98.7% of the general population, so yeah. It’s a good one.
You can read an excerpt of the book here.
Avid book reader said,
May 6, 2008 at 5:45 am
They may not be your forte, but I think you did a fine job. You got me, I’ll pick up a copy of the book.