From Tina Fey’s Bossypants to Samantha Irby’s We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, there is a rich modern American tradition of female essay-style narrative nonfiction. These books usually tread a line between autobiography, cultural analysis and “here’s a self-deprecating account of my dating life and career”. Their success – and their enjoyability – largely depends on the voice. Does this account of themselves sound plausible? Or are they exaggerating for effect? Do they – despite their (usual) proximity to celebrity – sound like a real person? Are they trying too hard at the self-deprecation?
By this measure, You’re Embarrassing Yourself by Desiree Akhavan succeeds easily, whether you know her work well or not. She has been a director on the HBO Max series Hacks and Hulu’s Tiny Beautiful Things, and made her own films including Appropriate Behaviour and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Akhavan is that rare thing: both painfully honest and likable. It’s not that anyone has to be likable in their own memoir, or indeed in real life, just that it’s hard to spend a whole book in the company of someone annoying or fake.
