56th book of 2022
Rachel Bloom has felt out of place her whole life, whether in the hallowed halls of Manhattan Beach Middle School or on Twitter. Singled out by teachers, dumped by weird boyfriends, and ridiculed by roommates who were just trying to get some sleep, she was constantly reminded that she stood out. So she’s decided to figure out exactly what makes her different. I Want To Be Where The Normal People Are is a hilarious exploration of all of Rachel Bloom’s formative missteps, mishaps, and misanthropic moments.
In ‘The Lamest Mistress’, Rachel presents a tongue-in-cheek fairy tale about the curse laid upon her as a child and all the ways it affected her romantic relationships through the years. ‘How Can I Explain?’ tells the story of Rachel’s fraught relationship with theatre and chronicles her growth from child theatre nerd to… adult theatre nerd. And in ‘Extra! Extra! History Repeats Itself!’ time-travelling thirteen-year-old Rachel teaches twenty-three-year-old Rachel a little lesson about bullying.
In this collection of laugh-out-loud-funny essays, all told in the unique voice (sometimes singing voice) that made her a star, Rachel writes about everything she thought made her abnormal, from her love of Disney, struggles with mental health, and Spanx to the story of how she didn’t poop in the toilet until she was four years old. Her stories are hilarious, smart, and infinitely relatable (except for the pooping thing). No spoilers, but along the way, she might just come to realize that a lot of other people feel as abnormal as she feels. Okay fine, spoiler: she totally comes to realize that.
CW: mental illness, bullying, body shaming, sexual content, death
Rating
None
Review
This book is a good one to start when you are a non-fiction newbie.
This book is a real rollercoaster, and I wasn’t prepared for that. It’s very entertaining as you have a ton of different chapters, and nearly each one is written in different ways like screenplay, list, interviews, etc. My favourite was the dog and the squirrel. Also, the short chapters make this book accessible and quick to read.
The strange thing is how everything is told. You have a chronological timeline, but at the same time, it goes everywhere. I think all the references you have between all the chapters make things sometimes difficult to follow. It was like being in her brain; she had an idea every minute. Also, you have a lot of footnotes, and oh god, they are so funny.
Be aware that she doesn’t have any filter, so sometimes it’s a little too much about the information she gives us.
Liz.
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