Bossypants / Tina Fey

Tina Fey didn’t really cross my radar screen until I became a fan of "30 Rock" in its first few seasons (thanks mostly to time-delayed viewings via Hulu). The quirky sitcom featured such quick, smart, off-the-wall humor that it sort of defied comparison to anything else I’d seen on network TV. Then there were Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impersonations which were inspired and still inspire laughter today. Bossypants has been in high demand in the library, and my curiosity finally got the better of me and I checked it out.

Tina Fey is just one of those smart funny women that you have to admire. Her self-deprecating view of herself and her day-to-day life play in stark contrast to her confident entertainment persona and her many professional successes. The chapters describing her father and her annual Christmas visits to her Youngstown inlaws provide an interesting glimpse into her groundedness and precious ordinariness, and in other chapters she makes her “glamorous” TV lifestyle seem almost like just another job.

There’s a lot of talk here about women’s body issues, breastfeeding, and the angst of being a mother and balancing a demanding job. I got the feeling that the primary intended reader was meant to be a woman. But liberated males can absorb this information too, or at least skim through it until the next chapter takes up a more gender-neutral topic. This is a light book that will provide laughs and just a little bit of insight (but not too much) into the comic genius that is Tina Fey. Gotta love her.

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