Well, This Is Exhausting: Essays

You're probably thinking that a review by a father of his daughter's book is worthless, maybe worse than the promotional crap written by online actives raving about the free Pampers they got from Procter & Gamble. Get over it--if you think this is a light attempt to boost a child's prospects, you are wrong; this was a hard read for me, perhaps more than for anyone else.She was always a weird kid, but I probably hadn't realized just how weird. When your daughter is a young adult and 2000 miles away (permanently away and shunning all efforts to guilt, bribe, or cajole her to return) you imagine simple life for her of classes, reading, taking up tennis, hosting a few female friends for a weekly Mahjong game (I don't even know what Mahjong is, but she is in LA and it couldn't be anything normal like "Risk" or "Hearts"). To be sure I had suspicions along the way that all her time was not filled by Midwestern-type activities. However I was not quite ready to hop on the California-Teen-Young Adult-Social Media-Screamer that was my daughter's life.There are few words to describe my reaction to Sophia's recounting of some of her life's events and challenges except perhaps CRUSHED, DECIMATED, HURT, REGRETFUL, BESIDE MYSELF, DISSAPPOINTED, EMBARRASSED, AND SAD. I actually bought 31 copies of the book. There was no magic to 31--I accidently ordered 1 copy then added an order for 30 intending to give them to family and friends. How the hell can I give this to family and friends? Think Charles Manson's mom gave autographed 8x10 glossies of Charles to the neighbors?But I got through it, mostly by taking it in small doses with a spoonful of sugar (actually fermented grapes, which, as you will learn in the book, are a problem for me). I found by the end, partly because there is no bitter, discordant conclusion, that Sophia was OK, probably even much better than OK*. I realized I had gone through/done much of what she had (well, not the eye thing, but substantial equivalents) and she came by this honestly. Sophia presented this in interesting fashion and with a fair hand (though I think she could have praised me a lot more in the Acknowledgements)**.*I am not on any social media and never will be so it may be a bit unfair of me, but Leslie should stick to underwear and dog treats.**I also think she inadvertently used a Brady Bunch line without attribution. I am sure it was inadvertent, because it is utterly unimaginable that Sophia would pass up an opportunity to cite Mike Brady.

While many aspects of being a teen girl/young woman have been well covered as titillating examples of exploitation think Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Brooke Shields Marilyn Monroe there are plenty of overlooked but still interesting examples of smart awkward girls; horny but sexually ignored (sturdy) women, who were fed examples of sexy, exciting, glamorous lifestyles by society, which fail to match the cruel reality of adolescence and young adulthood. Basically, while we as a society are quick to support our beautiful delicate waifish adolescent flowers against the piggish male gaze, we don't know what to do with our culturally engaged, horny chubsters who fuel the machine of inadequacy, which sells tabloid content, magazines, rom-coms and trashy reality shows, like the Bachelor, yet feel rejected by it. As a similar awkward male this is a familiar trope of wish fulfillment, well satiated on the geeky male side, but intriguingly meeting a cultural deficit represented by Ms. Benoit on social media and in this book, on the more socially quelled aspects of femininity and intelligence. In case she's reading this I have a horse, a goat, two cats, a dog and a turtleneck.One example I took to heart was her love, hate relationship with Cosmopolitan magazine. While on the one hand, she was reading Cosmo grappling with whether the magazine focused too much on pleasing men, I was reading Cosmo trying to recreate scenarios for girls I knew which would allow them to reenact the scripts presented in the mag. Spoiler: it worked.I could quibble with a lot of things said in this book but still it's refreshing to find a book which demands a conversation. That makes sense for someone who came out of Twitter.Reading this book should be an aspirational example to young women seeking to being interesting to non basic guys and who feel creating a fake insta, snap, tik twitch persona exhausting and unnecessary.While I don't pretend to be a large demographic I fully expect to say I was on the ground floor before she writes Notting Mean Girls Hill.

Got about half-way through and couldn’t continue and I really wanted to like this book. It starts out strong but then I realized it is chapter after chapter of complaining and self-deprecating. She is a good writer. The subjects discussed just weren’t that interesting and were too drawn out. I would try something else by this author.

I found much of this book funny and relatable, and some of it not so much. But the chapter for responsible people? Oof. I didn’t expect what that opened up for me nor how much I hadn’t examined certain aspects of my growing up years.

Sophia takes you through her life, what she has learned and what has made her the person she is today. There is no holds barred. She shares it all. This is a raw, real, emotional, and funny book. As long as you are not easily offended or a prude then it's worth a read (or listen). You will see yourself somewhere in the book and you will take something away that may help in your own life.

I wanted to like this book more than I did because it was recommended by David Sedalia. Instead I found only two chapters that were spectacular and the others a bit whiny. It’s likely time to lay off reading memoirs because all the ones written by this generation are starting to roll up together. And, reading footnotes, whether in an actual book or ebook is a pain in the ass.

It was exhausting.

As a college kid in the 60’s, I’m surprised how long it took to acknowledge that women are human. But the humor in the book makes it less depressing. Just in case, young women should read it to realize reality is a choice.

the book came plain without the pink cover bizzarre