Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) Book Review

By Nitaawe Shepherd

     Just to start off, the title about this book has absolutely nothing to do with the book.

The book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" Is an auto-biography by Mindy Kaling. Kaling is one of the writers of the comedy series, "The Office". Her book is about her childhood, her love of irish exits, her rise to fame in the film industry, and how she eventually started her own show- "The Mindy Project".

     Childhood

     Mindy's early years consisted mostly of being jealous of her older brother, Conan O'Brian, and thinking just about any many who played sports on national television was handsome. A thing that stood out to Mindy about herself-and always has- that she was chubby. As she reached her older years, she started gaining more weight and started to be bullied by a boy in her school that had just moved from Africa. One day, he came up to her and said "You might actually be kinda pretty if you weren't such a whale.", and this gave Mindy a strong determination to lose her extra weight. She remembers skipping meals, and being cold all the time. When she had lost it all, the boy that bullied her said "Hey, remember when Mindy was like, a whale?" and at that moment she decided that she didn't care what anyone thought about her. 

     In her middle school years, Mindy had three best friends- Jana, Lauren, and Polly. They did everything together. They even called their group JLMP which was their initials combined. They would make JLMP shirts, bags, jewelry, and just about anything you could think of. When Mindy started high school, she made a new, secret friend named Mavis. Mavis and Mindy both loved comedy. Together, they would watch the comedy channel, talk about comedy, read comedy, attempt at making comedy, and do just about anything that involved comedy. That was when Mindy realized that she was having more fun with Mavis then she was with her old friends, and gradually went from JLMP to Mindy and Mavis. This was the beginning of her love for comedy.

     Rise to Fame

At 19, Mindy started attending Dartmouth University. She, as she describes it was "a freakin' jaws in a community swimming pool.". She graduated in 1998. Then, in 2001 she moved to NYC, aspiring to be a writer on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. When she got a job as an intern there, she was famously one of the worst interns the show had ever seen and was fired. After that, she was unemployed along with her two friends Brenda and Jocelyn. After moving to Winsor Terrace with them, a failed dance audition for Bombay Dreams, lots of karaoke, babysitting two extremely wealthy little girls, and a gruesome interview for TBN, she finally landed a job being and entry-level production assistant on a show called Bridging the Underworld with Mac Teegarden. After joking around about feeling unsafe on the train to her job, she scored a town car to transport her to and from work. Kaling said she felt like Ferris Bueller. Mindy was finally paying her bills, but she and Brenda didn't feel like they were doing enough with their lives. So, they decided to create something they could preform themselves. The decided to make a play called "Matt & Ben" which was inspired by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, but was not about them at all. The play was a huge hit. In the Fringe Festival of 2002, they were named Best Play. The New Yorker described them as "Goofy, funny, and improbably believable..." It was transferred to off broadway. They got a director and a budget. She accidentally punched Brenda in the face during a fake fight scene. They were invited to the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, which was a big deal, because HBO sponsored the festival and it was full of powerful Hollywood execs. After that, Mindy was hired as a staff writer for six episodes of a mid-season NBC show that was the remake of a british show called The Office. When she was hired, she was unaware that the show would turn out to be such a big hit. Later, Mindy got a call from Greg Daniels. Greg had seen Matt & Ben and asked her to meet him for a general. Greg was happy with the meeting and her, and she was hired as a staff writer for season one of The Office. Mindy grew more and more important on the show, and that brings us to where she is today.

     Mindy Now

     Mindy Kaling is now and actress, comedian, and writer for The Office. She  is also a co-executive producer, director and writer of several of the show's episodes. She also wrote, executive produced and directed various episodes of The Office. She now has her own show- The Mindy Project. She is 34 years old.

This Book

     I recommend you read this book if you enjoy comedy, and of course like Mindy Kaling and wish to know more about her and her personality. I think this book should be read if you are 11 or older, because it has some sexual content and swearing. This book is witty and funny and I enjoyed it very much.