I must start by thanking ASKReviews for letting us all know that there was a SECRET MUSICAL in the middle of this audiobook! I heeded their recommendation to “Get the Audio Version”, and boy howdy am I glad I did! Not only do we get a musical adventure about Rachel Bloom’s desire to be a musical theater STAAAR, the musical is performed by her harmonizing with herself, herself, herself, herself, and maybe another Rachel Bloom or two.
Bloom’s voice is so important here; her style, her brutal honesty, her overall delivery- if you are at any way interested, then you MUST listen to the audiobook. I love how she shouts “New Chapter!” every time there is, well, a new chapter. It reminds me very much of the “BLAM!” from the opening credits of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
You don’t have to be a huge CXG fan in order to enjoy this book; I stopped watching in Season Three because the stress of the characters within the show was too much to handle on top of my own stress, haha- but you do get a little peek behind the CXG curtain. Bloom also dedicates the book to Adam Schlesinger and speaks throughout about his work, friendship, and-in the afterward- his loss. Adam was an incredible songwriter; he was a founding member of Fountains of Wayne, wrote “That Thing You Do!” for That Thing You Do!, “Pretend to be Nice” for Josie and the Pussycats, and co-wrote MANY songs on CXG with Bloom (my personal favorite: “Settle for Me”). He was taken by Covid-19 in the Spring.
Bloom is aggressively honest in an extremely cheerful way; she absolutely cackles with glee while detailing accounts of being bullied in middle school, dealing with mental health crises, refusing to be potty-trained until the age of four- there is nothing she won’t share, but it doesn’t feel like TMI. She reads excerpts from her childhood journals- including some amazing “erotic poetry” written in middle school. This could could be a recipe for some extreme cringing, but Bloom is so delightfully over-the-top but you can’t help to laugh along, even if you find yourself reliving your own adolescent horror stories while she shares hers!
The collection itself is a riot: fairy tale parody, Harry Potter fanfic, jabs at Neil Patrick Harris, behind the scenes glimpses at working in TV and sketch comedy, and stories about relationships good, bad, and ugly- but the true star of the show is Bloom herself; a 4-Star book was blasted into the 5-Star stratosphere by her so-high-energy-I-kind-of-worry-about-her energy. Also- HOW GOOD is that Judy Blume-esque artwork?!
Oooh yay! So glad you liked it!
thank you for the recommendation!
Well this was on my list of books to borrow from friends, but it seems like an audiobook rental is in order instead.
I’m sure the written version is great too; I read an excerpt on The Cut before seeing ASK’s review and really enjoyed it- but the audio is SO GREAT!
A couple of trained musical theater friends turned me on to Rachel Bloom and CXG. They’re good friends.
good friends indeed! As a reformed THEATER PERSON I felt parts of this book in my bones- in a very embarassing “oh my god I was like that” way
I had to give up after season one for the same reason! I was getting way too stressed out, even though I liked the characters and the songs.
I’ve been keeping myself happy and updated by just watching the songs on youtube, haha