Dear Girls Book Review

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong

2019

Humor, autobiography

Spoiler-free

I borrowed the Dear Girls ebook from my local library because I love Ali Wong’s comedy. I am really happy I grabbed it when I did because it is one of the funniest books I’ve read this year!

The novel details Wong’s life experience and some of the lessons she hopes to pass on to her daughters. Each of the chapters is formatted as a letter to Wong’s daughters, which I personally think was a genius way to style the memoir. The writing is so vibrant and really allowed Wong’s voice to shine through. So often author’s write in a way that doesn’t feel lifelike, but Wong’s writing feels so real. 

While I don’t think you have to be a fan of stand-up to read Dear Girls, you definitely have to 

appreciate Wong’s style of humor. She is not afraid to tell stories one would normally keep to themselves. Alongside the jokes, Wong delved into family relations, struggles of dating, pregnancy, working as a comedian in a male-dominated industry, and so many different issues she’s faced in her life. The humor was perfect in balancing some of the weightier subjects and overall so interesting I read it in one day! 

Since a large portion of the book is partly focused on Wong’s experience growing up, she gives lots of advice to her young daughters. I liked the insight into youth, adulthood, dating, marriage, and parenthood. Wong is known for talking about the subjects in her specials and her memoir is an amplification of that. Even though I can’t relate to growing up Asian-American nor do the lessons about parenthood apply to me at my stage in life, I felt like there were so many important lessons. Wong’s message to take advantage of traveling and challenging yourself in your youth really resonated with me.

Rating: 5/5 I had fun reading the novel and there weren’t any issues that stood out to me within the writing or the content! Overall, a quick read that's worth it!