The Actual One

November 21, 2016
Suttie’s debut memoir tackles what it’s like to be left behind when your friends take the leap to marriage, having babies, and buying houses—and you’re not sure you want to follow. After Suttie, a British comedian and writer, went through a difficult break-up with a longtime boyfriend, her newly pregnant friend, told her that getting “the one” out of the way just means she’s ready to find “the actual one.” Fighting the idea of coupling and adulthood, Suttie set out to enjoy her time as a single woman. As she narrates this experience, she shares her path from struggling as a comic and actress, making ends meet by working in a call center for a nearly bankrupt meal delivery service, to having her passion cover her living expenses. The reader gets to know Suttie through her stories of getting heckled off stage, drinking at pubs, and spending time with friends, all while trying to figure out her love life and the changes around her. Overall this is an entertaining read, but at times her stories fall flat, like they’re missing a punch line, and readers unfamiliar with British idioms may find that whole passages feel like reading a foreign language.

November 1, 2016
How a British comedian and actress has tried to avoid growing up at all costs.When two of her friends announced they were having a baby, Suttie, whose Pearl and Dave radio show won a Sony Radio Academy Award, suddenly realized that those around her were beginning to grow up and that her life was inevitably going to change. To delay the process, she embarked on a series of escapades, which she relates here--e.g., swimming naked in the frigid ocean, creating a 5-foot-tall papier-mache penguin, or dating a guy who speaks mainly in rhyme. Ultimately, of course, she did get older, her friends had the baby and moved into their own little house, and she was out of luck in finding the one true love of her life. Suttie recounts her various friendships and romantic relationships, including her stint with an Aussie who provided fun and sex without entanglement, and her work as a comic, which didn't pay well most of the time but provided a venue for her off-beat humor--e.g., "Christmas Day was the club sandwich it always is: thin layers of pleasure, primarily due to food or excitement about what to watch on TV, interspersed with rich slabs of ennui and bickering." The author's brief chapters are mostly humorous and contain at least a bit of oddball charm, exposing aspects of Suttie that few readers probably know. The author occasionally includes crudely drawn cartoons for emphasis, many (if not all) of which could have been omitted. There are some gems in this lightweight look at navigating the single world, but the book is mainly good for a quick laugh before moving on. For more depth, turn to Tig Notaro's I'm Just a Person (2016). Waggish entertainment on a single woman's search for a life partner.

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December 1, 2016
When Suttie's friends announce that they are having a baby, she has a perfectly normal reaction: she decides to skinny dip in the freezing sea. Surely her friends will strip off their clothes and follow, right? When they don't, Suttie realizes that they've grown up, and she has been left floundering in her hopes and dreams while coping with countless mishaps. Not to be beaten down, the comedian/musician/doodle artist resolves to find the love of her life, lest she be left with her mother's choice of online dating matches. Suttie's meandering narrative is witty, whimsical, and weird, with interspersed anecdotes from her childhood and awkward teen years. In this offbeat memoir, readers will encounter the delights of papier-mache penguins and dates with boys who speak only in rhyme. Eliciting laughter and groans, Suttie describes her attempts at flirting and navigating life as a thirtysomething still trying to be a twentysomething. Suttie's writing style is light and creative, and both fans of this British comedian and readers looking for a smart, funny read will speed through her literary debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)