I'm the One That I Want by Margaret Cho
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Book Reviews of I'm the One That I Want
Book Review: Not what I expected
Summary: 3 Stars
I will start the review by saying I read this knowing nothing about Margaret Cho or her comedy. This may have deterred from my understanding or enjoyment of the book. A friend lent it to me after I told her how much I loved Chelsea Handler's books...let me tell you, these two comedians are like night and day.
Cho's book isn't happy, funny, or inspiring (until the last few pages). This doesn't mean it isn't good. It is well written and moves quickly. For most of the book, I found myself wondering...what is the point of what she is telling us? She goes through her childhood, where she felt no love. Her teen years...again, no love. As an adult she goes into detail about various addictions, and hardships about travelling. Most stories follow the same pattern...she drinks or does drugs, blaming her self-destructive behavior on the fact that no one loves her, and then she usually runs into one of her bullies or enemies when she is successful and spurns them. As you can imagine, you get a little tired of it.
It wasn't until the last 10 pages when she got to her point. She learned to love herself for who she was. She stopped the crazy diets and drugs and drinking. She became a strong woman. That is when I realized that the book is more about her going through her life, her behavior, and analyzing why she behaved this way. I think the tone of the book just felt like she was making excuses for all her behavior. I felt like saying...why are you letting this person dictate who you are? I think that was the point - that she learned that by the end. But much of the book is her blaming various failures on others (i.e. her family is to blame for her smoking pot, the TV show's failure is to blame on several factors that aren't her fault, etc).
I wish she had put more of the last 10 pages into the rest of the book, so I would have gotten her point. But don't be mistaken - this is not a funny book. This is a memoir full of stories that aren't really funny, and you won't get to the point until the end of the book. Needless to say, I wanted to find out more about her since I heard her stand up is funny, and I will not fully judge her from just this one book. I suggest you do the same after you read it, just to find out more about this interesting person.
Book Review: A candid look at sexism in Hollywood
Summary: 3 Stars
Margaret Cho's "I'm the One That I Want" is the opposite of pre-packaged, phony interviews that you see everytime you turn on TV. While actresses go on TV and claim to just LOVE their co-stars, and to be "naturally" thin, Cho tells it like it is. She triumphed where many others failed -- her years as a traveling standup paid off when she got a TV deal,. Unfortuntately, misogony and racism in Hollywood turned her dream into a nightmare. Cho details the callous treatment that she, the star of her own show, received when things went wrong on the show. Her weight became the central focus to some execs, and some Asians groups turned on her when the show was received as stereotypical and backward. What should have been the pinnacle of her career turned into a time she would rather forget. Alcoholism and dead-end relationshops ensued.
This book is basically a cathardic (we presume) rant by Cho. It is an outrageous story, particularly in the same industry that routinely makes TV stars of rotund male standup comics (everyone from Kevin James to Chris Farley). The double standards are made all the worse when you consider that Cho wasn't fat. She was victimized by the Hollywood white male power structure, and women and minorities who internalize that message and turn on each other.
Although I appreciate the manifesto-style quality of this book, some of Cho's solutions seem a bit naive. It is going to take a lot more than women liking themselves to see attitudes in Hollywood change. Sexism and racism are institutionalized, and every high grossing movie starring an emaciated babe is contributing to that tradition continuing. It will take dismantling those institutions, or working from within, to see that change. Show biz is way behind the curve when it comes to gender equality, but it is also dangerously influential. Cho, and others like her, could spearhead a grassroots campaign to get big audiences for movies that show positive messages of women. Take it from the evangelicals and "Passion of the Christ"... money talks.
Book Review: I'll pass.
Summary: 2 Stars
I am always interested in memoirs by famous people. Tracking their path to fame is usually enlightening and entertaining.
I've found that books by comics are particularly difficult to read. So much of their entertainment value comes from non-verbal communications. This was true of Cho as well. The book felt flat to me, and it was disjointed, jumping from timeframe to timeframe with no particular rhyme or reason. While many of the anecdotes conveyed were interesting, I had trouble following along.
As a result, I stopped about halfway through. It was just too confusing for me, though I value her story and experiences.
For the light of heart -- you may want to avoid this book. It's quite graphic in parts and she doesn't hold back on the sex, drugs or rock-n-roll.
Book Review: Stick to Stand-up
Summary: 2 Stars
It's difficult to surmise that Margaret Cho, who's usually funny (at least when you watch only one of her shows, and only once, because repeating the experience is often tiring), can write such a boring, unfunny book that feels like Chicken Soup for the Sexually-liberal Korean Soul.
Granted, some situations Cho describes ably, but she often winds up beating the humor into the ground, as with the incident when the producer grabbed her breast. Most of the book is annoying because of its italicized reflections and questions about the Self that are reminiscent of a diary of a teenage girl, but definitely not one of Cho's caliber.
And that's too bad. Cho had the potential to hash out a really great book here. It's sad she didn't take advantage of that opportunity.
Book Review: Not very funny, sometimes tedious, but some sparks
Summary: 1 Stars
I was not familiar with M. Cho, being an American living overseas for so long. So I thought that I would get acquainted with a different aspect of American culture and bring some laughs to my door-step. Though I found some passages funny and entertaining, her narration comes off as tedious and repetitive, infrequently humorous. Her tragic life seems dramatically sad, and Cho seems to want to bring laughter out of brashness and dismal situations. Congratulations for trying to pull herself out of so many self-defeating habits and for trying to find some humour there. I found her "new-agey" comments too superficial for interest. I good try, but the bleakness of her unhappy life is not salvaged by the humour, that seems too scarce for a notorious comedian. This is a review of her 4 CD audiobook.
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