Buffering

October 17, 2016
In her debut memoir, comedian Hart, host of the YouTube show My Drunk Kitchen, delves deep into her past, sharing her experiences with family, mental illness, sexuality, friendship, and love. Although she is currently living the life of a public figure, a fact that she teasingly points out throughout the piece, Hart focuses on her past; its complexities, juxtapositions, and contradictions make up the bulk of her entertaining and honest story. Hart exposes the hardest parts of her life: being gay with a Jehovah’s Witness father, growing up poor with a schizophrenic mother. These and other figures of her life could be easily demonized, but Hart allows them to emerge as complicated characters. Her paranoid mother is also intelligent, kind, gentle, and forgiving, and values family and art. Her homophobic and single-minded father gave her good home by certain standards, clean and with a fridge full of food. The topics are grim, but there is kindness in her story, and, most significantly, humor. Fans will be pleased that other stars such as comedian Grace Helbig make guest appearances, and, like a true role model, Hart uses her platform to raise awareness of the shortcomings of the current U.S. medical system in treating mental health.

May 15, 2016

A YouTube star whose channel has more than 2.4 million subscribers and whose social media presence roars--more than a million folks each turn to her on Twitter and Instagram--Hart is also the author of the New York Times best-selling My Drunk Kitchen. Here she thumbs through old journals to offer narrative essays that capture her life and her views on family, friendship, love, sexuality, and self. With a 125,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.