Dear Girls x Ali Wong | Book Review
Updated: Mar 20, 2020
Title: Dear Girls
Author: Ali Wong
Pages: 195
Overview: Ali Wong’s heartfelt and hilarious letters to her daughters (the two she put to work while they were still in utero), covering everything they need to know in life, like the unpleasant details of dating, how to be a working mom in a male-dominated profession, and how she trapped their dad.
Author Bio: Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian, writer and actress. Her breakout Netflix special "Baby Cobra" premiered Mother's Day weekend 2016 to wide critical acclaim. Since then she has thrown out the first pitch at a Giants game, become a very popular Halloween costume, and released her second Netflix special "Hard Knock Wife." She voiced the co-lead and executive produced the Netflix animation show, "Tuca and Bertie."
In 2019, she became the very first artist to sell out 13 shows at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. Ali also co-wrote and starred in the Netflix movie "Always Be My Maybe". Her debut book, "Dear Girls", became an instant New York Times bestseller.
There aren’t many TV shows I get into, but Fresh off the Boat grasped my attention from the start. Randall Park (who plays the patriarch, Louis on the show) is such a captivating actor, that it was no question that I was going to be first in line (or rather, first plopped on my couch in front of my TV) to watch the Netflix original rom-com Always Be My Maybe.
Ali Wong starred alongside him (okay, let's be real, he starred alongside her) and I was immediately obsessed. When I found out she had released a book, I added to my Amazon cart and knew it was going to be my first read of the new year.
The book is comprised of 14 chapters in total, each chapter featuring a “letter” filled with hilarious anecdotes and advice I never knew I needed, (not that she wrote this book with me in mind, in fact, the book is intended to be “intimate tales, untold secrets & advice for living your best life” written to her two daughter Mari and Nikki).
I was hooked off of the preface alone, where she shares this hilarious story of a staff quiz given before their annual staff trip. One of the questions was “How many miles to the moon?” and while her co-workers all submitted answers in the correct ballpark (238,000 miles), her answer was five billion miles. She admits off rip that she was nervous about the book deal and writing this book because it will expose her secret of being a “f***ing idiot” ← her words, not mine!
Her crass honesty and sense of humor was enough to keep me reading the book the entire day and I ended up finishing it over the span of 2 days. That’s it! And YES, I am a working professional, but it was just that good! This is the kind of book that you bring with you while taking a bathroom break!
Through her witty words, streamed effortlessly together over the course of 195 pages, we learn about her dating life prior to marriage, how she met her husband, their partnership (he’s freaking awesome for the record), conceiving, miscarrying, conceiving again (not without issues though), conceiving again, being a working mom on the road in the field of entertainment as a stand-up comedian, her time abroad during college, her family, and other miscellaneous things, all tied into a bow (or book rather) that makes you love the woman from front cover to back cover.
You can read the preview here. I pinKIY promise you’ll be convinced to add this to your collection.
Sending pink glitter hearts,
Kiy <1 <2 <3