Little Weirds

By: Jenny Slate

Narrated by: Jenny Slate

Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Step into Jenny Slate's wild imagination in this "magical" (Mindy Kaling), "delicious" (Amy Sedaris), and "poignant" (John Mulaney) New York Times best seller about love, heartbreak, and being alive - "this book is something new and wonderful" (George Saunders).

You may "know" Jenny Slate from her Netflix special, Stage Fright, as the creator of Marcel the Shell, or as the star of Obvious Child. But you don't really know Jenny Slate until you get bonked on the head by her absolutely singular writing style. To see the world through Jenny's eyes is to see it as though for the first time, shimmering with strangeness and possibility. As she will remind you, we live on an ancient ball that rotates around a bigger ball made up of lights and gasses that are science gasses, not farts (don't be immature). Heartbreak, confusion, and misogyny stalk this blue-green sphere, yes, but it is also a place of wild delight and unconstrained vitality, a place where we can start living as soon as we are born, and we can be born at any time. In her dazzling, impossible-to-categorize debut, Jenny channels the pain and beauty of life in writing so fresh, so new, and so burstingly alive, we catch her vision like a fever and bring it back out into the bright day with us, where everything has changed.

One of Vanity Fair's Great Quarantine Reads

©2019 Jenny Slate (P)2019 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

"This book is something new and wonderful - honest, funny, positive, completely original, and inspiring in the very best way: it made me remember I was alive." (George Saunders)

"Jenny's writing is magical and stylish, just like her. Each essay in Little Weirds feels like a vivid, cinematic experience, full of original observations and unexpected laughs." (Mindy Kaling)

"Luminous, emotional, lovely, and a little mysterious, this book is something you will savor like a half-remembered, gorgeous dream. You'll finish it feeling like Jenny Slate is your new best friend." (Susan Orlean)

"A singularly hilarious and horny, but also poignant and tender, collection of writing that beautifully captures Slate's inimitable voice, which is one that, once you've heard it, you want to listen to forever." (Kristen Iversen, Nylon)

"A man on the 2 Express Train read some of Jenny Slate's Little Weirds over my shoulder. 'What kind of book is this?' he asked. 'The best kind,' I replied." (John Mulaney)

"This book is like a stovetop goulash, delicious and varied ingredients, prepared perfectly and excellent with bread...I'm sorry, I lost track of the simile." (Amy Sedaris)

"Jenny's writing is wide open, tuneful, tender. She sees the world (and feels the world) like a bug might, two antennae poking out from her head like sensory wands. Reading Little Weirds made me feel tipsy." (Durga Chew-Bose, author of Too Much and Not the Mood)

Weird - and not just a little

You'll either love or hate Little Weirds by Jenny Slate. I listened to the audiobook read by the author and would recommend it to try to understand it better. This book is strange and trippy and random, and I don't know if it contains actual poetry, but it's extremely flowy and poetic. I even tagged it as magical realism.

I like Jenny Slate as a person and enjoy her standup comedy and voiceover work. I wanted to read this book after seeing her talk about it in an interview. Little Weirds is a super quirky collection of essays and contains what a lot of people would likely say is nonsense, but I enjoyed it because it's mostly light and memoir-like. There are nuggets of emotion, meaning, and wisdom throughout the book mixed in with the stream-of-consciousness fever dreams.

I wouldn't say Little Weirds is funny exactly, and I didn't laugh out loud. The chapters are very short and don't follow chronological order. Slate's voice is strong and feels genuine. I truly believe this is what she's like in real life.

This book is inspiring and wonderful

I feel less alone because of Jenny’s Slate honesty. I think her little poetic weirds are the best.

Wonderful wonderful wonderful

This book is full of quotes that I filled my notes app with
This book has encouraged me to write stories of my own and to document my own little weirds
This book comforted me when I was sad and lifted me up when I was happy
Highly highly highly recommend

A joy to listen to

I laughed out loud and was also comforted by this book. The author has a unique delivery that is smart, sharp but also kind and compassionate at the same time.

A true gem

I’m so grateful that Jenny put pen to paper. A unique voice, full of humor and poetry and honesty.

didn't want it to end

This book was lovely. It made me laugh, tear up, and nod in vigorous agreement about how it feels to be a woman sometimes. There were many times I avoided listening to this book because I didn't want it to end!

Enchanting. Unique, clever, sometimes raw, poetic prose

I have always loved Jenny Slate—was sorry to see her let go from SNL, reportedly for slipping up and saying the F-word on live TV, certainly a ridiculous reason. After listening to this book it’s evident that her talents were wasted there. Slate is a truly original, deeply honest voice. I hope her writing and film careers and whatever else she chooses to do are a success!

New favorite book!

Such a sweet book! It’s filled with wonderfully prose, original ideas, and character. You feel the authors true authentic heart in every chapter. I’m sure to listen and read it again.

So glad I did the audio

I don’t think the experience of this book would be the same without hearing Jenny read it. Definitely recommend.

My heart...

Simply one of my favorite books ever. No hyperbole. A unique tenderness flows through Little Weirds, and it comes by way of a wholly original and completely beguiling literary voice. Poetry. I feel I emerged from it transformed.

And the narration was perfect.