Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

By: Mindy Kaling

Narrated by: Mindy Kaling, Michael Schur, B. J. Novak

Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this hilarious instant classic, the creator of The Mindy Project and Never Have I Ever invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood.“[Kaling is] like Tina Fey’s cool little sister. Or perhaps . . . the next Nora Ephron.”—The New York Times

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”

Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly! With several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? proves that Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.

Praise for Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

“Where have you been all our lives, Mindy?”—Glamour

“Who wouldn’t want to hang out with Mindy Kaling? . . . [Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?] is like a mash note to comedy nerds.”—Time Out New York

“Very funny.”—Boston Globe

©2011 Mindy Kaling (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

“She’s like Tina Fey’s cool little sister. Or perhaps… the next Nora Ephron.” (The New York Times)

“The fashion opinions of Kelly Kapoor mixed with a Miss Manners-esque advice column.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“If you love Kelly and think the three minutes or so allotted her on episodes of The Office are too few, you can take home Mindy.” (The New Yorker)

Sorry Mindy

I really wanted to like this book and I have it a good try. While I agree with most of the opinions in this book, there are just far, far too many. She lost me on planning her own funeral. I actually stopped listening shortly after that. Just too preachy for my taste.

I wasn't sure

after reading Boddy Pants, Yes Please and Vedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee I wasn't sure. I wasn't as familiar with Mindy and I admit other authors had me biased. But I stayed with her and the story she told was hilarious and one as a kid with an immigrant patent I felt pulled in by her story. A great book!

Love her

I really liked this book, and love Mindy, but wished I had understood the lists more. Maybe listening versus reading, you don’t get to see the titles? Or maybe I missed something?

Regardless, she tickles me. I like hearing how she thinks.

Funny and light!

Made a great "read" for my early flights. Mindy is so funny and has such a pleasant voice to listen to!

HilARIous

it was a hoot. A witty hoot! I loved her stories and style. So fun.

Could have been read by anyone

The reading was a little robotic-- I listened to Amy poehler's Yes Please and I loved the way she talked like she was telling the story instead of just reading pages. I wanted some inflection and some different vocals and intonation.

Cute!

I think if I had read this instead of listening to it, I might have rated it lower. It's a little all over the place. This book benefits greatly from Mindy's narration. She's on-par with Tina Fey in terms of skill - Mindy is funny and very charming and you really get drawn into her stories - though this is definitely no "Bossypants" (and Mindy is quick to point that out in the introduction!) As a fan of "The Office" (although admittedly not lately) and especially Kelly Kapoor, I enjoyed all of the behind-the-scenes stories. And at 4 1/2 hours, it's a perfect shorter listen.

I love Mindy Kaling.

I love when I listen to books and immediately feel like the author in my best friend. Mindy is the coolest.

Funny Funny, Intelligent Funny

Where does Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

For genre,right next to BossyPants and Born Standing Up

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mindy- This is not a good question for this type of book which is obviously written by her about her life and career choices. Still she was very upbeat even while giving a bit of advice with humor kicked in.

Which character – as performed by Mindy Kaling and Michael Schur – was your favorite?

Same question as above??? Although I loved Michael Schur's obituary- outrageous

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

This is not a book for a film.

Any additional comments?

Mindy Kaling is one intelligent, hysterical writer who comes from an upper class family and has a tremendous sense of humor about her time at Dartmouth, being Indian and her strong will. I'd love to be her friend.

PS Why have you started asking these questions in your reviews? Is what we just think not enough to encourage or discourage future readers? I do not care for the format as some of the questions do not apply to the book you are reviewing. Sorry.

there were a couple shining moments but..

overall i feel under whelmed. nothing very memorable about it except maybe over chapter on her predictions for movies that should be made and most of them have been! i love her but maybe it was the essay style that undid her in this