Hey guys, I’m back with another “book in review” for ya! Remember, my last review was of Royce Rolls, a teen fit-comedy… and, I’d say today’s review is more of an adult-comedy!
Because if you should know anything about me, it’s that I love comedy.
So, I finished up “Ask Again Later” about 2… or maybe 3 weeks ago, I don’t know, I can’t keep track, and—heads up—I actually loved it!
I got the hardback version of this book from a local secondhand bookstore that donates all of its proceeds to a local animal shelter. I love that place, and so I go there very often! I’m even planning another trip next week already… But, in my last haul, I picked up 4 funny reads, and now I’m 2 down, 2 to go!
To kick off our review of this lovely little novel, let’s look at the official book description, taken from Goodreads:
Emily has a tendency to live with one foot out the door. For her, the best thing about a family crisis is the excuse to cut and run. When her mother dramatically announces they’ve found a lump, Emily gladly takes a rain check on life to be by her mother’s side, leaving behind her career, her boyfriend, and those pesky, unanswerable questions about who she is and what she’s doing with her life.
But back in her childhood bedroom, Emily realizes that she hasn’t run fast or far enough. One evening, while her mother calls everyone in her Rolodex to brief them on her medical crisis and schedule a farewell martini, Emily opens the door, quite literally, to find her past staring her in the face. How do you forge a relationship with the father who left when you were five years old? As Emily attempts to find balance on the emotional seesaw of her life, with the help of two hopeful suitors and her Park Avenue Princess sister, she takes a no-risk job as a receptionist at her father’s law firm and slowly gets to know the man she once pretended was dead.
I think this book is meant to be a “chick lit,” and I did find it in the chick lit section of the bookstore, I don’t necessarily think it is chick lit. Sure, it’s a book about a chick, and it is a book, so it’s lit… (haha, that was a joke)… but, honestly I think it’s just a cool, relaxed comedy that’s been mis-genre-d!
This book is, honestly, unique in style—I’ve never read a thing like it before. Not only is it funny, because I have, believe it or not, read some really funny books before, but it’s narrated in a first-person voice that’s so witty, chill, and matter-of-fact about everything. I mean, Emily (the main character), learns that her mother has breast cancer pretty early on, and she just kind of shrugs and says something like “just my luck.”
In terms of writing style, I feel like this book hits all the points I took notes on in creative writing classes. Like, this may be pretty technical if you’re not one to take deep notice in style, but the author uses multiple combinations of extremely long and extremely short sentences, all jumbled up together. That’s something I know pretty much every creative writer struggles with getting right, and so I’ve got to give Davis full cred just for that, if anything. And, if you couldn’t care less about how a sentence is written… just read like you normally would and know that, when you get so interested in reading on and on, page after page, the reason why is just that–how the sentences are written!
(Image on right: Paperback cover taken from Goodreads)
In terms of funny-ness, this book hits the nail on the head, too. There’s sarcasm galore (um, my favorite!), awkward moments abundant, and witty comebacks aplenty. For example…
Once a month I drive to the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey to visit my grandmother. Nana.
Nana is a mall walker. No map required. She uses landmarks to navigate. A shop that sells pink and blue eye shadow, tiaras, and faux Hope diamonds to nine-year-olds in her North Star.
Ask Again Later
And there are a number… I repeat, number of times where I laughed out-loud whilst reading. And, when that happens… I give a five-star review.
And, did you know… the author, Jill A. Davis, was once a writer for Late Night with David Letterman, a show that, well, is honestly one of the funniest things to exist, so it only makes sense that this book would have the same comedic wit as an Emmy-winning late night program! And, I’m just going to guess that you, like me, originally did not actually know that.
Check out Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis on Goodreads, if you’re intrigued, where I did, in fact, leave a 5-star rating!
And, if you have already read or do eventually decide that you enjoy this book… give another hilarious comedy reading a try, like What Now, Emma Lenford? by Kari Lynn M... (aka me!). It’s similar in that it’s, um, very funny, and it’s got a witty, sarcastic narrator that we all come to love. Even better, it’s available as an ebook and audiobook!
Let me know what you think/thought/will think of Ask Again Later below!
Until our next book in review…
–Kari
Kari Lynn M. 