(Review) Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Release date: November 1st 2011
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Page count: 222
Genre(s): Non Fiction/Humour/Autobiography
Buy it: Amazon/Book Depository
Add it on: Goodreads
Rating: 4.5/5

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!


In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. 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.

Synopsis from Goodreads

Before reading this, I wasn't overly familiar with Mindy. I knew her from The Office, and some of her tweets, and that was it basically. But she's hilarious as Kelly and clearly a gifted writer based on episodes she's written. I already found her pretty adorable. Now I love her even more. I think the perfect definition of this book would just be FUN. It wasn't overly emotional or sappy, but there were a few tender moments that kind of made me want to give her a hug. I wouldn't describe the book as a pure memoir. There are also a lot of fun pieces (I can't think of a better word). The kind of things you could imagine on a blog, like 'Types of women in romantic comedies who are not real' and 'Why do men put on their shoes so slowly?' (which cracked me up because I take FOREVER to put on my shoes).

It was a breeze to read. I'm just looking through parts I highlighted and jesus there are so many! A lot of this is down to the fact I could relate a lot to what Mindy wrote. I like that despite being successful, she's still very down to Earth and willing to embarrass herself. And she is really funny. This book had me laughing a lot. Anyway, I'd highly recommend this book to people who are already fans of Mindy, comedy fans, especially if you like The Office and SNL because you get a little sneak peek at what it's like working for those shows (I found these parts so interesting but they just weren't long enough, dammit. Less than a page on Steve Carell? Not acceptable). I also think any girls who feel a little weird or different or maybe passionate about things that aren't the norm could enjoy reading this. I know I'm a loser and reading about Mindy's uncool childhood made me feel less alone. I think I'm going to change my rating. I was going to give it a 4 as I felt it was too short and there wasn't enough about her tv work, but the rest was so brilliant I think it deserves a 4.5 :)