Review: This American Woman: A One-In-A-Billion Memoir

This American Woman: A One-In-A-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I usually stick with fiction, but there was something about this book that  called to me. I am so glad I listened to my inner voice because this was the most intriguing book I have read this year.

I had never heard of Zarna Garg, but I love books set in other countries, especially those set in India. But this book was so much more than being about the life of a comedian. It was the story of a late-in-life daughter who could not grasp the fact that she was unique.   I think that her father had some mental issues going on, which led to Zarna leaving home at a very young age. But you must read this book to understand what life was like, what the culture was like (If you are not from India, of course), what it was like to maybe be married off at 14.

Zarna's trip to her comedic career was remarkable. This strong and powerful woman may have come a little later in life to knowing what would fulfill her, but once she knew, she ran into it headfirst and flourished.

 I laughed, and I laughed a lot reading this memoir but I also cried for all the crap Zarna had to put up with. Yes, I realize it's a different culture from the one I grew up with, so I can only look at it through my American eyes. But still, I had to cry when I read of what she went through living some of her life on the streets.

I am now going to have to Google this funny woman and see what all the hubbub is all about. If it is more comical than some of the things I read in this book, then I might have to stock up on Depends!

*ARC was supplied by the publisher Ballantine Books, the author, and NetGalley.

Expected publication date is April 29th.

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Description: "Award-winning comedian Zarna Garg turns her astonishing life story into a hilarious memoir—from narrowly escaping an arranged marriage in India to carving her own path in America and launching a dazzling second act in midlife.

Growing up in India, everyone called Zarna “so American” just for reading the newspaper, having deep thoughts, and talking back to anyone over the age of thirty. When Zarna’s dad tried to marry her off at age fourteen, Zarna fled the whole subcontinent for the glittering paradise of Akron, Ohio, where she got to become American for real.

On Zarna’s very American quest to find herself and her calling, she threw herself whole-heartedly into roles like dog-bite lawyer, crazy perfectionist stay-at-home mom, Indian matchmaker, prize-winning screenwriter, and more. It wasn’t until a dare led her to a stand-up comedy open mic that Zarna finally found her spiritual getting paid cold hard cash for her big fat mouth.

And as Zarna discovered, after surviving the brutal streets of Mumbai, the cutthroat world of stand-up comedy is nothing.

This American Woman is an exuberant story of fighting for your right to determine your own destiny and triumphing beyond what you ever dreamed was possible. And as Zarna always reminds If Zarna can do it, you can too."