I Was Told There'd Be Cake

This was a Christmas gift for my daughter. She read it right after Christmas and said it made her laugh so hard. She did not want it to end....

I once heard an interview with the author of "a tree grows in brooklyn". She said what was most amazing to her was the sheer number of people who identified with the book and the people who would say "that was exactly my childhood". I think the people who will most enjoy this book are women in their (very) late 20's who grew up and out of suburbia. If you have ever been shocked that you are a bridesmaid, or failed miserably at a first job yet refused to quit you will want to read this book twice.
Sedaris is also very funny but his seventies references were quaint and unrelated to my life, Sloane Crosley took page after page out of my childhood and made it ten times funnier.

I so wanted to like this book. I am an obsessive fan of David Sedaris and when I read in one of the critics' comments that she is comparable to his writing style I thought for sure I had a winner. Furthermore, one of my dearest friends told me that when she read this book, it was my voice she had pictured in her head. Perfect! Let the laughing begin.
Wrong.
With the exception of a few snigger-worthy moments, this book is just a compilation of endless brain tangents. She'll start the telling of one story and just as you think it's going to amount to something, she completely digresses into some random musing. What you end up with is a series of diluted, and truthfully, very boring self deprecating yarns.
Very disappointing.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Suggested With: A Long Island Ice Tea (it's in line with the constant references to New York and it'll help you find humor in the mundane)

There are some chapters that managed to hold my interest, but never really captivate me. Some I found myself scanning and sometimes not even finishing

Some of you actually liked this book? It was my first time reading essays and might just be the last... I had to force myself to finish this book becase i had hope that I would find something more entertaining. I finished it and ive never been more dissapointed although it did make me wanna say: "I was told there'd be cake"