June 10, 2024
This book is comedian/actor/musician Moore's self-help response to her autobiographical How To Be Alone: If You Want To and Even If You Don't, whose subtitle, simultaneously reassuring and lackadaisical, could also apply to this latest work. Gone is the simple childhood BFF bonding over favorite crayon colors: Moore's myriad descriptions of types of adult friendships (family, animals, exes, coworkers, frenemies, roomies, casual/close, on paper, virtual, parasol/umbrella) and their attendant intricacies mirror the breadth and complexities of finding, evaluating, sustaining, and sometimes severing these relationships. From the first chapter (which assures readers that they're not alone in friendship-seeking, that friendships take work, and, ultimately, that "you deserve to have friendships") to the final chapter (a reminder that "finding your people is all of these things. It's grief, and hope, and fear, and work, and adjustment and communication"), Moore is like an older sister who takes your hand and leans in for a chat. VERDICT For readers unfamiliar with Moore's writing or comedy, this encouraging book dispenses practical and quirky advice packaged in quickly read chapters. For both fans and critics of Moore's previous book, this is straightforward advice on how not to be alone by making friends.--Rita Baladad
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