Dear Girls

When this book came out I was crazy about Ali Wong but after hearing about her marriage fall apart, this book is cringey at best to read. All her pride about how well their marriage works and how they're different than other couples... well, as a love letter to her girls there's definitely a few lessons to be learned.

Hilariously raunchy

Funny and heartfelt. I listened to the audiobook, which was read by Ali Wong, and that is the mode I highly recommend you consume this book in as well.

Dear Girls was funny! I laughed a lot while I was listening to it. It was crude but I was already expecting it to be. Anyone who has watched Ali Wong's stand up shows knows what to expect.
If you don't like Ali Wong's humor, you won't like this book.
I found it entertaining, funny, hilarious at times and very genuine. I loved her husband's chapter, it was so sweet!
Overall, I had a great time listening to it.

3.5 stars. I knew this was going to be funny, but I thought it would be a more genuine letter to her daughters. It was still enjoyable and very Ali Wong. I appreciated the discussion on representation in the media as your authentic and non-white self and not fitting into a stereotype.

Sidenote: I'm pretty good with raunchy topics, but even I got a little grossed out at times. I know this was the intention, but it still took me a little by surprise. This also may have been more dramatic from listening to the audiobook version.

Laugh out loud funny! Thoroughly enjoyed. Listened to this over audiobook and it was a fantastic choice! Ali Wong does a great (very animated) job at narrating.

Interesting, funny, relatable, a little TMI.

Ali has so much to say about growing into her life as a comedian and raising her girls, who the book is clearly written “to”. She is funny and witty and very real.

I love that you can feel the love Ali has for her family through the way she talks about them. That feels rare in books like this one.

This book will probably have you laughing if you can forgive the NSFW parts.

** It's a pretty short book. I listened to the audible version.

3.5

I have to give it credit for getting me out of my reading rut, and it was equal measures heartfelt and funny.

Felt like it was stretched to fill the page count.

Hilarious. Unapologetic. Unfiltered.
Ali Wong's sense of humor is not for everybody, but her raunchy, honest, and relatable stories are right up my ali (get it? yeah. I'm not meant for stand-up comedy lol). She talks about the life of a stand-up comedian, being a female in a competitive industry, Asian culture, and the joys and struggles of being a parent.
Amidst all her jokes about eating butt and bodily fluids, she provides advice and shows us the importance of having a strong support system, and living life to the fullest.
Listening to this as an audiobook made it even better.

Having her husband's pov for the Afterword was also a nice touch.

I think her comedy specials are hilarious, but those are presumably tighter from working in comedy clubs and bars until Wong had perfected them. I enjoyed this for the most part, but got a little bored of an overlong chapter about her study abroad experiences, and then found that, even with her reading her own audiobook, it felt too long - like a comedy special that hadn't been quite workshopped enough.

Giving it an extra few points, though, for her husband's letter at the end - I did wonder what he thought of her comedy, since she talks about him a decent amount in it - and I LOVED his perspective on supporting his wife in non-traditional ways when she far-and-above out-earns him.

Essentially, if you like the Baby Cobra and Hard Knock Wife Netflix specials, you'll like this, and vice versa. If you don't, you won't. 3.5 stars.

I was introduced to Ali Wong by my husband. He thinks she is hilarious so we watched her standup on Netflix. Even though she can be quite vulgar she is hilarious.

I took a chance with her book and listened while working out at the gym. If you need a good pick-me-up this is the book to listen to (which she narrates herself). She is raw, funny, real and so relatable. My workouts were over before I wanted them to be and I laughed out loud so many times.

Make sure to listen to the end as her husband also gives a little insight into his side of the things.

I don't know why I keep reading these comedian memoirs expecting something other than occasional hilarity and a lot of boring ego stroking. I think I'm seeking something funny and light, but also honest and well-crafted. Dear Girls is not that book, but it is occasionally very funny. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on pregnancy and childbirth.

I have some thoughts about this book that make it hard for me to really give a review. First, I love Ali Wong. Her stand up is probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and her book was funny too. BUT the whole point of this book was a letter to her daughters. I get that you want to be honest with them and think that this is a good format for telling them about tour life. BUT I sincerely feel as though you cannot write a book addressed to your daughters and sell it to the general public and have both parties feel as though this is a great thing. There is a LOT of stuff in this book that Ali spills about her previous sex life that I just didn't really care for. Not because I was like “oh this isn't appropriate talk for a book”, no I really don't care about that. But I literally think that this was predominantly a book about her talking about all the dudes she's been with and all of that. And at one point she says “I'm all for free the nipple but I'd rather you girls didn't expose your breasts.” This is coming from a woman who flashed the audience her butt crack and pussy in her OG stand ups back in the days. So yeah I was confused by a lot. I was so relieved when she broke up the sex talk to talk about her cultural experiences and travel all over the world and her growth at finding her true identity through life. The end chapter was read by her husband and I really appreciated his raw and honest opinion about his marriage, fatherhood and being the butt of all jokes. That chapter kept the book super grounded, which was what she said he did for her during her life. Final opinion: liked it but not loved, prefer her standup specials to her memoir writing.

3.5 stars Now I must finally watch her Netflix special.

Really funny and raunchy and sweet.

Funny AF

I only know Ali from her movie, Always be my maybe (sadly), which I loved because it was effortlessly funny.
Only recently I watched her stand up and decided to give her audiobook a go.
Man o man was that a good decision.
From an occasional hard hitting life advise to extremely detailed and gory description of child birth, the book will leave you with fits of laughter.
Her struggle of being a working mother and her husband's selfless readiness to sacrifice his work to take care of their children is heartwarming.

Strongly recommend!

PS : Should we make it a point to listen to autobiographies only written by comedians?
Maybe.