My husband and I just finished listening to an audio of the memoir The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee by Sarah Silverman. Neither of us had ever heard of Silverman before, other than reading the audio box and finding out that she’s a comedienne, so we had no idea what to expect.
This is not a memoir for the faint of heart! As we discovered, Sarah Silverman is crass, gross, shocking, potty-mouthed…and often absolutely hilarious. Though she sometimes crosses the line into such bad taste that you feel uncomfortable listening, she also has moments that are surprisingly warm.
As expected, her memoir is the story of her life, beginning in her childhood in New Hampshire. As one of very few (maybe the only?) Jewish families in her small, rural hometown, Silverman tells of her childhood. I think we liked this whole childhood section best in the entire memoir. Silverman is very honest and open throughout the book, including when she describes her bedwetting problems as a child and pre-adolescent. This is one of the places in the book where her story is yes, very funny, but also very tender. Anyone who’s been a child can relate to her feelings of embarrassment (it may not have been bedwetting, but we were all humiliated by one thing or another as children and teens!) and of trying to fit in.
The rest of the memoir deals with her rise to fame. Even though we hadn’t heard of her before this, it was fascinating to hear the inside view of the world of stand-up comics and what happens behind the scenes at Saturday Night Live. As is usually the case with a memoir, listening to the author read her own story added an extra element to the book. Overall, we enjoyed most of the memoir, though we certainly couldn’t listen to it when the kids were in the car!
Oh, I bet I'd like this, Sue! Did you read Tina Fey's BOSSYPANTS? Also a great audio (she reads it), funny, and smart!
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