Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me with an ALC of All the Women in my Brain by Betty Gilpin. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

While I was not familiar with Betty Gilpin the actress, I found Betty Gilpin the essayist very relatable. She eloquently and hysterically shares her worries, neurosies and insights on depression, anxiety and daily observations. This collection was incredibly thoughtful and articulate meshing the perfect balance of urgency and frivolity. I especially enjoyed hearing the author narrate the audiobook.

A memoir that is very reliable. Some chapters are a mess. Some chapters are funny. Just like our thoughts and emotions. I recommend the audiobook for this one. I didn't know who Betty Gilpin is (I’m not good with actor/celebrity names! lol) and she does an awesome job reading the audiobook.

DNF 21%
I was very interested going into this book because of my obsession with the lives of actors. I wanted to see how they came into success and darkness of the industry. I listened to the audiobook. The narration is done by the author herself. She brings much life and humor to the memoir. Her narration helps readers understand the emotions she experienced in those essays.
This just wasn’t for me. I was very bored. There wasn’t anything interesting to keep my attention. I just kept hoping that something would pop up and keep me going. This is a type of millennial humor, so that’s why it’s not for me.

Wow this book was a lot! I picked this audiobook never having seen the author in any of her movies, I honestly didn't fully realize this was the life story of an actress when I chose it, but boy am I glad I did! Glow, The Hunt and more episodes of Gaslit are now a priority on my to be watched list.

Listening to the first two chapters of this book, I was questioning just what I got myself into, it was hard to follow and I best described it as word vomit, funny word vomit, but word vomit none the less.
Going forward though I found myself relating to this author, and her hot mess of a life. I mean, I chose this book based on the cover, a very quick glance at the synopsis, and I was like yeah, I can relate to the tangle of thoughts constantly coursing through my brain. A quote from the book that resonated with me is "My brain is a room full of women who take turns at the wheel, it's the only way I can make sense of what it feels like to be alive".

I highly recommend this audiobook for anyone looking for a hilarious read, anyone who grew up in the 90's, and any aspiring actresses.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

I’m so grateful that I got to read this text. I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to making some videos for my TIkTok and other social media channels to recommend it to my friends and followers. It was an excellent read! 5/5 stars. I’m going to write a longer and more detailed review on my Goodreads and TikTok and I will link back once I’ve posted.

This is an essay/memoir like no other. Betty Gilpin has one of the most unique ways of writing and describing feelings, situations and inner thoughts with both humor and cutting truth. Gilpin's description of being a female in a world that tries to define what exactly that should mean is spot on, convicting and at times gut-wrenching. Whether you are already a fan of Gilpin or are just curious and enjoy a celebrity memoir that goes way beyond the surface level, this is a book for you. Highly recommend!

I haven’t seen Betty Gilpin in a lot, but I did really enjoy GLOW, so I was excited to get access to her audiobook early. Betty is very funny and I think if you decide to read this book, the audio version is the way to go. She is a terrific voice actress and really does a great job emphasizing the emotions in each chapter, whether they are humor or sadness. I think the beginning of this book was its strongest part, where she talked about growing up with actor parents and the absolute awkwardness of being a young girl going through puberty. I also really liked her stories of auditions and the lengths she had to go to for success. Around the halfway mark I felt like the book lost some steam, almost feeling like she really had to dig for material. I think the descriptions I saw were also a little misleading and didn’t really accurately reflect what the book was. If you’re a fan of audiobooks where the celeb reads their own story, this might be a good one to try out. Thanks to Netgalley for giving me early access to this audiobook. 3/5 stars

Quite possibly my favorite celebrity essay/memoir read I've had this year.

I was already a fan of Betty Gilpin from GLOW and Nurse Jackie, but did not know much about her outside enjoying her work. Listening to her narrate was a treat, it was like listening to a friend tell you their secrets at 2am after a long night out. While all celebrity books are curated and smoothed out for consumption, this felt far from sterile. It felt raw in ways, pulling back the thick curtain between what we see as consumers and what is experienced by Betty as a performer and the toll it can take mentally, emotionally, and physically. I am so glad I opted for the audio version, as I feel like it added an extra layer of depth hearing her tones, expressions, and side notes that came with it. You could feel the moments that had lasting impact, you could hear authenticity in experiences, the reflection on seeing things in hindsight.

This book won't just appeal to people who know who Betty Gilpin is, but by anyone who is a performer, enjoys memoirs, or just enjoys a thoughtful narrative of experience.

I like that it was written in essay form. You don't feel lost or confused because it is not chronological.

Some essays really blew me away. I related so much to the chapter about female friendships. I was heartbroken for her over the friend who never asked about her life or how she was.

Betty is funny and witty and her metaphors had me laughing out loud.

How on earth can a Librarian from Ontario find an Actress from New York relatable?

“Betty Gilpin has a brain full of women. There’s Blanche VonFuckery, Ingrid St. Rash, and a host of others—some cowering in sweatpants, some howling plans for revolution, and some, oh God, and some…slowly vomiting up a crow without breaking eye contact? Jesus. These women take turns at the wheel. That’s why Betty feels like a million selves. With a raised eyebrow and a soul-scalpel, she tells us how she got this way.”
This book was a G.D. delight.

Funny and poignant and heartfelt and relatable and I’M ACTUALLY SORRY IT’S OVER.

By all means, purchase the book, but there is something extra magical when an author reads their own work.

Unless it’s Ben Stein. Or Bobcat Goldthwait. Or Gilbert Gottfried (RIP).

9/10

Thank you to Betty Gilpin, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for this wild ride of an audiobook.an a Librarian from Ontario find a television actress relatable?

This audiobook is funny and relatable. At times Betty Gilpin gets caught up in Hollywood anecdotes but she does a great job of bringing the point home to the larger issues within a patriarchal society. Women have such a narrow window to fit in to be sexy enough but not too sexy but also smart enough but not too smart. Betty discusses these limitations and kept me laughing while doing it. At times the essays extended a bit too long but otherwise this was an enjoyable listen.

All the Women in My Brain is humerus, witty, honest and relatable. Betty is an actress and like many women, feels the pressure of the world wanting her to look perfect, act perfect, BE perfect. Throughout the book, she covers a multitude of things, the beginnings and endings of friendships, work, relationships, family, grief and the way women are often treated in the movie industry. I laughed out loud several times and even cried with her towards the end. I listened to this one and really appreciated it. It’s written well and Betty is also a great narrator. If you enjoy memoirs, you should give this one a try! Thanks to MacMillan Audio, Flatiron and NetGalley for my advanced audio review copy. All the Women in My Brain will be published 9/6.

what an absolute thrill to have betty gilpin narrate the audiobook herself! painfully relatable yet hilarious. thank you netgalley & the arc, in exchange for an honest review!!

Thank you to MacMilllan Audiobook and NetGalley for All the Women in My Brain written and narrated by Betty Gilpin (flatiron publishers for the physical book). This is an audiobook that grew on me once I got into the rhythm and style of the book. The essays are witty, self aware (without being navel gazing) and a edgy, but just, take (takedown in places) of what I feel is white women of a certain age well intentioned but narrow in scope feminism (of which I admit I at times fall into and see around me on a regular basis). I appreciated the direct style, the humor, and the clarity of the essays and the openness of examining the female form and experience, particularly in terms of acting.

This was such a treat. I can't decide what to gush over first. Do I start with the cover? The title? The incredibly witty content? Betty Gilpin herself?

I listened to the audiobook of this and I can't recommend enough that everyone do that. Narrated by Betty, it felt so intimate and at times like I was just hanging out with a friend, laughing over things like trauma and anger. The usual stuff, you know. I really absorbed all the feelings and vulnerability I think Betty was trying to convey through her metaphors, yes, but especially through her voice, her pauses, and her inflections.

I love a good celebrity memoir/essay collection, but this just knocked my socks off to be honest. Betty has a way with words that spoke to me deep within the trap-door in my own mind. It was hilarious, raw, honest, all encompassing on the spectrum of feelings to be had while being given a peek into someone else's brain and meeting their brain women. My brain women very much loved Betty's brain women and we would love to grab a coffee sometime, but for now we are fine with simply recommending her book wholeheartedly.

Thanks a million to Macmillan Audio, Flatiron Books, and Netgalley for an ALC of this in exchange for my honest thoughts. It was a joy to listen to!

3.5 stars

I requested this title from NetGalley for a few reasons: I knew Betty Gilpin's name (but I've not seen much of her work), and I liked the title and cover. Good enough!

All the Women in My Brain is not your typical celebrity memoir—Gilpin doesn't try to tell her life story from the moment she was born until now, which I really appreciate. What I'd say of this book is that it's very...written. Because Gilpin's excessive (and I do mean excessive) use of descriptive language is the kind of thing that would cause shudders in MFA cohorts everywhere. I, though, do not have an MFA, so it only took me a bit of adjusting to get used to this kind of writing to enjoy it for what it is.

So I bumped this one up for four stars for chutzpah. And that's something I feel like Betty Gilpin would appreciate.

SO good. If you can pick up the audiobook narrated by Betty Gilpin, I highly recommend it. It's always great to hear in the author's voice their own story. There were eye roll moments where I wondered if Betty even understood her privilege and definitely felt the "poor me, I'm an actor and I have a perfect body" narrative... but as this story progressed, I found out how brilliant Betty is. She's intelligent, raw and honest, vulnerable in a way I feel many actresses don't allow themselves to be, and I just wanted to hear more of her story. She was brilliant in Glow, even more brilliant in her real life stories in this book.

I really enjoyed this memoir told in essays by Betty Gilpin. I've loved her on screen before, but didn't know she wrote! She discusses life in Hollywood, as well as her background in growing up with parents who were actors. She was great with word choice and was quirky and funny.

Thank you Netgalley for this audio edition of All the Women in My Brain by Betty Gilpin.

Be my friend Betty! I could sit and just listen to you pontificate for hours! This was everything I hoped for.

I first discovered Gilpin while watching Nurse Jackie. She was different, fresh, insufferable, and funny. She doesn't have much of a social media presence, but never disappoints with her on screen performances. I was very excited to learn more about her.

Holy cow, turns out, girlfriend is a wordsmith! I could barely keep up with her crafty wit and mazelike mind. I'm so glad that I got a glimpse into her life and that she was willing to be frank about life as an actress. The good, bad, and definitely ugly. Gilpin definitely manages to stay real and humble through all of it. I think acting requires grit and chops that I do not possess, which is why these stories are always so fascinating to me.

This was so good. Like, I want to do it all over again. Right now. I smashed the request button when this appeared because I think Betty Gilpin is awesome. Since Nurse Jackie I've kept an eye out and was like oh hell ya every time she appeared in something. And now we get a glimpse of everything that went into those moments on screen. This book is so vulnerable, so funny, so revealing of her work, and of the big Hollywood machine.

The chance to hear her read her own book...Yes of course I want that please and thank you. It's fantastic. Betty please write another book so I can spend another 8ish hours with you.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy.