This was really good. The author told hilarious stories ranging from Carrie Bradshaw to watching lesbian nuns in porn movies. She’s unapologetic about what she likes to eat, read, spend time with and where she wants to poop. This is a book full of stories I connected with and makes me believe there are women out there just like me that only want to poop at home except in rare emergencies!

This book was SO FUNNY! I chuckled, I chortled, I snorted, I giggled, I guffawed. Samantha Irby has it all. Some may not be so much into the subject matter, there is an entire chapter on defecating, which I found hilarious...but I work in healthcare so that should tell you something. However, if you have read her prior books you should know her sense of humor about things that people don't normally joke about. She seems to have a way with words as this is the second book where she has a chapter about attempting to adopt a dog that I couldn't stop laughing. I will be first in line for what I hope are many more books to come. I also highly recommend Wow, No Thank You. Samantha is brilliant.

Oh my goodness but I LOVED THIS FREAKING BOOK... I've struggled with previous books of Irby"s, but could not ever figure out why. This time the for was spot on perfect. I laughed out loud repeatedly and found myself screaming "oh my God YESSSSS" so often I horrified my husband (I was reading in public at the time). This was a fabulous journey into a brain that seems to function just like mine and I loved every minute of it - so much so that I'm going back to all her previous books to give them another try!

I really enjoyed Wow, No Thank You a couple years ago and was delighted to receive an ARC of Quietly Hostile from NetGalley. But, many of the chapters seemed to be going for shock rather than substance. Low points: David Matthews's Greatest Romantic Hits (tried to listen to some and I just wanted to die); Two Old Nuns Having Amazing Lesbian Sex; Superfan!!!!! (she's not lying, only a superfan would critique so many episodes); I Like to Get High at Night and Think About Whales; Shit Happens. The rest were more what I expected from Irby. I did chortle a good bit and I do love, love her sense of humor.

I can see how people would enjoy this book but unfortunately Irby’s humor was not for me. I’ve read a previous work and felt it was okay so I was excited to give her new book a try and see if I enjoyed it more. I did find certain chapters numerous but overall was not a fan.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for an honest review. I have loved all of Samantha Irby's books and I really, really wanted to love this one too but it fell short for me. Her other books have been about her living her life and her hilarious take on it all, this one felt more disconnected than the others. It wasn't so much about her day to day, but just things in the world, and her take on them which wasn't as endearing as her other essays have been. She's still funny and irreverent, but I found the Nun porn story to be just really weird and out there and since I am not a fan of Sex and the City, I skipped ahead. I found myself skimming quite a bit of this book.

Thank you netgalley and Vintage Anchor for this ARC.

THIS. WAS. FANTASTIC. So genuinely funny and such a unique voice. I really love a humor essay collection and this was without question one of the best I've ever read. Samantha Irby writes with the humor only someone with several traumatic life experiences is capable of. A deeply relatable essay collection to every tired, middle aged, fat lady (as noted by me a tired, middle aged, fat lady). Don't skip this book. Give it all the love and then keep it around to make you laugh when you remember life kinda sucks and it super hard all the time but at least Samantha Irby essay collections exist.

Hmm. I'm having a hard time reviewing this one because it was about 50/50 for me. I think that's kind of how it is with this type of book. If you relate, you find it hilarious. If not, you really don't. And I found parts of it completely laugh-out-loud funny and absolutely relatable.

There were parts, however, that I wish I hadn't read right before bed because I knew the cringe factor was going to make me have super weird and uncomfortable dreams that I did not want to be a part of. Overall, I found this book to be a hilarious escape from the monotony of life. I found myself saying, "Oh my god, that's me!" many times while reading it. The good outweighs the cringe (not to mention, I know the author knows it's cringe and that's why it's funny to many), and I will be reading more by her for sure.

So if you want to laugh, pick up a copy when it comes out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage for the advanced copy of this book.

This is a brilliant book -- it is the best of what this author has produced so far.
Samantha Irby's observations about life in general -- and specifically during and after the
pandemic are spot on.
Her writing style is an excellent blend of the high-brow and the everyday - which makes
this an incredibly satisfying read.
She's someone we need to hear more from and I can't wait to read her next work.

I missed out on Wow, No Thank You, of which I heard a lot of good things. So without actually listening to or reading this author before, I plunged (get it potty humor) into Quietly Hostile: Essays. And boy, did I ever get potty humor. A lot of potty humor. Too much potty humor in every conceivable context. And then there was the essay on Sex and the City. I kinda lost my mind in that one as in where am I and how do I get out of this place.
In My Firstborn Dog, I just kept nodding my head and laughing. The essays have been redeemed. And, oh, How to Look Cool in Front of Teens? had me laughing out loud. The grand finale in Please Invite Me to Your Party had me snorting a bit.
Overall there wasn't enough funny in the essays or I didn't get the humor. But there were some nuggets within these pages that were so funny or just plain truth that made me laugh.

If you don't know this author, then let me offer a warning: lots of shit talk.

Thank you to Vintage Anchor Pub and Netgalley for my early access to my copy. All opinions are mine.

Samantha Irby is back with another collection of hilarious essays. This collection's theme seems to be getting older and health complications. Irby is hilarious and I will always love "Wow, No Thank You." There was a chapter in this collection that was just Irby talking about the top Dave Matthew's Band romantic songs, which basically was speaking just to me. However, I feel like there was a lot of receptiveness with this one that wasn't in WNTY.

First of all, I am a HUGE Sam Irby fan! Her books make me laugh out loud! She’s a kind human, too. How do I know this? Via Instagram, or course. This was yet again a delight. I can’t wait to listen to the audio, too. Samantha, you’re a national treasure.

If you, like me, are new to Samantha Irby's writing, prepare yourself for a raucous read! Her essays cover a myriad of subjects leaving nothing to the imagination. She has yet to find subjects that are too personal or off limits. She loves to use multiple !!!!s, ????s, ALL CAPS and numerous asides in parentheses to make her point. I found myself often thinking "TMI, TMI, TMI" as I read along. However, though I am probably not her target audience, I found myself uniquely entertained. My favorite essay was the first one and I plan to use the phrase "I like it!!!" often in the future. Read the book to find out how multipurpose that phrase can be. And I must comment on the book's cover which I really loved. It grabbed my attention even though Samantha Irby was not an author I was familiar with. I just had to read this book with the skunk on its cover!!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage Anchor for enabling me to broaden my reading life.

I only just started reading Samantha Irby's essays earlier this year, but she's quickly becoming one of my favorites. Normally bathroom humor isn't my thing, and there was a lot of it in this book, but here it didn't bother me. It was brutally honest, laugh-out-loud funny, and (sometimes sadly) relatable. My only complaint is that some essays dragged on a little too long (the Sex and the City one in particular). Overall, I really enjoyed this collection.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Vintage for the advance reader copy!

I am a huge fan of Samantha Irby, so I was thrilled to receive an advance copy from Netgalley.
Overall, the book is full of essays that had me laughing out loud. I like her best when she's talking about topics that would be mundane coming from anyone else. As a childfree woman, I loved the essay where Irby lists the reasons she doesn't want kids. The tale of how they came to adopt their dog was so funny!
A few essays missed the mark for me, but I'm sure other readers will enjoy them. The SATC chapter was very long and if I have one critique, I think it could be condensed.
I can always count on Samantha Irby to make me laugh and I'll continue to read anything she writes, possibly even a grocery list.

Full Disclosure: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby from Vintage via NetGalley.

Quietly Hostile is a set of personal essays from the wickedly sharp and funny Samantha Irby. If you prefer animals to people, are not squeamish about bodily functions, and/or dress like a modern day Dickensian street urchin, Samantha Irby will speak straight to your soul. At least, that has been my experience. It could also be that we both grew up in Illinois about the same time, so the references she makes are very relevant to me. I didn't know she was involved with the Sex and the City reboot which is the only thing that makes me want to watch it even though I was a single woman living on the Upper East Side for a time and probably everyone thought SatC was a reflection of my life (it wasn't). Instead of watching it though, I am just going to pretend her essay on the show is exactly how the episodes went and tell everyone I LOVED that show. Finally, for any network executives reading this, I would watch the hell out of a show based on Samantha Irby's life.

Bonus points for once again killing it with the cover art. That skunk is my spirit animal.

I love Samantha Irby’s essays more than most authors. I’ve got all her books and was super interested and excited for this one. I did get a bit lost in a middle with the Sex and the City essay and so it took me much longer than anticipated to finish because of that one in particular but overall I still love the book.

An hysterical,
irreverent, bold collection.
Truly laugh-out-loud.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

I write haiku reviews but am happy to prove further feedback, if desired!

This book felt uneven. Pages and pages about Sex and the City rewrites did little to entertain me but her essay about her mother’s death brought me to tears. Lots of bathroom references- not my thing. All in all, not my favorite Samantha Irby but happy to have read it. Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

Samantha Irby's essays are always hit and miss to me, but the hits are plentiful enough that I have read her three previous collections. She is at her best when writing about her own life and relationships with friends, co-workers, and family, as her insecurites are relatable.

The strongest pieces in Quietly Hostile are the bookends. In "i like It!" she advises the reader to use the simple title phrase (with exclamation points!) to diffuse people who are condescending and judgemental about things one enjoys. In "my firstborn dog", she and her partner bring a less than perfect rescue into their home in the midst of a COVID lockdown. I really got a kick out of "we used to get dressed up to go to red lobster We waited three-plus hours for diet salad." which is a celebration of mediocre restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory and Red Lobster and skewering of overly complicated Starbucks orders.

Unfortunately there are a couple of the duds in the collection (one about nuns having lesbian sex, and another that revisits almost every episode of Sex in the City) and they go on way too long. (Especially the Sex in the City reimagining,) There is also a lot of discussion of GI issues, which should already be familiar to readers of Irby's previous collections.

Overall, there is plenty to enjoy in this collection. It would be best enjoyed by reading a chapter or two in multiple sessions, and give yourself permission to skim (especially the Sex in the City chapter),

Thank you to Vintage and NetGalley for an egalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.