Reading is my escape from everything else that irritates me. I read often and am not too picky on what I read. I've recently read many thrillers and needed a break. Quietly Hostile is definitely a break from any and every thing that could be irritating. I've read many of Samantha Trby's back library and have yet to find one that I've not recommended to everyone I know who reads for relaxation.....who am I kidding.....I recommend them to everyone. Her stories take you out of the slump that each of us finds ourselves in. She finds the entertainment in every chore and/or errand and shares with all. As long as I can quietly sit in my favorite chair and giggle and snort along to Ms Irby's life, I'll keep telling my friends "you have to read this book"

“I love this song because Dave spends a lot of it singing in his gorgeous falsetto, and also because I, too, like to project a complicated fantasy onto a person I saw on the street for approximately 19 seconds”

Samantha Irby's new collection Quietly Hostile has the same candid oversharing and observations as her previous works. Featuring essays on pets, her likes, her dislikes, the pandemic, Sex and the City, allergic reactions, marriage, coffee orders, and many other behind-the-scenes tidbits of her life as a midwestern writer. Like her previous works, this book had me giggling out loud and also thinking, thank goodness I am not the only one who has ever felt like this about the opening of a cheesecake factory. My favorite chapter was her interpretation of her favorite Dave Matthew's Band hits. It took me right back to high school and had me cackling.
Some essays dive into more serious topics like the loss of a parent, body image, and mental health. Beware there is also an immense amount of bathroom humor.

Overall a good read!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishing team for this ARC of the book!

I probably shouldn't rate this book as I skimmed a lot of it. I quickly flipped through all the essays about things in which I have zero interest like Sex and the City and the Dave Matthews Band. (Can I really be the only person on the planet who has no idea what he sounds like?)

But, the ones I did read were spot on. Irby is the queen of Too Much Information, and I snickered happily at her woe-filled, yet hilarious tales of indigestion, COVID-19 panic, near death experiences, and porn preferences.

Let's just sum it up by saying that all the essays I did read are rated four stars.

Sigh. I freaking love Samantha Irby’s books. My copy is highlighted and disgusting from being wagged around in my purse as my emotional support book for a few weeks.

I am messy and it brings me unparalleled JOY to read about others’ messy-ness. I’m either completely relating to every story or honestly feeling a bit relieved I haven’t hit that level yet but still making extensive notes because I’ll get there soon enough.

There are some fantastic chapters in here, folks. I could read an entire series of books just on her Sex and the City considerations chapter. I never want to read anything else. Also Big is trash. Fight me.

The guileless affection that Sam Irby has for Cheesecake Factory and Red Lobster is the sort of love I Corinthians 13 was talking about.

I physically read this book AND listened to it. Irby’s writing is so humorous and conversational that you don’t even need to listen to the audiobook. I don’t give this advice lightly. Most of the time I feel like authors have to read their essays to get their hilarious point across but Sam doesn’t need that. Her writing is so spot on that I already HEAR her reading it anyway. I swear this isn’t a knock on her reading voice. 😬

Are there a couple of gross stories in here I would have carried to my grave? Absolutely. Am I mad that she told them? NEVER.

I've never read any of Samantha Irby's books, however I will be spending the near future looking them up and purchasing them.
I was able to read Quietly Hostile as an ARC thanks to NetGalley, and I'm so glad I did! Samantha is hilarious, she's relatable and says what we are all thinking about things. I've lived in the MidWest my entire life, so I was able to relate to quirks she spoke about with growing up and we're close to the same age so a lot of the anxieties she has, I have too. Absolutely great book!!

This book was hilarious. Samantha Irby makes me belly laugh, and I truly need it these days. This collection of essays is easy to pick up and put down as each essay is standalone. My favorite was her rewriting of Sex and the City plots. I also love her because her take on middle age is refreshing and hilarious.

I've always liked Irby's essay collections, relating to her IBS in particular, but this book was especially crass and outrageous. I'm not very interested in Covid-related essays about what everyone did during lockdown.

I'd never heard of Samantha Irby, but I was interested in her take on the weird world of television writing, and humor is always going to draw me. She certainly represented the frenetic pace of the TV world--phew, I couldn't read some of those essays late at night because they'd call up sympathetic anxiety.

The essays range all over the place. There was one that was super long, on a TV show I never had any interest in--Sex & the City that might appeal to readers who are not me.

Other essays were hit or miss, which is to be expected. Overall, an interesting and often funny read.

This was my first Sam Irby book so I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into and it did not disappoint. There were some relatable essays as well as hot-mess-express-yikes essays, but overall a solid and entertaining read. A lot of reviews bashed on the Dave Matthews / Sex + the city essays but even though I never listened to / have only watched a few episodes, it was interesting to read her thoughts.

Thank you to Vintage and NetGalley for the ARC!

Samantha Irby started out as a blogger many years ago and not only has become a funny essayist but also a sought-after television writer. Her essays can be raw, but with very good reason. She seems to always find herself in the most awkward, uncomfortable situations, enough to well, write a book! I adore her! She is never afraid to tell us about the good, the bad, and the smelly!

Her humor comes by way of a strange life, with a mother who was ill and a father who was gone. Later in life as she relays in this book that she discovers a stepbrother and others she never knew existed. The toll from her childhood not only formed who she is today, but estranged her from her sister, but that’s okay.

Embarrassment is Irby’s middle name. And that’s what makes this book so good. Irby’s internal dialogue with herself is hysterical, enlightening but also empathizing. Her book dedication says it all…open the book, just for that!

Her essays touch on very relatable topics as how she and her wife had to adjust to living with each other, such as the day Irby opened the refrigerator and discovered all these new and odd healthy food items, but she also had to get use to a couple of stepchildren and how to deal with them. Her advice is priceless!

One of her essays honestly is a true test of embarrassment when she seems to have taken, eaten, or smelled something which sent her to the hospital with anaphylactic shock and all that came before her visit, and during the visit, only to find out that typical Irby, she has no idea what caused the problem.

She and her wife, like many during the pandemic, decided to adopt a dog, but each time they found one it was always taken. And then her wife found one, which Irby was not too keen on and life as they knew it would never be the same!

For anyone interested in writing for television, she gives a detailed description of how to write a pilot and all that entails…years and when the final production is finished only be told we’ll pass.

But for me, the BEST essay is the one in which she breaks down old Sex and the City episodes. Irby, now a writer for And Just Like That, gives her take on what she believes should have happened in the episodes and why. ( I read this essay twice because it was hysterical)!

The title Quietly Hostile fits Irby’s personality perfectly. She doesn’t have a lot to say outwardly, but her inside dialogue fits all of us to a tee!

Thank you #NetGalley #Vintage #SamanthaIrby #QuietlyHostile for the advanced copy.

Until QUIETLY HOSTILE, I was not familiar with Samantha Irby's work. Since devouring the fascinating, fantastically fun and wildly entertaining essays, I am a devout, avid, super fan recommending this book to everyone I know. I've resolutely avoided reading stories about the pandemic and yet Irby's story of the last day before the last day had me snorting my delight. Each essay is the ultimate in courage, in forthright personality, and pitch perfect tight. She is the person who wrote the essays to have at your side when you face that terrible, horrible, unthinkable thing -- her humor and power will have you roaring and doing exactly the right thing at the right time. I received an early copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

This is my first time reading this author and I found it an enjoyable read. It was definitely not something I usually read so I read this per chapters and overall I had a good time. There were moments I LOL others where I just wanted her to get to the point.

This was my first experience reading Samantha Irby's essays but I'm sure it won't be the last. Her insights into writing for TV and her relationship with her significant other and her children were all very entertaining. I now understand why she is so popular!

I always encourage folks to read a collection of essays in between reading other titles and this is definitely a good choice if you share her sense of humor, as I do.

I truly feel like Samantha Irby is my friend now. After reading Quietly Hostile (plus her other books) I think of her as a friend for certain!
Sam has a way of highlighting the human experience in a poignant, hilarious way. You want to laugh, cry and cringe while reading her stories and I love it.
My only critique for this book is that I did have to skip through most of the chapter about Sex & The City as I have never seen that show and didn’t know what any of that chapter was talking about. If that chapter was omitted I think it would have bumped my experience up half a star or so.
I had a fun time reading this one and I will read anything else Sam writes in the future!

I’m not usually one to pick up essay collections but I was looking for something different to try and was really drawn in by the cover depicting a screaming skunk. Which is truly just my vibe to be honest. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of wittiness and relatability present throughout the entire book and erupted in shameless laughter in multiple places in which that probably wasn’t appreciated. Needless to say I really enjoyed this and if you have even a sliver of a sense of humor you should read this!

This is probably my favorite of Samantha Irby’s books so far. The collection curated here felt more cohesive and concise than in her previous works and that made for a much faster and smoother read than I’ve experienced with Irby’s previous books. Don’t get me wrong, I loved all of those too, but Quietly Hostile shows us a different side of Samantha as a real person actively living life.

Samantha Irby has been writing and putting out books for a decade now and as she’s grown her writing has grown with her. She has never been one to hold back when it comes to the written word (according to her books, IRL conversations are a different story, which I respect because I am the same way); in fact, I would say she’s the most open and honest writer that I’ve ever read and what makes Quietly Hostile different than her other books in that sense is that where the others had a very “The world is garbage and it’s trying to take that out on me personally” cynical vibe, this book has more of a “The world is messy and I’m tired, but I’m here and somehow it’s still worth it so here’s my experience so hopefully that helps and if not then hopefully you at least laughed while reading,” energy to it. That sounds bad and I don’t mean it that way, I mean it to say that she has experienced a lot and she has grown from it over the years and that’s an amazing thing; that’s the point of everything, isn’t it?

Last, and very much most, I will never forgive Hollywood for not green-lighting the Meaty TV series, but I will also say that it’s not too late to change your mind (once the writer’s strike is over and their demands have been fairly and adequately met because writers are a PILLAR of the film and television industry and they deserve to be treated and compensated as such). That pilot was amazing and you fucking know it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage Anchor for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Quietly Hostile is currently available for preorder and will be available at libraries and major book retailers on May 16th, 2023.

Vintage Anchor, thank you for the review copy of Quietly Hostile. I requested this after hearing some of the audiobook (thank you Libro.FM ALC program), I had laughed so much about the Dave Matthew's Band chapter and few things about midlife women's lives that I knew I wanted to also read and highlight this book, not just listen to it.
This book is how I want to write if I could get my (funny to me) thoughts on paper, there is a edgy honesty to the reflections and an openness to just, as we do at midlife, letting it all out on paper. I am definitely the right age and pop culture person to really lean into the Sex and The City chapter (so funny) and to appreciate exactly where Kirby is coming from with some of her insights.
I am so glad I got this book and the audio, I needed some good laughs!

Samantha Irby for President! I really liked this book, but Wow No Thank You is still my favorite. This one wasn't as laugh out loud funny as I was looking for, but it still satisfies the Sam Irby itch.

Thank you Vintage and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC for the book Hailed by the New York Times as one of 19 nonfiction books to read this Spring, Irby’s latest collection of astute and hilarious essays does not disappoint. Her riffs on the oddities of life range from her advice on how to disarm the pompous person who questions your dry cleaner recommendation to her unabashed love for Dave Matthews to her life long dream of becoming rich enough to afford top-notch in-home healthcare. She reflects on the networks that passed on her script for a sitcom which she sums up as a tale of “diarrhea and crying” and she supplies a list of how to look cool in front of teens, including pretending you are not bothered by noise by spending $4,873,245 on earplugs. And, of course, because Irby can be crass and scatological, but wholly relatable, she examines the stains on her clothing and ponders “What hole did that come out of?” But like all the best essayists, Irby brings deeper insights to even her most lighthearted work. A funny, candid, and heartfelt work.

Thank you to the author, Vintage Anchor and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Samantha Irby is a brilliant writer with a sharp-edged and self-deprecating sense of humor. In this collection, you will certainly find things to like, or love. My problem was that there were long chapters that I ended up skipping because of complete lack of overlap with my interests. For example, I know nothing about Sex and the City and have no intention of remedying this to be able to follow the author's musings and opinions on the subject. Overall, this came across as a collection of random pandemic musings which might have worked better if they were periodically published as a column - the weight of the collected effort was a very heavy lift for me.