Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC - I enjoyed these quick and thoughtful essays read by Jenny Slate. She is an artist for a reason! Out now.

Jenny Slate has such a unique voice - both literally and figuratively! Cleverly written, highly entertaining. Slate's words could transport readers on their own but when heard in her voice via audiobook? Magic. 4 Stars.

This was a short listen and it was great to hear Jenny's voice. However, the book jumped around too much and was a little too wild for me to follow closely.

The best thing about Slate's writing is its singularity. This collection is funny, sad, neurotic, imaginative, unpredictable. It's possible that reading it in print might actually enhance the stories and essays in some way, but listening to Jenny narrate it was too good to pass up.

I’m so glad I listened rather than read this one, Jenny Slates voice just makes all the difference!
This is a collection of essays about Jenny’s life during the pandemic. Over the last few years she’s become a mom, gets engaged and married, and like all of us is challenged by the new world!
Lifeform was hilarious, vulnerable, and a story of growth. Jenny Slate openly asks the questions women all over have, especially after becoming a mom. I felt myself in all her stories about her body as as a new mom, all the changes!!

I enjoyed this for a nice funny light read, especially for moms!

Thank you to NetGalley, Hacketts Book Group, and Jenny Slate for the ARC!

So beautiful. Jenny Slate is so full of whimsy it hurts. I loved her first book and Lifeform is just as touching and moving. If not, more so. Motherhood is a journey I will never be able to go on but I will always find beauty in. Beyond that, her way of describing grief, incredible.

The best thing about this audiobook is listening to Jenny Slate narrate - her performance is passionate, honest, and vulnerable. Several excerpts of her writing are really poetic and beautiful, and I think anyone with anxiety will find something to relate to here. That being said, this really doesn't come together as a whole, and the chaos is a bit grating after a while.

I wasn't familiar with her humor but this sounded interesting. I like this kind of humor where there's a description or a story that makes me think, "Yes, it's exactly like that!" And there was tenderness too. The narration was great, and it brought out some of the weird, funny parts. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

Solid book of essays about motherhood and marriage. I definitely am not the target audience for this year but I read it as I am a fan of Jenny Slate’s comedy,

Jenny Slate is a goddess and I will die by her pen. She is everything. I love everything this woman has ever written. This book could be tattooed on my forehead for the rest of my life and I would wear it proudly.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book because I’m not a huge nonfiction reader but I like Jenny Slate and I liked the synopsis and in the end I loved this book!

I have to give two thumbs up for the audio because listening to Jenny Slate narrate the book was an absolute joy and a highlight for me. The way she tackles anxiety, loneliness, and fear made me feel incredibly seen. Also there is one point where she reimagines part of Ghostbusters from Dana’s POV and calls out Venkmans behavior and that gets 10/10 from me because not only do I do this but she’s right!

The essays about her fear of being a good partner were really relatable and I ended up through the reading being so thankful she found someone.

I definitely recommend this one for people who enjoy nonfiction/memoirs but also for people who like Jenny Slate (that should be everyone).

Jenny Slate is such a joyful little weirdo to listen to! While this collection was very scattered and eclectic, it was very enjoyable. Since I listened to it in the span of two days, it all kind of blended together and wish I would have slowed down and maybe taken breaks between stories/ chapters.

The raccoon stories and the back and forth with her imagined therapist were my favorite bits and I would definitely re-listen to those. As someone who is not a mother, I appreciate a pregnancy and motherhood 'memoir' that is not overly sappy and precious. Slate sounds just like my friends who are currently very pregnant and spare no detail into the good, the bad, and the very ugly aspects.

The audio makes it very fun- definitely recommend consuming in this format.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC!

While the writing was good in this book I was often confused as to what the author Jenny Slate was talking about - it went in circles for me. I can tell she is very intelligent- maybe I would have liked this better if I had watched any of her comedy but I hadnt heard of her before listening to her book.

3 stars.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader copy!

Publish date; 10/22/2024

I was a big fan of Jenny Slate before listening to this audiobook, but now I'm an even bigger fan. Hilarious, heartfelt, absurd, and supremely entertaining collection of essays about a women plunging headfirst into the crazy making world of motherhood. I laughed out loud multiple times listening to this. Highly recommend.

This is brilliant in it's hilarity and stream of consciousness insights; Slate's style and her narration kept me laughing while also feeling like this is someone who gets it and gets that sometimes we have to laugh at life, ourselves, and situations we are in or we might lose our minds. She has an authenticity that I strive for with my own take on life and motherhood and being a woman and I am so glad I got the chance to listen to this. I think others try to mimic this style but Slate for me is the real deal, there is an openness that resonates with me yet also moments when I really connect deeply with how she sees the twists and turns of life, the moments of amazement with motherhood that land!

Overall Grade: C-
Information/Memoir: C
Writing/Organization: D
Narration: B
Best Aspect: Some sections I felt I engaged with and felt and understanding of the topic.
Worst Aspect: Can I just say weird? I was lost often, it felt so random, I even looked up at one point to make sure this was a memoir again because it felt like a very bizarre sci-fi with no plot book. Something huge was missing from this one.
Recommend: Yes.

I adored Jenny Slate’s earlier book Little Weirds and was so excited to get the audio ARC of this gem!
Slate’s voice is somehow whimsical and grounded in a way I relate to and appreciate so much. Her thoughts on love and marriage and motherhood in this book were so tender and honest. She has a real knack for saying things we are all feeling in a way that is jarring enough to really make the reader think. I enjoyed that Slate narrated the audiobook but I will also be purchasing a hard copy to markup and enjoy throughout my own life stages.

Jenny Slate is a treasure! The audiobook of this memoir was fantastic. I love a memoir read by the author, especially with someone whose voice and delivery is as unique as Jenny’s. Her timing and delivery had me laughing, and relating to some of her awkward and anxious situations. The letters to the doctor particularly struck a chord. Worth getting the audiobook for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for an advanced copy of this book.

I find Jenny Slate's voice so fresh and smart - both her writing style and her literal voice on Lifeform's audiobook. Her stories, and the specific way she expresses herself, are vulnerable, funny, quirky, relatable and thought-provoking. I really enjoyed Slate's first book, Little Weirds, and Lifeform did not disappoint my high expectations for her latest story collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown for the complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

i would describe jenny slate (as well as myself and maybe the elves in the santa claus movies), as someone who is simultaneously a child and 1,000 years old, but also, in a more serious and non-hyperbolic sense, existing currently in this world as a deeply emotional woman, one of the most complicated yet priceless forms of being. she inhabits this imitable state of being and thought that transcends time, her writing inhabiting both the hopeful discovery of a young child, but also the incomparable wisdom of a seasoned aged being, yet still essentially motivated by the arriving enlightenment of the everyday. her work in ways reminds me of mary oliver, with its whimsical imaginative language but deeply grounded and profound underlying messages; the earnest sensationalism of the little things and sensitive moments, the overlooked and underrated.