Hello readers!
Here I am with a review of an ARC I request through Edelweiss. I liked the cover and the title, and I’ve thought that, as an introvert, I will see myself in the main character and maybe learn to be less introvert.
Spoiler: I learn nothing.
Title: Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to come. One introvert’s year of saying yes.
Author: Jessica Pan
Editor: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Pages: 272
Genre: Non-fiction, memoir
Goodreads Rating: 4.00/5
My rating: 2.5/5
Synopsys:
What would happen if a shy introvert lived like a gregarious extrovert for one year? If she knowingly and willingly put herself in perilous social situations that she’d normally avoid at all costs? Writer Jessica Pan intends to find out. With the help of various extrovert mentors, Jessica sets up a series of personal challenges (talk to strangers, perform stand-up comedy, host a dinner party, travel alone, make friends on the road, and much, much worse) to explore whether living like an extrovert can teach her lessons that might improve the quality of her life. Chronicling the author’s hilarious and painful year of misadventures, this book explores what happens when one introvert fights her natural tendencies, takes the plunge, and tries (and sometimes fails) to be a little bit braver.
Review:
Have you ever read a book that makes you uncomfortable?
I am an introvert, I was always an introvert, and I was really uneasy reading this memoir. I’m not really a memoir person, because I never find a person who has the same experiences as me, but I admit that the beginning of this book was promising.
I saw a lot of myself in Jessica and her social introversion, and I laughed on some scenes, remembering how I acted pretty similar to her.
But the more she pushes herself doing something more extrovert, the more I began to analyze the book.
Because I’m also a shy person, and I suffer from social anxiety from a very young age, and I was thinking, due to some scenes in this book, that also Jessica suffers from social anxiety, maybe a little less than me. But she also lives and does something that I will never do, and her experiences during her extrovert’s year are specifically (in my vision) for people living in a big city and living a healthy life. If you live in London and have money and good health, you can go out, or participate in a show, or take an aeroplane and goes to a “surprise weekend” in a random city. But not everyone is like you, Jessica!
So this restricts a lot the people who can apply to her lifestyle.
I will also say that I found her “racist” vision of the population of a city very disgusting. She stands very clearly about the flaws of Londoners, or people of Budapest or Hong Kong. I’m not a citizen of these cities, but I don’t think it’s polite to talk so harsh about them. She’s very harsh to Budapest especially, so please be prepare.
I know that I have a vision of the world really different from most of the people, so please do not be offended by this review. It’s only my opinion and my feelings.
Fortunately, the book 