Review: Weird But Normal

I’m trying to catch up with reviews over the next few weeks. I’ve read so many great books but it takes some time to put my thoughts together to share with you all. Today I’m sharing my review of Weird but Normal by Mia Mercado.

Synopsis

Navigating racial identity, gender roles, workplace dynamics, and beauty standards, Mia Mercado’s hilarious essay collection explores the contradictions of being a millennial woman, which usually means being kind of a weirdo. Whether it’s spending $30 on a candle that smells like an ocean that doesn’t exist, offering advice on how to ask about someone’s race (spoiler: just don’t, please?), quitting a job that makes you need shots of whiskey on your lunch break, or finding a more religious experience in the skincare aisle at Target than your hometown Catholic church, Mia brilliantly unpacks what it means to be a professional, absurdly beautiful, horny, cute, gross human. Essays include:

•     Depression Isn’t a Competition but Why Aren’t I Winning?

•     My Dog Explains My Weekly Schedule

•     Mustache Lady

•     White Friend Confessional

•     Treating Objects Like Women

With sharp humor and wit, Mia shares the awkward, uncomfortable, surprisingly ordinary parts of life, and shows us why it’s strange to feel fine and fine to feel strange.

Why did I choose to read this book

This was my IRL (in real life) book club pick a few months ago. We were approached by the publisher who provided us advance copies of the book. We hadn’t read any collection of essays books for book club and this one sounded interesting.

Rating

Read it! (Check out my non-fiction rating system)

My Thoughts

This was my book club pick for April and I enjoyed it. It was refreshing to read a collection of essays since I don’t read them enough. I found myself laughing out loud to some of the essays and sharing my thoughts with Aaron. The essays cover a range of topics from body image, fitting in, dating, to racism, mental health and family dynamics.

These stories are very relatable for millennials. Mia is honest and unapologetic as she tells us a little bit about her life experiences and also dives into social commentary. The writing is easy to read, I felt like I was just chatting with a friend when reading it.

Some of the essays that stood out to me were: “My dog explains my weekly schedule” and “Items of clothing, defined”. Overall this is an enjoyable, easy read.

Who I recommend this book to

I think the target audience for this book is millennial women. If you’re looking for a lighter read and something to validates that being weird is normal this is for you!

Get the book!

Did I convince you to read this book? You can get Weird but normal from Bookshop.org here. Please consider ordering it from a Black owned independent bookstore. This list of Black owned independent bookstores accepts online ordering.