Swerve: Reckless Observations of a Postmodern Girl

by Aisha Tyler

The dynamic comedienne and actress delivers provocative, hilarious, and empowering advice on dating, sex, style, and the cool confidence every woman needs to succeed. Using innovative insight, humor, and the vocabulary of a new generation, Aisha introduces us to Swerve—a new road map of advice for young women.

swerve \’swerv\ vb swerved; swerv•ing A mental or moral turning away from a given course; a major change in direction; [to get one’s swerve on] to enjoy oneself without inhibitions; to parade about with confidence and style. syn VEER, DEVIATE, DEPART, DIGRESS

Gorgeous and gutsy, Aisha Tyler has made an unmistakable name for herself in the entertainment world. Now she applies her on-target insight and brazen wit to tackling the old-fashioned mentalities that keep women from living their lives to the fullest. In Swerve, Aisha rejects the relationship/marriage imperative and puts authentic living first. This is no dry, self-help mumbo jumbo—Aisha dishes out hip, fun, and laugh-out-loud advice.

Packed with Aisha’s uncanny wisdom and hilarious commentary, Swerve offers the opinion that single twenty- and thirty-somethings can find fulfillment on their own terms.

Speaking to the audience of successful books such as Swell: A Girl’s Guide to the Good Life and The Bombshell Manual of Style, Aisha offers a new way to navigate life for the postmodern girl.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Biography, Essays, Memoir, African American

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 2004

About the author

Aisha Tyler is an American actress, comedian, and author, known for her regular role as Andrea Marino in the first season of Ghost Whisperer and voicing Lana Kane in Archer, as well as her recurring roles in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Talk Soup, and on Friends as Charlie Wheeler. She is a co-host of The Talk and the new host of Whose Line is it Anyway?.

Reviews

[Doug Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early this year, I finished Aisha Tyler’s first book (published in 2004), Swerve: Reckless Observations of a Postmodern Girl. Tyler, a standup comedian and actress, is probably best known for her appearances on Friends, CSI, The Ghost Whisperer, Archer and as a co-host on The Talk. Swerve is a wonderful collection of essays on a variety of topics including light beer, casual sex, marriage, hip-hop videos, and other topics. Early in the book, Tyler tries to tell various interested parties and friends what the book is about without success. She finally concludes that it going to be about how a woman can be a badass. After deciding on what to write about, Tyler then spends the rest of the book writing essays loosely grouped around this theme.

She opens the the book with the image of women that society promotes from women’s magazines to radio to reality shows on TV. Tyler writes in a very humorous style. She offers very sharp insights into pop culture, but also relates her own failures and obsessions with amazing openness and humor. She next moves into the topic of personal grooming and all the marketing done to make women buy so many products to make themselves look beautiful: makeup, shampoos, creams, lotions, and regular visits for pedicures. From there she moves to a woman’s body image: the falsity of supermodels and the eating disorders caused by women striving to achieve this degree of thinness. These are all serious topics, but Tyler makes her point with great humor.

We are then treated to a wonderful collection of personal anecdotes on how her mouth gets her into trouble. Her stories of speaking up in school are very funny. In the end, she says she’s sassy. Tyler tells about her early job as an office girl struggling to live, eat, and advance in the corporate world and her interaction with a co-worker she calls Yogurt Girl. This leads to Tyler’s love of dirty jokes and her own standup. During the course of talking about her experience at a charity event for the Ms. Foundation, Tyler offers a brief mini-essay on the advantages and usefulness of doing charity, something with which she participates with great frequency and love. In the course of her standup at this event, she is criticized for some of her material. This angers her and she explains her idea of what humor is, should be, and can be--what is appropriate, what isn’t. Tyler feels that being able to laugh at ourselves is one of the most important things we can do. She follows this up with a brief essay on alcohol and drinking.

Tyler’s next essay: “The War of Art, or Aiken versus Studdard in the World Series of Love” is a great use of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War in dating. This may well be the best essay in the book. It has it all, comments on dating, love and The Art of War. How can one go wrong? Following her analysis of dating through Sun Tzu, she tells us that men and women can be friends and relates a great story about one of her male friends.

The rest of the essays are similar in form and cover topics about breakups, the harm images do for women’s self-esteem, strip clubs, how to be inappropriate, relationships and humiliation, The View, cooking, sex and love, and marriage.

All of these topics sounds serious and they are. However, Tyler wonderfully structures the essays to include her own experiences and her own sense of humor to make her points. These are valid points for all women and men, but she leavens the messages with laughter at her own foibles and mishaps. I really enjoyed the book and am looking forward to reading her newest book, Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation (published in 2013).

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt like having an "I KNOW, right?!?!" conversation with someone who is cool and you would want to be friends with. Everything she says in the book is true for most people, probably. I laughed out loud and cringed with embarrassment and nodded along and thought: these should be listed on a credit card sized wallet insert for women to carry around as a reminder - be cool.

[Elis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun, cute, book with some feel-good stuff about badass girls. If you want a copy I'm happy to pass mine off.

[SunnyD · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is pretty bad. even for a light travel/vacation read. glad i only spent $1 on it. don't see it staying on my shelf; it will most definitely be a library or goodwill donation.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've always really liked Aisha Tyler, but man, I hated this book.

[Yasmine gaskin]

Love

[Wileyoneone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book - no longer have

[Amanda-Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at pg 70/233. I like Aisha, but I don't like this book format; I learned nothing, and it's neither interesting nor funny.

[Jen B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why haven't more people read/reviewed this book? I think I need to start lending my copy around. Not to sound like a broken record, but this book has been in my office and I decided to re-read it before passing it on. Now I'm not so sure that I don't want to keep it to re-read every 8 years (or so). I still have some work to do in order to get my swerve on, to become a badass, but Tyler's book makes me very much want to continue working toward that goal.

What Swerve isn't, is a typical celebrity memoir. Even Tyler struggles to categorize her book, taking an entire chapter to tell you how she developed the concept. What it boils down to is that Swerve is Tyler's opportunity to talk about a few seemingly random things that all build up to helping YOU figure out how to be a badass. Her underlying goal (IMHO) is to open a conversation about how society thinks we've come so far in equalizing women, but the reality is still a little skewed.

I found Tyler's observations and related personal stories to be interesting, insightful and honestly refreshing. She's a bit rambly -- it's like she's just chatting with you over a coffee -- and that's okay because she never gets so far off-topic/-purpose that you wonder how her editor even saw a book in all of these pages. This isn't a book I'd give to a pre-teen, but honestly? This is a book I'd give to high schoolers that I thought had the maturity for it. Why? Because Tyler's point is a good one: there's nothing wrong with looking out for yourself, oogling the male body, knowing what you'll accept and what you won't stand for, walking away from donkeys, having a life of your own, and treating your body like a temple (because it makes YOU feel better). Swerve is about not flowing along with the masses of women to reach for the unattainable and settle for less. It's about being a badass, and sometimes seeing the why's and how's written out makes it easier to understand than just being told, "Be a badass."

Here's a few examples. If you like 'em, you really should just go read this book.

1) "Women, on the whole, have had to lose their sense of humor in order to make personal and professional advances. To be taken more seriously, we've had to be more serious. but I also feel that leaves us unable to laugh at ourselves, to let some of the steam out of the sociocultural zepelin. Maybe if we saw a lot of thse cultural pressures, to be thin, be perfect, be fabulous, as ironic, as a joke, we wouldn't take them to heart so truly, be pierced by them so deeply. We could enjoy them for what they are -- ideas, fashion, postmodern art -- instead of fulfillment manuals, how-to books for happiness." (p.100)

2) "You want the short answer? You shouldn't call. If you worry that you should, you shouldn't." (p. 192)

3) "You don't decide to get married and then find a husband. You meet and interact with a bunch of really interesting and intelligent men and then, if one suits your requirements, you consider hitching your wagon to theirs for all eternity. You discover a husband -- you don't scrounge one up." (p 228)

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Swerve beside the pool during Senior Week, because it was the only thing I could really concentrate on after four years of busting my ass at Longwood. Its subtitle is Reckless Observations of a Postmodern Girl; however, within the first chapter it became dreadfully apparent that the author had no clue what the term "postmodern" meant at all, in any sense of the word. This is explained by the fact that the author is actually former E! Talk Soup host Aisha Tyler, who is funny and pretty, but apparently an idiot. There were some funny moments, but I'm pretty sure that between the sun, the beer, and this book, I lost more brain cells that I can afford.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Checked this book out, read a few pages, and then finished it the day it was due from the library. As a fan of some of her comedy sketches, I was pretty disappointed. It read like a string of rambling blog entries; there were funny lines, but I found myself getting sidetracked with irritation. 'Ladies, let's not starve ourselves for the sake of guys...because guys really like soft women!' I could get behind some of her trite messages, but not the reasons she gave for them.

She started the book by saying she hadn't been sure what it would be about, and it didn't feel like she really figured it out...

[Angelina Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title says it all. These are Aisha's youth-hearted little "essays" of sorts on various topics. I admire her for being a smart & successful (and funny) celebrity, I would love to see her follow this up now with her 10 more years of experience I think she may have some new point of views on her own topics discussed here. It's cute, light and easy to read- I would recommend it for a cool teen chick.

[Candelaria Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occasionally laugh-out-loud funny with good insights the book is almost too self-consciously clever and doesn't lift off the page. Something restrains it. I think there should have been fewer essays. It does make me look forward to seeing her grow as a writer. I think she keeps the cover on herself because her asides and "conferssions" mostly are general and not specific enough and so they don't always feel real.

[Readersaurus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because I heard a radio interview with Tyler and I really enjoy her voice work on Archer. She is very smart and funny and this book is very bad and dumb. I am struggling to finish it because I like her. I want to like the book. It definitely feels like an editor asked her to shave off anything intelligent and stick to the single woman in the big city junk.

[Alicia Beale · Rating 1 out of 5]

For some reason, I though Aisha Tyler was my girl and would give me all the answers, but she's more of a mess than me. She wasn't funny or could write good essays. She should have read more Alice Walker. Okay, well, I did buy it in the dollar store.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very easy read. I read it in one day. However Aisha is definitely in touch w/ women in the gen-x era. She is funny, smart and opinionated. She's brash and doesn't hold back. I loved this book.

[Quanah Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Aisha, so I thought I would love this book. I liked it, but I didn't LIKE it like it.

She had a few funny parts where I did laugh out loud, but I felt there were too many lull's.

If it were more linear and thought out clearer, I would give it more stars.

[EMP · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because when I've seen Tyler, I've found her funny. I heard an interview with her recently and she seems smart and funny. Unfortunately, this book is neither. Even in small doses, this book got on my nerves.

[Viktoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get past chapter 1. I like Aisha but I couldn't tell you what this book is about. It s a weird stream of consciousness type of affaire that failed to hold my attention. I did like her second book though.

[ariane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irreverent and spunky! Tyler didn't quite sell me on getting a professional pedicure every month but I'll definitely be painting my nails more often. A great, quick read for all girls married, dating, or single-by-choice that'll leave you feeling energized and empowered, and laughing out loud.

[Liannis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty entertaining book. Some parts of it were a little dated, but it was quite funny. It sounds as if Aisha shares a few things in common with her animated alter-ego Lana Kane. Now I'm curious about the other book(s)? she's written.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Aisha Tyler's tv personality, so naturally this book doesn't disappoint. Very wry perspective on the life of women and full of paranthetic asides (my favorite!).

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can pick up this book anytime to read and re-read and laugh all over again!

[suzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOL

[Arrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a great book if you want mindless reading. a definte fast read, which mostly covers random observations by aisha tyler (of talk soup fame).

[Juliette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another bargin bin book. At times, this book was pretty funny. Other times, it was kinda dumb. Good for reading on the beach.

[Barbara English · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Very funny & sooooo true

[Nikki Boisture · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm an Aisha Tyler fan. This book wasn't quite as funny as I know she can be. It's not great literature, but I'd recommend it to anyone out there for a quick light read, heavy on the feminism.

[Christi Yarnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't even finish

[John Chaffinch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly narrated, and wonderfully atmospheric. A book that really makes the notion of 'reception' come alive!