I'm with Me: A Memoir

by Mindy Tsai

For the first time in my life, someone stood me up.

At age twenty-seven, Mindy Tsai breaks up with her long-time college boyfriend and starts an odyssey that continues to this day.

Where will she live? What does she like to do with her free time? These questions never occurred to her before. Realizing she is lost and unwell, Mindy spends the next fourteen years putting the pieces of her life together. She doesn’t seek fulfillment in a relationship with another man, but instead, she learns to find contentment in herself and with her friends. When she finally feels it is time to start dating again, she is forty-one, and the experience is awkward.

I’m with Me details Mindy’s journey as a Taiwanese-American woman learning to navigate her place in life. As one of the 47 million unmarried women in the U.S., Mindy Tsai is living proof that a woman can live joyfully and meaningful alone. Although not accepted as the ideal, being single has great advantages. I’m with Me shows there is more than one right way of going through life.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

257 pages, Paperback

Published October 4, 2021

About the author

Mindy Tsai is an American memoirist. She has written two memoirs: Becoming Whole (2019) and I'm with Me (2021). Her writing has appeared in WebMD and National Alliance on Mental Illness. She writes from her own personal experiences.

She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, where she enjoys food, books, walking, and blogging.

Reviews

[Coleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

Not having read Tsai's previous book, I had no expectations on this one. But it was what it said it was- a memoir. She tells of trying to find the love of her life, or at least someone that she could live comfortably with for a decent period of time. The various on-line sites for meeting people and getting dates surprised me, but I guess that I was rather naive. I felt like I was on a whirl-wind tour with the number of guys she had relationships- or something much short of a relationship - with.

I enjoyed her travels and her friends and her jobs. But I wondered when she wrote...'That's when I understood that being alone could be better than being with the wrong person.' This was somewhat early in the book, and then it took a seemingly long time for her to work her way to that point. So I kept up with the book to the end, at which time she drew her own conclusion. Hence the title of the book.

[Taron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading a book (finally!) about what it is like to be single and happy. With no ifs ands or buts following it. I also enjoyed reading about Tsai's life generally as a young American immigrant from Taiwan. I liked her first memoir about living with schizophrenia, but this gave me the bigger picture, and put it all in perspective. A very interesting read, particularly as our literature and culture is often so centered around the traditional story of meeting a partner and having children. and that is not the only way to live a great, interesting and fulfilling life.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a Gooodreads giveaways for me. The story jumps around in recollections of the past that sometimes I had to stop and go back a few pages to reread. The author sounds like she spent too much time trying to analyze and figure out why things did or didn’t work which I felt overshadowed her life somewhat. I’m sad that it took her almost 20+ years to feel comfortable being by herself.

[Olivia Engelhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself if very interesting and sometimes even inspiring. The writing is very basic, however. A teenager would have no problem with this book. A quick, uplifting read but not an exemplary piece of literature.

[Roseann Gaylord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this memoir!

I rarely write reviews but I was compelled. What an amazing book! It was an intimate look into the evolution of a person. You are also such a great friend, they are lucky to know you.

[Bryanna O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had not read Mindy Tsai's first book but I received this one from a goodreads giveaway! I wasn't really sure what to expect from it or how I would like it since I don't normally read memoirs, however, I am glad that I read this. I enjoyed learning about all her different experiences and like that it shows you can live your life however makes you happy.