Microthrills: True Stories from a Life of Small Highs

by Wendy Spero

"From a critically acclaimed writer comes a book of clever and profoundly funny true stories about the smaller highs in life Raised in Manhattan by her overly protective, sex therapist mother who wore ""seven layers of shoulder pads"" and her two doting grandparents, life in Wendy Spero's world has never been dull. As a child, she passed the time organizing impromptu "garage sales" on city sidewalks, sniffing fruit-scented magic markers to intoxication, parenting dozens of high-maintenance stuffed animals-and seeking out other "microthrills," which she writes about in this hilarious book of odd but true stories. Life got increasingly more interesting for Wendy as she grew up and embarked on a stint of door-to-door knife-selling before taking an office day job, where she developed an abnormally close, paternal relationship with her big-time executive boss-which involved as much pot smoking as it did mentoring. (Wendy, in turn, sprinkled glitter in his expense reports and placed gold stars on his paychecks.) Now, as a budding young comedian living in L.A., Wendy grapples with such "grown-up" issues as trying to kick her addiction of eating candy in bed and finally learning how to drive. Episodic, reflective, and amusing, Microthrills marks the debut of a fresh new nonfiction voice, and one that won't soon be forgotten."

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor, Essays, Biography, Relationships, Chick Lit

ebook

First published August 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not outrageously funny, but I did find much of it pretty humorous, especially the early parts about her growing up with her single sex-therapist mom. I did keep wondering just how much she was exaggerating, but that really isn't all that important in the end. Readers who enjoy Jenny Lawson or David Sedaris are likely to enjoy this too. By now you'd think anyone who is a friend or family of any person showing even the slightest possibility of becoming a comic might tread lightly around them in fear of having their idiosyncrasies published in the future for the world to laugh at.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were definitely some comedic highs in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Wendy referring to herself and her mother as the "spero hydra" (a microscopic organism which reproduces asexually and carries its little mini-me attached to its side). Funny and clever, and it left that image in my head for the rest of the book. And it is indeed an accurate representation of their relationship, which is one of the many facets of this book that i just can't relate too. She is just so freaking neurotic that sometimes its funny, other times painful.
As for the comparisons to Sedaris, i'd say Spero's writing is in the same vein, but not nearly the same caliber.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. I got this because I loved her at a reading I saw, but as soon as I started the book I realized I hated her style. She's got that "Everything I'm saying is so HILARIOUS AND FASCINATING!" tone that reminds you of your chatty friend who laughs too loudly, and her language is overloaded with adjectives in the style of a 19-year old blogger who thinks this is the key to sounding literate. Sometimes this becomes ridiculous: "With antiaging cream glistening from her pores, my elfin mother would often burst into my room at night just as I was attempting to unroll a Trojan condom onto the absurdly oversized schlong of my relatively petite high school boyfriend." Jesus, what were you talking about again? The endless comparisons to David Sedaris on the dust cover don't help either, because they encourage you to perform the comparison yourself while reading. I didn't hate the book -- there were a few stories I liked, but even they didn't inspire me to read more than a few.

[Kevin Fink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words cannot describe how much I loved this book. But here are some anyway: Wendy Spero paints a hilariously vivid picture of growing up an only child to a tiny, sex-therapist mother in a one-bedroom NYC apartment. Wendy Spero collects finger puppets and stuffed animals and gives them names without shame. Wendy Spero once sold knives door-to-door on a whim and became the best salesperson in the tri-state area. Wendy Spero smoked pot with Hugh Grant and her boss in a telephone booth in a bar. Wendy Spero finds insect copulation sexy. Wendy Spero is funny, honest, touching (but never in a corny, woe-is-me way), heartfelt, and gutsy. I want to be Wendy Spero's new best friend.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accidentally stayed up past one with this book on a weeknight, with piles of laundry needing folded. The narrator's voice reads familiar and warm, like a good friend has showed up from out of town with no bad news and something to lend you. And I always enjoy a peek into the functionality of other fractured families.

[Parvez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3.5, can't justify a 4 though. Some stories were really funny or heart warming, others fell flat, but overall I'd say it's worth a read if you're looking for something easy going.

[Nicole Shafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason I didn't think I would like this but it was actually exactly the sort of book I like. I especially enjoyed hearing the author read it and all the voices she did.

[Miss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insight into the life and mind of a protected privileged anxious urban woman. Entertaining style reminiscent of David Sedaris. Stories & observations about mundane & little noticed events, unless one is looking.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I imagine this book would have been a ton of fun in a performance venue, or even just as an audio book. In print, it was easy to set it aside for a day, a week, a year. But I kept coming back, so that's something.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing brain candy.

[용태 김 · Rating 4 out of 5]

short, lighthearted stories.

[Ariel Fuentes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very entertaining book that as made me feel my life has been boring 😅

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Arminzerella · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a picture of two ladybugs – mating (?) - on the front cover of this book. I’m not sure why this spoke to me, or even, indeed, what it said when it spoke, but I picked it up and it shared my weekly commute with me. Wendy Spero, the author, reads the work herself, and she’s got a great performance presence and the voice of “A Character,” as my grandmother would say. She’s funny. But she also mumbles, occasionally, into her collar, so you can’t drive around with the windows open (as I’m wont to do). So, listen to her in the winter, or with your air-conditioning on, or with headphones, so you can catch every preciously funny moment. And there are many.

From her descriptions of her mother (a tiny sex-therapist armored in shoulder pads with a penchant for glazed Cornish hens) to the bout of indecision that led to the purchase of the most hideous bulbous down jacket ever, Wendy is a scream. She reminds me of Haven Kimmel, but with poorer dentition and some less wholesome extracurricular activities – there’s a similar quirkiness about them. I’m definitely looking forward to more from Wendy Spero. She rocks my socks.

[Samantha Penrose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh.
While I enjoyed Wendy's references to things that made appearances in my life (Toast of New York lipstick, Cut-co Knives, plastic bongs, and baja's), I was so put off by her lifelong obsession with stuffed animals that I was poisoned against liking her and her story.

On page 37, which is fairly early on for divulging such an annoying quirk, Wendy goes into detail about how her apartment is filled with furry, stuffed friends.
What's even more annoying than a grown woman filling her home with fluffy bunnies and sad snowmen is the fact that she found a boyfriend who not only tolerates it, but participates. These two take them on outings, talk about (and to) them like they are people, and even arrange them around the house in in compromising positions (think sex and drugs). Not cute. Not even a little bit.

I was also irritated by the total lack of chronological organization.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun, fluffy, summer book. Worth a browse while your significant other is using the bathroom at Barnes & Noble. Wendy Spero is not a literary genius and she's NOT David Sedaris by a long stretch, but she is quite funny. The first few essays, especially those about her mom, were great, then a few clunkers in the middle where she goes on and on about how cool her really irritating-sounding neurotic tics are, but my favorite essay was one called "Gary" about her dad. I think it's the most warm and thoughtful piece in the book.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Wendy Spero before, but she's fairly hilarious, in the way Laurie Notaro used to be back with The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club. I did think the title of the book was a misnomer, though--it seems like she spent more time talking about her relationship with her mother (they're pretty much the Gilmore Girls, if the Gilmore Girls were New York City Jews instead of small-town Connecticut WASPs) than she did about her strange little obsessions. But I guess you can't put a picture of two ladybugs humping on the front of a book about your mother.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

for whatever reason i have a lot of friends and family with o.c.d. it seems like more and more people have it these days or maybe i'm just becoming more aware. nonetheless, because of my personal experience with this type of personality i found the book to be fantastic! there were many laugh out loud parts which, when sneaking reading at work, is not always a good thing. like a couple other reviewers here i too enjoyed the chapter, gary. i love reading a good book with a great ending. much more satisfying than reading a great book with a lousy ending, in my opinion.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Humorous, but not many laugh out loud moments. I had a difficult time relating to her. Of course reading about people & situations that are not part of your normal life is one of the benefits of reading, I just never got to the point where I really cared about her story. There were painful parts to tell like about her OCD & trying to find out information about her deceased father, but that was about the only times that I really felt for her. The rest of the time I thought she was high maintenance & totally out of touch with reality.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neurotic Jewish girl...check.
Obsessive compulsive neurotic Jewish girl...check
Funny obsessive compulsive neurotic Jewish girl...check

It is so similar to other books I've read, by Cynthia Kaplan, Jennifer Traig, Laurie Notaro, etc. It is funny, but at some point I lost interest in hearing stories about her life without any self reflection or growth. She's unapologetically herself, which is entertaining for awhile, but doesn't make for a very satisfying book. I finished it, but I can't really recommend it.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't at all what I expected, but I still enjoyed it. The title is a misnomer. It's not a collection of essays on "microthrills" but rather a collection of essays on a 1980s childhood filled with doormen, bat mitzvahs and yearly trips to Loehmann's. Because that's about as far from my own 1980s childhood as you can get, I enjoyed the book.

I'd give her an extra star for having a cover blurb from Ed Helms, but I'd have to take it away for having one from Sarah Silverman.

[Lindsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recently down in LA for a consulting gig, and met the husband of this author (and the author herself). Funny, funny book - I found myself laughing to myself at least once a chapter.

I'm no literary genius, but this was a fun and entertaining read. Spero's fascination with candy, smelly erasers, and stuffed animals struck a familiar cord, and I didn't realize that there were others like me out there.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not laugh-out-loud funny (I think I only laughed out loud once near the end), but humorous in a quirky way. I probably would have felt more sympathy for her had she not grown up in upper Manhattan, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't looking for sympathy anyway. Some pieces were more amusing than others; the stuffed animal obsession, for example, was quite good. And the stories progressed, more or less, chronologically, which also was helpful.

[Joseph Gowen · Rating 1 out of 5]

ICK! This book was supposed to be as funny as David Sedaris' essays on life, and the forward was promising. But then the author spent page after page on her love life in great detail. Just because her mother was a sex therapist, doesn't mean the reader wants that same disturbing frankness. After skipping about 20 pages, I decided to just close the book. Besides, it committed the unforgivable crime in humorous writing of not being funny.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was thoroughly entertained while listening to this audiobook. it is read by the author, and i'm not entirely sure how much of my enjoyment was due to the writing and how much was the listening. wendy spero has an adorable sound! her voice, cadence and inflections were spot on. the stories were memorable and fun. i'm quite glad that miss spero's unconventional youth has been put in print for the rest of us.

[T]

This book has been relegated to the bathroom for a little "me time" literature. My me time is blessedly short. What with the kid and all. But I am enjoying it.

Edit: I finally finished this on vacation. It was good, but I wasn't as jazzed by the end. Not entirely the authors fault so much as where I was when I read it.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not bowled over by this so far--struggling through it.
--I finished it, but my verdict remains the same. Spero has a fluid writing style, but she seems to try too hard to be wacky (enumerating her compulsions, which unlike true OCD, she can control); an obsession with finger puppets). Not a great read.

[npaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and laugh out loud funny. Maybe it's because we have the same birthday or maybe it's because we're both nuts, but despite growing up as far apart and in totally separate worlds, I could relate to everything in her book. She loves pop culture as much as I do and recognizes that freakiness is something most people strive for and never achieve. Bravo girlfriend.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. I identified strongly with several aspects of the author's personality & memories, especially the OCD-ness and the worry that adults would not believe her (me!) if she saw an alien (or ghost, in my case) that they themselves couldn't see. She blames ET, I blame Wait til Helen Comes.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Wendy Spero's comedy memoir (based on her one-woman show) is fine, but just didn't really make me laugh all that much. I, in fact, found her rather irritating. I would imagine that hearing her read the material live would punch it up a bit, and this was a good thing to read on my in-law's couch over the holidays, but overall not recommended.