I Was Told There'd Be Cake, Sloane Crosley

In an attempt to be more, shall we say, selective in my summer reading, I took a look at NPR's Summer 2010 reading suggestions. I tagged a bunch of them to read, including one by Sloane Crosley. Upon further investigation, I realized that "How Did You Get This Number" was actually her second memoir, so of course I had to go ahead and get the first, "I Was Told There'd Be Cake". Always respect the order, fellow readers, always.

Sloane Crosley didn't ring any bells for me, as my time for online news reading is pretty limited and I, at best, just make it through the big headlines. Judging from her bio and list of publications, I was really impressed and eager to read someone who others had praised so highly.

Acknowledging that a memoir is, by its very nature, self-involved, I still found Crosley's themes to center around her reaction to the faulty acts of others, but never her own. David Sedaris is a contemporary master of pointing out the failings of others, but also his own, which include some of his funniest stories. Hardly 30, Crosley writes predominantly of her early twenties, without the objectivity that another decade or two might give. Crosley is pretty much EveryGirl: decent childhood, college educated, gainfully employed, independent. Other than a knack for snarkiness, I'm not sure what insight she gives that most women haven't lived through own their own (and would prefer to forget).

Despite my love of memoirs and catching any glimpse into someone else's inner, usually private thoughts, I don't feel any surge of interest in uncovering more details about Crosley's life...unless she has more to say in 2025 or so.