Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea

If you’ve seen Chelsea Handler’s E! show, Chelsea Lately, then you know just how hilarious, crazy, and outspoken the comedian can be. Now, think of that in over 200 pages, and you’ve got Handler’s book, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea. This work talks about everything from Handler’s drinking habits, crazy things that she’s done, and her family and their relationships. Handler breaks up the book into 12 different chapters, so there are a dozen short stories ready for you to read and laugh about.

The great thing about this book is that you really get a lot of Handler’s personality in the pages. Reading the book sounds exactly like you’re listening to her on her talk show. Handler’s not afraid to discuss her bad habits, including using drinking as an outlet for her frustrations. One of her chapters details a hilarious incident at a birthday party that involved the re-gifting of several presents and bringing her own vodka to a restaurant in a flask.

It’s hard to tell if some of the stories in this book are actually true, made up, or a little of both because many of them are so outrageous that you have to wonder how a person could have so many wild stories. However, Handler offers enough details in each of her chapters to make it seem to readers that these are all incidents out of her past life.

The stories in this book are very brutally honest, and she’s not afraid to make fun of friends, family members, acquaintances, and even celebrities that she doesn’t like. At one point, she tells her sister that she refuses to see the movie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, because she’s not “going to go give those two homewreckers my money,” referring to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Handler’s book is obviously not a great piece of literature, but it doesn't try to be. If you’re looking for a funny, entertaining book that you don’t have to read all at once, this could be your choice. The way that the book is divided makes it easy to read one or two chapters at a time and pick up where you left off later on. The book features stories from different points in Handler’s life, and none of them are too repetitive, so the book is entertaining until the end.

She seemingly saves one of the best stories for last as she talks about a trip to Costa Rica in the last chapter. Handler’s approach to dealing with her father on vacation is neither traditional nor completely appropriate but it certainly is funny, and the way that Handler interacts with others is one of the funniest things that is described in the pages.