What can I say about Kathy Griffin that has not already been said, mostly by herself? She has created a career out of self-humiliation, and amen to that, must be difficult to be the butt of your own jokes and the foundation for your career. I’m pretty sure I could never do that, it’s take a lot of confidence and strength for something like that once, let alone for a sustained period of time as Kathy has done.
On the topic of her book, A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin it was na interesting read to say the least. A wide variety of issues and experiences are covered. Sometimes you question each reason behind including this experience and that experience when the only common thread about them is Kathy Griffin and how she came to be the Kathy Griffin we know today. Is that really enough? Most people would say yes, it’s a memoir and that’s the genre this book is written in, and I agree with them. However, more or less, this memoir is not written in a way that is doing itself justice. The chronological order of events, in my opinion, actually hinders the story. By it being chronologic, I see everything occurring and the events things took place in, but I don’t see the repercussions or affects of such until much later on. I would have proffered if this memoir started with a glimpse into Kathy Griffin’s life now, the work she’s done and is doing and her style of living and then going back with flashbacks into the story that could immediately return to the present and what each individual event affected, positive and negative.
It was a lot of information to say the least and Kathy doesn’t show herself in a complex manner, she’s very single-sided. Considering we just read an entire memoir on her and picked it up to learn more about her, I would have liked to see more of her, not the characters she plays. There is even a chapter within the memoir that states Kathy’s characters and how they are all versions of herself, but the versions are all based off that one side Kathy shows to the audience. I enjoy her antics on tv, her shows and comedy specials, those make me laugh. But if I’m
reading about you, I want more. The character should be dynamic, it’s the only way to keep the reader interested. Since Kathy was the object being observed, the author, and the only sustained role through the memoir, we are left with an entire memoir of foil characters (flat to say the least) and a one-sided character. The story is entertaining, but not interesting, if that makes sense.
A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin gets 5 out of 10 stars.
Art in Your World 