This month, my book club voted to read Dear Girls by Ali Wong. It’s a nice change of pace, as we tend to read along the lines of romance, rom-coms and thrillers with a bit of mystery thrown in from time to time. As I am a fan of Ali Wong’s standup specials on Netflix, I was excited to give this book a try.

Ali Wong’s heartfelt and hilarious letters to her daughters (the two she put to work while they were still in utero), covering everything they need to know in life, like the unpleasant details of dating, how to be a working mom in a male-dominated profession, and how she trapped their dad.

In her hit Netflix comedy special Baby Cobra, an eight-month pregnant Ali Wong resonated so heavily that she became a popular Halloween costume. Wong told the world her remarkably unfiltered thoughts on marriage, sex, Asian culture, working women, and why you never see new mom comics on stage but you sure see plenty of new dads.

The sharp insights and humor are even more personal in this completely original collection. She shares the wisdom she’s learned from a life in comedy and reveals stories from her life off stage, including the brutal singles life in New York (i.e. the inevitable confrontation with erectile dysfunction), reconnecting with her roots (and drinking snake blood) in Vietnam, tales of being a wild child growing up in San Francisco, and parenting war stories. Though addressed to her daughters, Ali Wong’s letters are absurdly funny, surprisingly moving, and enlightening (and disgusting) for all. 

Each chapter of this book reads as a letter to her daughters about things she thinks they need to know. She discusses how her stand-up career started, how she met her husband, her dating life before her husband, and balancing her career with family. She also goes into being Asian American in Hollywood and what that meant for her.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? I hope you’re still reading because WARNING! If you haven’t seen her comedy shows then you may not know that she gets raunchy! To the point where I kept thinking “I hope her daughters don’t read this…or until a censored version is written” 🤣 But she’s not my mom, so I loved it!

Ali writes in a style that makes me feel as though I am sitting next to her, drinking a glass of wine and listening to her stories at a party (minus when she is speaking directly to her daughters. Then I just feel like I am eavesdropping). My only wish is that the stories were more linear, and that there were more of them. I absolutely would read another book by her!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to Ali Wong for a funny and quick read!