Bad Vibes Only: (and Other Things I Bring to the Table)

by Nora McInerny Narrated by Nora McInerny

Overview

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

From the host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking-called “a gift” by The New York Times-a raw and humorous essay collection in the spirit of Jenny Lawson and Samantha Irby.

Nora McInerny does not dance like no one is watching. In fact, she dances like everyone is watching, which is to say, she does not dance at all. A bestselling author and host of the beloved podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking, she has captured the hearts of millions with her disarming and earnest approach to discussing grief and loss. Now, with Bad Vibes Only, she turns her eye on our aggressively, oppressively optimistic culture, our obsession with self-improvement, and what it really means to live authentically in the online age.

In essays that revisit her cringey past and anticipate her rapidly approaching, early middle-aged future, McInerny lays bare her own chaos, inviting us to drop the façade of perfection and embrace the truth: that we are all-at best-slightly unhinged. Socrates claimed that the unexamined life is not worth living. Bad Vibes Only is for people who have taken that dictum a bit too far-the overthinkers, the analyzers, the recovering Girl Bosses, and the burned-out personal brand-reminding us that a life worth living is about more than just “good vibes.”

Editorial Reviews

JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile

Podcaster Nora McInerny’s collection of essays will have listeners nodding and chuckling in recognition as she observes life in the Internet Age. McInerny recounts pivotal moments in her life, both poignant and cringe-worthy. Her experiences cover her childhood in the 1980s, college years in the early 2000s, young adulthood, motherhood, the loss of her first husband to cancer, and her remarriage. Through it all she delivers a self-deprecating tone and her signature wit. She takes a deeper look at the pleasures and perils of online life, questioning our struggles with authenticity and performance on social networks. McInerny’s narration complements her poignant observations on her life as a recovering overachiever and offers both laughs and wisdom. S.E.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

06/13/2022

McInerny (No Happy Endings), host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking, presents a humorous look at her life with essays aimed at “people who cannot help but put a little sprinkle of sadness on their happiest memories.” Self-described as anxious (“I was a child who lay in bed crying about pain I hadn’t yet experienced”), McInerny charts her search for authenticity, while meditating on everything from aging to mental health and parenthood. “Siri, Am I Losing My Mind?” reflects on memory loss and selfhood as McInerny contends with her aunt’s dementia, while “Privacy Settings” reckons with another loss—that of McInerny’s husband, who died from brain cancer at 35—and how social media gave the author an unexpected space to grieve and share the growth of their son: “Along with dopamine and validation, Instagram stepped into the role of witness for Ralph’s and my life.” There are welcome dashes of levity, too: “Strongest Girl in the World” recalls the joys of McInerny’s free-range childhood in the 1980s, and “Reunion” offers a raucous reflection on aging via a weed edible trip gone hilariously wrong. Occasionally, McInerny’s meditations can seem unfocused—“Unravel with Me,” a story about a past elementary school teacher, lives up to its name—but her wit, vulnerability, and self-deprecation make her an enjoyable companion. Despite the title, this is nothing but a good time. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

There may be no nuance on the Internet, but there’s plenty in these 19 funny, bittersweet essays.”
—Shelf Awareness

“[McInerny’s] wit, vulnerability, and self-deprecation make her an enjoyable companion. Despite the title, this is nothing but a good time.” —Publisher’s Weekly

"The way Nora's words can actually make you cry with laughter is a gift."—Samantha Irby, New York Times bestselling author

"I laughed myself sick, the barometer for any great book."—Kate Baer, New York Times bestselling author

JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile

Podcaster Nora McInerny’s collection of essays will have listeners nodding and chuckling in recognition as she observes life in the Internet Age. McInerny recounts pivotal moments in her life, both poignant and cringe-worthy. Her experiences cover her childhood in the 1980s, college years in the early 2000s, young adulthood, motherhood, the loss of her first husband to cancer, and her remarriage. Through it all she delivers a self-deprecating tone and her signature wit. She takes a deeper look at the pleasures and perils of online life, questioning our struggles with authenticity and performance on social networks. McInerny’s narration complements her poignant observations on her life as a recovering overachiever and offers both laughs and wisdom. S.E.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2022-06-01
Essays about aging and optimism by an Irish American writer and mother.

In the introduction, McInerny—host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking and author of It’s Okay To Laugh (Crying Is Cool Too) and The Hot Young Widows Club—dismisses unbridled, uncritical productivity: “I don’t want to live in a world where the only vibes are bad, but I cannot stay for long in a room where the only vibes allowed are the pleasant ones, either.” It is a fitting beginning for the variety of essays that follow, which examine how life’s greatest pleasures are often intertwined with danger, anxiety, and pain. In one essay, for example, the author writes about the time that she and her cousin slipped away during a family vacation, commandeered a canoe, and disappeared for eight hours as they paddled miles to town and back. After a harrowing, exhausting trip, they prepared themselves for a severe punishment only to find that their families never noticed that they were gone. In another piece, the author writes about the horror of accidentally leaving her 4-year-old son in a car for an hour after a family hike. “It is the rock in our shoe,” she writes, “the pea beneath a pile of mattresses, the time I almost killed our child with my mindlessness. He can say he forgives me, sure, but I know better. In therapy, I work on forgiving myself.” In “Asking for a Friend,” McInerny confesses how, when her first husband died, her grief-stricken behavior nearly ruined her most important friendships. Lighter pieces explore everything from taking too many edibles at a high school reunion to beauty treatments that supposedly fight aging. The most successful essays perfectly balance vulnerability and humor to lead readers to gentle, compassionate insights. While most of the author’s conclusions are not particularly original, her appealing voice keeps the pages turning.

A lighthearted, mostly rewarding, not-particularly-profound collection.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178668146
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	10/11/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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