I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut,Wife, Mother, andFriend to Man and Dog

Feels more like a diary than a memoir, but I really loved the authors sense of humor.

Ms. Joseph makes me very appreciative of being married to my wife for 27 years. The book is bust-a-gut funny while also being sad and tender. The cigarette addicted woman certainly has oodles of personal issues but writing isn't one of them. In short, concise sentences, she takes the reader through a handful of male relationships which have made an impression on her. Her dad, ex-husband, son, boyfriends, friends and a few acquaintances have the misfortune are being described by the author. They are given some positive attributes, but for the most part, the quirkier aspects of the men's habits are given center stage. Ms. Joseph's sarcastic, self-deprecating approach in conjunction with her humorous vignettes make for a pleasant, easy read. You won't need a dictionary for this sucker. Many women will feel superior to the author because Ms. Joseph fits the mold of a stereotypical, insecure, flighty artist. Men will like it because they can stick this book under the nose of their significant other and say, "Read this. You could have hooked up with someone like this schmo." The memoir is a light, hilarious, tender confession. It was a helpful respite during a family illness. That in itself was worth shelling out money for the book.

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way by Diana Joseph is a great book that the reader can really connect with.

I just finished reading Diana Joseph's new book I'm Sorry You Feel That Way. I felt it was a comical window into every woman's inner soul who has ever doubted herself, questioned her decisions in life, and in the end rolled with the punches . You will find yourself laughing out loud several times during this read ...simply great!

In 15 highly entertaining segments, Ms. Joseph shares stories and characters from her unorthodox life. She has a wonderful ability to mix hilarity with pathos. The result being that many times you find yourself feeling great sympathy for her and the subjects of her story yet laughing uproariously at their blight. Each chapter in the book features a different character. The characters range from her two pack-a-day bare chested father to her oft married/oft divorced ex-husband to her Devil loving upstairs neighbor to, most memorably, "the boy" her pro-NRA reactionary-conservative son. Ms. Joseph tells their stories (and hers) in a straight forward manner. Her descriptions of personalities and events are almost brutally unsympathetic. She allows the reader to make what they will of these people and of her story. (Though it is hard to imagine that anyone with an ounce of compassion or experience will be anything less than understanding and amused by most of her stories.) Not all of the chapters are humorous, "The girl who only sometimes said no" comes late in the book and casts a poignant shadow over the entire work. Ms. Joseph is a talented writer, a gifted story teller and a woman who lives on her own terms.

Let's get down to brass tax...Diana Joseph's I'm Sorry You Feel That Way is a damn fine book. Excuse my lack of eloquence in my praise, I'm no Richard Ford (have you read that blurb? Goodness!), but this book has the grit, charm, humor and heart you want from any book. And it's those qualities, particularly the blue-collar aspects, that set this apart from other essay collections. The essay collections I've read always seem outside the realm of my world. As good a writer as David Sedaris is, it's impossible for me to identify with him over his problems of living in a cottage in France, or traveling to Japan to quit smoking. And because he's the vanguard of essayists, it gives the whole essay genre an air of privilege, or a kind of cultural superiority. I'm Sorry You Feel That Way is rooted in a much more real, Roseanne Barr, middle-class America world. And I'm thankful for it. This grit contributes to that felt trueness that lurks in all of these essays, like the best Bruce Springsteen songs, that I'm sure Joseph knows the lyrics to. These essays on the men of Diana Joseph, from her trench-footed son, to the lumberjack ex-husband, to her obscene brother, to God on high, all are so honest and heartfelt, you just want to give Diana a hug afterwards and say, "I know exactly what you mean." And I don't have brothers, or an ex-husband, or a teenage son, or much of a sexual history. This speaks to the authority, beauty and power of these essays. Essentially, this crosses boundaries of typical "audience" issues. If you think of a book like Sloane Crosley's I Thought There'd Be Cake. There you have cutesy stories aimed at urbane women with an extra 12 dollars in their pocket, and that book never delivers above that to anything of any actual depth or meaning. I'm Sorry You Feel That Way goes so far beyond surface level concerns of the modern, educated woman that anyone from the woman-hatingest Philip Roth character to the stereotypical Oprah zealot, will feel the emotional resonance at work here. But, even if you want to quibble with my position that as an essay collection this finally offers something different and substantive to the genre...the book is still hilarious. I don't want to spoil any of those parts for you, but I'll say this...the dog essay. I'd like to see Cesar Milan try that on one of his pooches. The only knock I can think of against this collection is Joseph's list-like style, and penchant for whole names. It adds an interesting rhythm at times, but other times it feels a bit forced, and I wondered at its function. Kind of like a hood ornament on an expensive car. Yeah, it looks nice, but the car is a Mercedes already, so is it really necessary? But that also speaks to the strength of the essays...I mean, after all, if you're only complaining about the hood ornament, then you got yourself one fine machine.