Microthrills
True Stories from a Life of Small Highs
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- €3.99
Publisher Description
Raised in Manhattan by her overprotective sex-therapist mother (who wore “nine inches of shoulder pads”), Wendy Spero has always sought excitement in microthrills, the small, strange highs that give her life meaning—from finding a strip tease video of her grandmother to selling knives door-to-door. As a little girl, Spero passed the time sniffing fruit-scented markers and breaking up arguments between her imaginary friends. As an adult, in her first office job, she formed an unusual relationship with her boss that involved as much marijuana-smoking as it did mentoring. Called “a profoundly funny human being” by Time Out New York, Spero is now a comedian living in L.A., grappling with such grown-up issues as trying to kick her addiction to eating candy in bed and learning how to drive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Every day for comedian and writer Spero is an endless stream of microthrills: intense gratification gathered from mundane pleasures like fruit-scented markers and squishy rubber keychains. Eschewing traditional ideas of fun-dangerous pursuits like roller coasters and bike riding-Spero nonetheless has exciting, zany experiences daily, whether showing her finger puppet collection to potential roommates or dealing with desperate e-mail from her jealous dentist. The drama began early for Spero, growing up with an energetic, anxious, fiercely loving mother: parting each frenzied morning involved "a tortuous good-bye ritual involving a lot of puckered-lip pecking and Eskimo nose-kissing," and her mother's late return from work each evening caused Spero to "pace in my Garfield nightgown, ranting about the dangers of the city to the balding night doorman who doesn't speak English." Spero has an impressive memory for the sensory details of her childhood; she longingly recalls her Halloween masks, "how the mouth portion got slightly sticky, and how I'd feel nearly suffocated by the fog of my candy-scented breath." Though her essays sometimes lack narrative structure, there's plenty of funny one-liners ("I have absolutely no memory of my mother against a natural backdrop, although I do recall her running in heels from furry bees in the park"), and Spero's down-to-earth, adorably compulsive voice delivers some priceless moments.
