Self-Sabotage
And Other Ways I’ve Spent My Time
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4.5 • 10 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Jeffery takes us on a wild—sometimes shocking—and always funny romp.”—Andy Cohen
"Excellent . . . Self is a very clever writer . . . and there’s never a dull moment in his captivating, extremely well-written stories that will have readers hoping for more."—Booklist (starred review)
In the vein of works by Gary Janetti and Danny Pellegrino, an honest, funny, and heartfelt memoir-in-essays about chasing your dreams, making big messes, and finding yourself along the way.
In in his debut book for adults, Jeffery Self invites readers into his world, taking them through the usual foibles of gay adolescence, amplified in the vast wasteland of the American South and the odd characters who peopled it, from shoddy community theater productions to underage drinking with Broadway stars, from downtown comedy rooms to adventure-filled bedrooms. Along the way, he shares his experiences of acting in TV and film, touring live comedy around the world, getting booed off gay cruise ships, a tenure in the “oldest profession,” meeting his heroes, falling in love, getting his heart broken, breaking other people’s hearts, being hated, hating himself, and on the best of days, finding stuff to like about himself, too.
Self-Sabotage is a deeply personal and intimate exploration of Self’s life, filled with humor, heartache, and a hearty dose of bipolar disorder. It asks the profound question of how you become the person you want to be when so much of yourself is a secret—and how you learn to accept yourself when it’s not. It is also, of course, side-splittingly funny.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Actor and writer Jeffery Self has written a sharp, wildly entertaining memoir that balances biting humor with unflinching honesty. Through a series of deeply personal essays, Self recounts his misadventures, from growing up as a theater-obsessed queer kid in the South to navigating the chaotic world of entertainment, love, and self-destruction. With his signature irreverence, Self details brushes with fame, disastrous career turns, and moments of raw self-discovery, and he does it all with outrageous comedy and deeply relatable insight. Brimming with heart, humor, and the messy truth of growing into yourself, Self-Sabotage is a refreshingly candid reflection on mistakes made, lessons learned (or not), and the resilience required to keep moving forward.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Actor and YA novelist Self (A Very, Very Bad Thing) delivers a rollicking adult debut that charts his passage from shame to self-acceptance. "Grab a funnel cake, but don't get too comfortable," Self warns readers, before taking them on "a word-based roller coaster through the chaos that is the unfortunate theme park of my mental health." He mixes wry essays about growing up bipolar and gay in the small town of Rome, Ga., with missives about his stints as an actor, a sex worker, and a comedian, and eventually, his marriage to his husband, Augie. Dotting the narrative are playful asides (he threads lists of "Ten Reasons Not to Sabotage Your Life" throughout, but "One Hundred Reasons to Sabotage My Life" threatens to outweigh them), and though Self's ruthless honesty and self-deprecation occasionally shade into oversharing, his winning voice shines through. His conclusion—that therapy helped him deposit his myriad insecurities "into the bed of my mental pickup truck: a beat-up, gas-guzzling hunk of rusted metal filled to the sky with my endless collection of tedious, time-wasting triggers"—may not be revolutionary, but it feels genuine. This delightfully over-the-top self-portrait brims with pleasures.
