REVIEW: EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE GREAT by Rachel Shukert

This is unabashed writing at its funniest.  Imagine if David Sedaris were a twentysomething, Jewish, naive, experimental actor abroad, with questionable taste in men -- then wrote a book about it.

Shukert's exploits include landing an unpaid gig in an acting troupe that specializes in nontraditional performance pieces.  The show, seemingly forever in rehearsal, finally gets lined up for a small tour in Europe.  Fickle actors and an even more sensitive director plague the performances but they are the least of Shukert's worries.  She tries on different boyfriends, as if they were a favorite new pair of jeans that slowly shrunk in the dryer, or faded too fast.  None are what is was really looking for and she teaches herself this the hard way. 

The author, Rachel Shukert

But do not think this is a self-pitying memoir.  It is one part cathartic, one part dinner party story.  For most of us, I think we would be embarrassed to share our mistakes so readily with the rest of the world.  But perhaps Shukert sees her readers as members of group therapy.  If she gets it out there, the baggage is lighter and she knows she will never repeat her mistakes.

This chapter in Shukert's life is wrapped up nicely, but let's hope she keeps having adventures, and keeps writing about them.  She reminds us that to err is human, and to read about someone else's growing pains can be hysterical. 

Many thanks to Erica at Harper Perennial for the review copy.  Check out her blog, The Olive Reader.

Follow Rachel Shukert (twitter.com/rachelshukert or visit her site.

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ISBN: 9780061782350; ISBN10: 0061782351; Imprint: Harper Perennial ; On Sale: 7/27/2010; Format: Trade PB; Trimsize: 5 5/16 x 8; Pages: 336; $13.99; Ages: 18 and Up