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Book Review – My Horizontal Life

A Collection of One Night Stands by Chelsea Handler

May 21, 2009 Ashley Anderson

Chelsea Handler's comedic memoir chronicles a series of trysts and nights of passion gone wrong, sometimes with a racy twist.

Chelsea Handler's literary adventure of the bedrooms of her suitors in My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands creates a delightfully funny look at the life of a twenty-something who's just looking to have some fun but learns something about herself, and the opposite sex, in the process.

About the Book

From leaving costume parties sometimes intoxicated with a new masculine acquaintance to a barely-legal cruise ship performer to a leather-loving rebound guy, Handler takes readers through her beginnings with sexuality after walking in on her parents to her final realization at the end of the memoir. Sprinkled with the humor that has earned her fame and sometimes doused with vodka and other hard liquors, My Horizontal Life is an adventure that sometimes leaves a reader questioning Handler's better judgment - or taste in men.

Through chapters of moderate length, Handler creates her humor with sarcasm and self-inspection, often questioning her actions and taste in men long after the fact. With each night gone wrong or relationship gone south, a different kind of Handler emerges from the young child who is pushed by an older sibling to spy on her parents in the bedroom, a realization that deviates away from trysts in far away cities and encounters with alcohol and illegal drugs.

Along the way, Handler introduces us to Dumb Dumb, Handler’s roommate who is in her mid-twenties and still hangs onto her youthful innocence in contrast to Handler’s crazy love life, and a group of Handler’s friends who not only encourage her reckless and comedic behavior, but often act as her enablers by playing matchmaker or dragging her to parties after break ups.

While the memoir does have its moments where it feels unrealistic, Handler does a good job at making herself into a human on the page. Through her own momentary thoughts, and sometimes second guesses and questions about her decisions or those around her, Handler brings the reader into the stereotypical glamorous yet fast paced life of a twenty-something and shows audiences the good, the bad, the ugly, and the leather and questions whether or not the lifestyle of parties, sex, and drugs is really worth it in the end.

About the Author

Chelsea Handler, also the author of Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, is the stand-up comedian and actress of television fame, including her show Chelsea Lately on E!. She has also been featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman. She is in the process of writing her third book.

Title: My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands

Author: Chelsea Handler

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2005

ISBN: 1-58234-618-6

The copyright of the article Book Review – My Horizontal Life in Biographies/Memoirs is owned by Ashley Anderson. Permission to republish Book Review – My Horizontal Life in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.