Rating: 
Summary: Margaret's usual charm nor talent not found here
Review: Although I do realize that Margaret Cho is not a renowned writer, I couldn't help but to be disappointed that her words did not come alive as her live preformances. It lacked the humor that one expects from Margaret and furthermore, the stories don't offer anything different or perhaps something more significant that would compliment what Margaret has shared with her fans on her shows. In my opinion, the book rather read plainly as the script of her show, left without someone or something to make it come alive.
Rating: 
Summary: Honest story of Margaret's life
Review: As a companion to the hilarious dvd of the same title, this book delves a little deeper than the stand up routine and allows the reader, in greater detail, to see the problems that Margaret Cho has overcome. From her childhood, where she was viewed as an outsider to her adult life, dealing with failed relationships, alcohol/drug abuse and racism, Ms. Cho is completely candid. She lets us know about painful events in her life, such as being raped, simply and truthfully. Near the end of the book, she deals with the failure of her sitcom with ABC and the problem with her weight, a concern for everyone, it seemed, but her. At the end, you see a young woman that has become comfortable with who she is and unafraid for anyone to know it. If you are a Margaret Cho fan, you'll want to pick this book up. Ifs not the laugh-a-minute riot that her live concert is, but it is well worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: I wish it didn't have to end like this
Review: As a Korean-American girl, I've enjoyed watching Margaret Cho's stand-up comedy over the years, but when I picked up this book, thinking it was going to be an extension of that--humor mixed with some painful memories of her past mixed with some more jokes about growing up Korean-American--I was dissappointed. To say that she speaks candidly about sex and drugs is an understatement; at times I felt that Margaret went too far and crossed over into tastelessness (i.e. going into great detail to describe ex-boyfriend's sex habits, dropping names and then snuffing them later on because she's supposedly 'the better person' now). Of course, I don't expect her to be a great writer because she's a comedienne, but I was expecting a good story...I guess that was my downfall. I was not expecting her to make me feel physically uncomfortable while reading the book! She tries so hard to label herself the 'ugly, fat, dumb' girl that it gets repetitive and annoying. I find her life interesting but her book a put-off. There was one joke that I found amusing enough to laugh at (the Star Search International memory), and I wish she had put everything else in the same perspective...
Rating:
Summary: Behind the comedy
Review: As most of the reviewers have stated, I began reading this book thinking that it was a representation of Margaret Cho's stand-up comedy. Well, it is, but not in the way one would expect. It's more about Cho's life and where her comedy comes from. It's about her journey through tragedy and pain to the beautiful places within herself, where she can love herself. Yes, there are parts of her comedy routine here, but more than that, there are incredibly powerful, inspirational autobiographical snippets. I was amazed at Cho's capacity for writing. I found myself drawn into her story, consoling and cheering along with her and her friends. That is Cho's power as a comedian and as a person. She brings us into her world and makes us hers.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's Margaret?
Review: As tell-all autobiographies go, this one leaves out some important factors. While Margaret Cho is frank and honest about her weight issues, drinking, narcotics, sexual promiscuity...she forgets to tell us much else. Unfortunately very little of her spirit comes through as she gives us a mind-numbing catalogue of the crimes she has performed against herself. And allowed others to perform. Sure, it would be hard to joke when you're giving the details of some of these events. But Cho has always been able to see the humor, satire, absurdity in life -- her own and others. Her comedy work is noted for crossing boundaries and delving into areas that make an audience initially uncomfortable but then break through and bring us remarkable insights and great laughs. That so little of that perspective can be found here is disappointing. Without that voice, she is nothing more than your standard celebrity giving us the sordid details of his/her shameful past. Margaret has a better book to give us and I hope to read it someday.
Rating:
Summary: loved it!
Review: At first I thought this book wasn't as exciting as I had expected, but soon I could not stop reading. Some parts are sad, but then there are also parts where I laughed out loud. As a woman, I identified with her weight struggles. Those of you who are Asian or Asian American know it seems we are all expected to be skinny and petite, and excuse me but I have hips and am not a waif! Reading about Margaret's troubles and how she overcame them made me feel empowered! I loved this book. Not as funny as her act, but wonderful just the same.
Rating:
Summary: a great biography
Review: Heartfelt and Hilarious! If you're looking for comedy, get her videos or CD's. This is nice, but it's more on the sentimental side, not the funny side of Margaret.
Rating:
Summary: Slow but sincere...
Review: I bought the book hoping to gain insight into the young and talented Margaret Cho. As a stand-up she has a quick wit and fantastic personal and political observations. But as an author she is not as clever, shocking or provocative as she thinks she is. She has a good story to tell. Suffering from low self-esteem, communications deficits with her family and a clear, uphill battle with prejudice, it's easy to see the obstacles she had to deal with and subsequently triumph over. But her story-telling abilities still need some work and polish. She should read more biographies and perhaps take some classes on story development. The first 2/3 of the book are a slow, predictable read. She tries to describe her history as though it was decades ago - with the cynical eye of time, age and perception. But, in fact, it's fairly recent history. Granted, she made it through, but hindsight is always 20/20. The story is not finished. The lesson may be yet to learn. I'm sure it was great therapy for her to pound out her lurid tale of a young life gone awry. But the constant self-loathing, self-pity, fast times, "sex-drugs-and-rock & roll" lifestyle is a tune we've all heard before. The deal is: she made it out the other side but that's the shortest part of the book! A quick fix at the end of the book tries to wrap it all up in a nice neat package - and we all know that's not the way life happens. I wish she'd spent more time on putting it all together, gathering up the pieces of herself and telling us how difficult (and in what ways) she re-connected the pieces of her life and her personality. How she mended fences, the relationship with her parents at present and what she wants from life. THAT would have been a book with a real ending, not just a pretty package.
Rating:
Summary: Very UNinspiring!
Review: I bought this book after reading Rosie O'Donnell's interview with Margaret Cho in her magazine. I can't tell you how very disappointed I was. If you are looking for an uplifting and inspirational autobiography, you won't find it here. There is little generosity of spirit or love to be found in this book. I can't count the number of times Margaret gleefully talks about using her fame and popularity as a weapon to take revenge on this person or that person for having slighted her in the past. She even talks about her mother as though she is some horrible monster, and yet what we actually SEE of her mother, telling her that it is the best mother's day of her life because of Margaret's success, except for that other best mother's day, which is when she did not miscarry Margaret ... well, she seems pretty loving to me. Perhaps Margaret is too busy wallowing in self pity to notice it. I find it hard to believe anybody could have been as miserable and despised as Margaret Cho claims she was. Okay,if she truly peed her pants at school and chose to go back to the playground and play wet and smelly rather than change, I could understand why she wasn't very popular ... because she was deliberately offensive. And she continues to be so in this book. She talks about her little heart just full of love, but in actual fact her heart seems to be full of hate. Margaret, I am very disappointed in you. And you, too, Rosie.
Rating:
Summary: This is your definition of survival!?!?!?!?
Review: I didn't see Cho's similarly-titled, stand-up performance, so I may be missing something. I admit that I started this book thinking Cho would write, "I am a proud, bisexual, Asian woman and this is how I learned to fight the Eurocentric heteropatriarchy!" Let's just say this book is nothing of the sort. Cho places herself in the long line of brilliant, but severely tortured, comics such as Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Nathan Lane. These pages were pure tears of a clown. Most of the book details her being drugged and drunk. The last half of the book is her going from one useless, heterosexual relationship to the next. Even the end doesn't explain how she triumphed over her many demons. While she tries to explain it, I still detect much racial self-loathing in her words and actions. But maybe this her point. She too wants to explain how her failed show "All-American Girl" doesn't come close to defining her existence. She wants to show that Asian-American girls aren't all virginal and constantly studying for the SATs. This work does a decent job of showing a human trying to find her space outside of the boxes in which we place each other. So in that way, we do get to understand a talent who at times can be a genius. Yeah, this book was okay. I'd add it to Fong-Torres' "The Rice Room", hooks' "Wounds of Passion", Rebecca Walker's new autobio, and other useful biographical works of people-of-color-who-made-a-name-for-themselves-and-found-a-medium-in-which-they-shine.
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