Review: Obviously: Stories From The Timeline by Akilah Hughes
I’ve been following Hughes for years and years on the internet for years. As soon as I heard about her book I was jazzed to finally be able to read it. It eventually faded from my mind but I remembered it today and hopped to it immediately.
I do sort of think some parts of this book might be better for people who are less familiar with Akilah. Many of these stories I had already heard in various forms on the internet elsewhere, which is always the case with memoirs by internet people. Despite this Hughes is hilarious and charming throughout the book. I laughed really really hard once, and particularly enjoyed the way Hughes talked about her mother.
This is an incredibly easy to read conversational book. Which is exactly what I want from memoir. The book is largely funny, with occasional moments of seriousness, and is engaging throughout.
The book doesn’t have an overarching narrative or a strict structure. It very much is a collection of essays connected by little joking vignettes. The vignettes don’t work that well in audiobook because they seem like the start to a new essay and feel like a let down once you realize it is just a quipped one liner. But I assume that is very much not the case in the actual physical novel so I just pushed past that feeling.
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone looking to read a funny memoir, especially for internet people.
I gave this book 3 stars.
