Why I'm Like This

Cynthia Kaplan takes us on a hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking journey through her unique, uncensored world -- her bungled romantic encounters and unsung theatrical experiences; her gadget-obsessed father and her mother, who, if you should want to know, is fine; her pill-popping therapist, eccentric grandmothers, and fearless husband, whom she engages in an ongoing battle over which of them is the most popular person in their apartment; and, of course, her vengeful, power-hungry, one-year-old son.

Kaplan's voice is a lot like the one in our heads -- the one that most of us are only willing to listen to late at night . . . maybe while locked in a closet. What a relief it is that someone finally admits that she is afraid of nearly everything; that she is jealous even of people whose lives are on the verge of collapse; and that she has, at times, tried to pass for a gentile.