By Gabrielle Nguyen
Sloane Crosley’s How Did You Get This Number is a collection of humorous essays (and by essays, I mean nonfiction short stories). Although you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, the cover of How Did You Get This Number, featuring a headshot of a grizzly bear, is a testament to Crosley’s style of wit and humor. Although she has dedicated her book to her parents for everything they have provided, the dedication includes a footnote outlining a punishment, which she considered to be an overreaction and excluded from the dedication. It was for throwing a party while her parents were out of town.
What follows are nine hilarious stories, ranging from an encounter with Portuguese clowns on an errant trip to Lisbon, to how she deals with her learning disability that deprives her of all spatial-relation skills, to her encounter with a grizzly bear cub in Alaska.
While it may be in the humor section of Barnes & Noble, Crosley’s writing is unique and noteworthy. She creates a potent blend of grouchiness, sarcasm and incredulity with generous sprinklings of eccentric comparisons. In “Show Me on the Doll,” she likens a potential pickpocket in a silver, nylon tracksuit following her down an alley to a cat burglar with Tourette’s.
Crosley also shows a mastery of various voices. At times, she is conversational while inviting you to visit her innermost thoughts, and at other times, she is cranky and matter-of-fact, all of which is tailored to maximize comedic impact. Crosley even manages to turn the story of an old heartbreak into a chuckle-inducing anecdote in “Off the Back of a Truck”.
How Did You Get This Number does have some instances of adult humor, which may not be appropriate for younger audiences. If you enjoy How Did You Get This Number, Crosley’s first book, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, is another collection of equally humorous essays.