Rolling with the punchlines – by Urzila Carlson – Review and blog

No word of a lie this book took me 7 days to read! (you will probably only see the irony in that if you knew that Urzila frequents the program 7 days)…. None the less it is true.

Usually if I know I am going to review a book that I am reading I will write notes scribbled down or typed on a word document saved lazily on the desktop of my computer, but with this one I accidentally just read the whole thing and forgot about all that.

I did think about things to say in the shower… but until someone invents a waterproof notebook, those ideas often just get flushed down the drain.

However a few days after I finished the book I wrote down three stupid things…. this is what they were…

“OMG she shot at a police man…”

“WTF Wanda Sykes!”

“Ask her who the girl with the fringe is”

…You had one job Michelle… one job!

I found this book in the Woman’s bookshop in Ponsonby and it was part of a book pack that I received through “Get it done Mum” and I was able to choose what books I would like.

I saw it, wanted it, and then I based all my other book choices around it Haha.

I got home and started reading it, thinking I would read the first few pages out of curiosity and stopped as I needed to read another book before this one… but then couldn’t stop reading.

It was a surprising read, and not that I thought that she was not going to deliver a good yarn and a laugh. But I was surprised by her life, her journey and most of all the struggles that she has had to overcome with her family and life in South Africa through the eyes of a child.

I love the story of her coming out to her friends and family as lesbian, the beginnings of her life as a comedian in New Zealand, the relationship with her wife and the births of her two children… the sadness that followed the sad passing of another in the belly of her wife.

The book is so honest, awesome, funny and heart-breaking. She can weave a story within a story and have it feel like she is right there in the room talking to you.

She is an awesome woman, wife and mother.

A fabulous, funny comedian.

It is SO worth a read!

You can pick it up from many great bookstores including “The Women’s bookshop” in Ponsonby.

And don't forget to go and like her on Facebook :)