Nevermind that this book was published by Bloomsbury Publishing June 2005 and that I’m more than three years late on this review. Chelsea Handler’s My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands is a delightfully guilty pleasure that is well worth the read.
As the title implies, the book is a collection of essays about some of the funnier one-night stands that Ms. Handler endured during her twenties. Whether the essays are completely true, partially true, or not true at all is irrelevant. All that matters is that Handler’s sarcastic wit and complete shamelessness in retelling not-so-flattering stories about her conquests (real or imaginary) are a winning combination. I’m not talking profound prose here. Reading the book is like having a conversation with Handler herself, albeit a really long, one-sided conversation. Her informal, conversational tone is what allows you to suspend disbelief and to live vicariously in a world where men scurry out of windows to avoid detection and Handler gets stuck in windows while doing the very same thing.
It is hard to believe that Handler made it to her thirties undaunted and unscathed, but as a reader, I am so glad that she did. I will admit that I was tempted to have a one-night stand with Handler’s book - reading it in one night and tossing it aside for my next literary conquest; but a book this good should be savored so I invited it to stay for breakfast the next morning.
As the title implies, the book is a collection of essays about some of the funnier one-night stands that Ms. Handler endured during her twenties. Whether the essays are completely true, partially true, or not true at all is irrelevant. All that matters is that Handler’s sarcastic wit and complete shamelessness in retelling not-so-flattering stories about her conquests (real or imaginary) are a winning combination. I’m not talking profound prose here. Reading the book is like having a conversation with Handler herself, albeit a really long, one-sided conversation. Her informal, conversational tone is what allows you to suspend disbelief and to live vicariously in a world where men scurry out of windows to avoid detection and Handler gets stuck in windows while doing the very same thing.
It is hard to believe that Handler made it to her thirties undaunted and unscathed, but as a reader, I am so glad that she did. I will admit that I was tempted to have a one-night stand with Handler’s book - reading it in one night and tossing it aside for my next literary conquest; but a book this good should be savored so I invited it to stay for breakfast the next morning.
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