Gary Janetti is back with Start Without Me, a new book of essays about growing up and growing older. The bestselling author of Do You Mind if I Cancel? and a producer and writer for Will & Grace and Family Guy, among other shows, brings his ironic, acerbic take on life.
There are the stories about his childhood, like how much he loved that one day every year when The Wizard of Oz was on television (it was before streaming, so you only had one chance a year to catch the primetime airing of the movie). And the year that his parents bought a new television set and he found out that part of the movie was in color was a revelation to him.
There are stories about him in his 20s, reading books in New York’s great gay restaurants and tanning his way around Europe. There are tales of his Catholic high school and how he got out of his physical education classes while the class was playing football. And there are the snippets of his life now, and how he’d rather move than spend time talking to his neighbors.
There are the stories about the friends he made while on the cruises that his family got to take on account of his father working for a cruise company. And the stories about his family, like how hard it was to talk his mother into letting him stay up for The Carol Burnett Show (until the one night that the police knocked on the door (I’m not going to tell you what they said, but that story alone is worth the price of the book).
Janetti includes a commencement address that skips over the platitudes and tells the truth. His Trip Advisor review goes in to details about the issues on his vacation. And his rant about destination weddings is what we all think and don’t say.
But while he is entertaining us with his stories of growing up in Queens in the !970s and ‘80s, of going to college on Long Island, of living in Manhattan as a young man, Janetti is drawing us in to his life. He offers up snarky stories and poignant memories, but really he is offering up his own heart and soul on a silver platter. These are personal stories, but he uses his vulnerability to show how alike we all are, even if we don’t actually want to talk to each other.
There were moments I laughed so hard at Start Without Me that I had to stop the audio and wipe the tears from my eyes. And there were moments I could feel the sadness coming through Janetti’s voice. He narrates the audio himself, which just adds to how honest these stories sound. I thought that there were moments where he sounded a little robotic reading these stories, but that just made his punch lines zing with extra flair, so the more I listened, the more charmed I became.
I’m not sure this book is for everyone. I think you have to be a fan of Janetti or his work in Hollywood to appreciate it. It helps if you were a child of the ‘80s or a theater kid or a true fan of Judy Garland to truly understand some of these stories. But if you were socially awkward as a kid or grew up in Queens or just really want to lay out and get a good tan, then you might just find that Gary Janetti is one of your people, and you will enjoy these stories with gusto and guffaws.
A copy of the audiobook for Start Without Me was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.
