With trademark self-deprecation, Kitty Flanagan makes it clear at the outset of her latest memoir that she does not pretend to have a particularly extraordinary life. Instead she suggests that it might just be a bit interesting to anyone who wants to read about it. More a protracted stand up routine than autobiography Bridge Burning and Other Hobbies is hilarious.
I actually “read” the book by audio book and it was read by Kitty herself. People I know who have read the book with their eyes rather than their ears say that they can hear Kitty reading it in their own minds. I can well imagine.
So many of the anecdotes about daily life were so easy for me to recognise. Like Kitty, I too dabbled in stamp collecting when I was a child because I thought having a hobby was compulsory and that sport did not count. I also have a tendency to laugh randomly on public transport.
A friend of a friend once met Kitty and said she was not at all funny in real life. I was surprised to find out that she acknowledged this in the book and had sought help from a psychologist after a particularly embarrassing fan girl moment with Julia Gillard. She concludes that all of her humour and emotional risk is exhausted by her shows and she has nothing left for socialising.
Each chapter had its own laugh out loud moments but, even in the midst of humour, there are some surprisingly touching insights into Kitty’s life. She clearly does not court sympathy for her childless and single status. However, I loved her analysis of the bad press given to stepmothers over the years and her preference to be called a “villager” when she has entered a blended family. A reference to the African proverb about it taking a village to raise a child, she suggests that she should be called the “village idiot”.
Highly recommended for anyone seeking a little comic relief.
