Mindy Kaling starts the beginning of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? with a not-so-cliche story of her life growing up and the struggles she encountered in school that shaped her to be the person she is today. This beginning of the novel isn’t a slow start like other books — it shows how far Kaling has come from being a chunky Indian girl to a successful producer and author.

As the book progresses and Kaling looks back at her young adult life, she points out the things that she would’ve done or fixed. Kaling’s advice given throughout the book are the basic “do everything you can while you’re young” speeches, but they include unique and underrated advice one wouldn’t expect.

Kaling advises to not peak in high school because you never see the “popular” kids from high school really make it big afterwords. Her words are inspiring and raw to high school students because it is coming from a perspective from someone who had it rough during that time.

Kaling’s voice in her book is strong, almost like one can hear her bubbly voice reading the words right off the pages. Her book is a fun and easy read that will keep the reader laughing and learning the whole time.