Ten Steps to Nanette

A Memoir Situation

De: Hannah Gadsby

Narrado por: Hannah Gadsby

Multi-award-winning Hannah Gadsby broke comedy with their show Nanette. Now they take us through the defining moments in their life and their powerful decision to tell the truth—no matter the cost.

“Hannah is a Promethean force, a revolutionary talent. This hilarious, touching, and sometimes tragic book is all about where their fires were lit.”—Emma Thompson

“There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself,” Hannah Gadsby declared in their show Nanette, a scorching critique of the way society conducts public debates about marginalized communities. When it premiered on Netflix, it left audiences captivated by their blistering honesty and their singular ability to take viewers from rolling laughter to devastated silence. Ten Steps to Nanette continues Gadsby’s tradition of confounding expectations and norms, properly introducing us to one of the most explosive, formative voices of our time.

Gadsby grew up as the youngest of five children in an isolated town in Tasmania, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997. They perceived their childhood as safe and “normal,” but as they gained an awareness of their burgeoning queerness, the outside world began to undermine the “vulnerably thin veneer” of their existence. After moving to mainland Australia and receiving a degree in art history, Gadsby found themselves adrift, working itinerant jobs and enduring years of isolation punctuated by homophobic and sexual violence. At age twenty-seven, without a home or the ability to imagine their own future, they were urged by a friend to enter a stand-up competition. They won, and so began their career in comedy.

Gadsby became well known for their self-deprecating, autobiographical humor that made them the butt of their own jokes. But in 2015, as Australia debated the legality of same-sex marriage, Gadsby started to question this mode of storytelling, beginning work on a show that would become “the most-talked-about, written-about, shared-about comedy act in years” (The New York Times).

Harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette traces Gadsby’s growth as a queer person, to their ever-evolving relationship with comedy, and their struggle with late-in-life diagnoses of autism and ADHD, finally arriving at the backbone of Nanette: the renouncement of self-deprecation, the rejection of misogyny, and the moral significance of truth-telling.

©2022 Hannah Gadsby (P)2022 Random House Audio

Fabulous

Such a generous book. And fabulous to be able to hear it read by the author. Found myself repeating ‘absolutely’, ‘so true’, and variations on that same theme throughout. It made me think; it challenged me; it moved me.

Hannah’s book is amazing

Thank you for writing your book Hannah. I gave me solace. I my feelings about myself and self worth over the years has been extremely low. I am diagnosed with ADHD and am 58 years old. Listening your book offered me so much comfort. ❤️💕

Utterly engaging

Sometimes I was belly laughing and sometimes I was crying but I was always gripped. Who is this incredible woman? She pinned her own butterfly wings so we could take a closer look in this book. I hope her current Comedy Special Body of Work is super successful and takes the sting out of her wings (even though I know she is currently touring it with shingles and a broken foot).

THANK YOU!

Thank you, with tears. I'm not great with contact, but I give you an energy hug, for speaking on behalf on me. Thank you!!!

Fabulous

If I could think of 15 words for fabulous that would be my review. And Queer.

Brilliant and powerful!

You feel all the feelings listening to Hannah explore her life and how it has got her to the now. Eloquent, authentic, funny, honest, and raw. I had a little cry and a little smile here and there.

I highly recommend this book. Love, love, loved it!