Unreliable Narrator

Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome

By: Aparna Nancherla

Narrated by: Aparna Nancherla

The New Yorker Best Books of 2023

NPR's Books We Love 2023

“A deeply honest and funny look at how exhausting it can be to live a human life, Unreliable Narrator is a book for anyone who wants to laugh and feel less alone.”—Amy Poehler

A hilarious and insightful collection of essays exploring impostor syndrome, from the inside and out, by the most successful fraud in comedy

Aparna Nancherla is a superstar comedian on the rise—a darling of Netflix and Comedy Central’s comedy special lineups, a headliner at comedy shows and music festivals, a frequenter of late night television and the subject of numerous profiles. She’s also a successful actor who has written a barrage of thoughtful essays published by the likes of the New York Times. If you ask her, though, she’s a total fraud. She’d hate to admit it, but no one does impostor syndrome quite like Aparna Nancherla.

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR is a collection of essays that uses Aparna’s signature humor to illuminate an interior life, one constantly bossed around by her depression (whom she calls Brenda), laced with anxiety like a horror movie full of jump-scares, and plagued by an unrepenting love-hate relationship with her career as a painfully shy standup comedian. But luckily, crippling self-doubt comes with the gift of keen self-examination. These essays deliver hilarious and incredibly insightful meditations on body image, productivity culture, the ultra-meme-ability of mental health language, and who, exactly, gets to make art “about nothing.” Despite her own arguments to the contrary, UNRELIABLE NARRATOR is undeniable proof that Aparna is a force—as a comedian and author alike—to be reckoned with.

©2023 Aparna Nancherla (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

The New Yorker Best Books of 2023

NPR's Books We Love 2023

"An insightful collection of hilarious, relatable essays...Bringing her talent for humor to the page, Nancherla questions modern culture’s obsession with chasing perfection, our abysmal social media habits and the drudgery of depression."—W Magazine

"A glimpse into the brain of a woman who works very hard to take care of it...[These] essays...tell a story of struggle, skepticism and, ultimately, perseverance."—Washington Post

"Unreliable Narrator is both sensitive and side-splitting, as well-researched as it is relatable. Nancherla walks readers through the course of her career, her kamikaze humor infiltrating even the darkest, most revealing parts of her narrative.”—Paste Magazine

Good stuff!

I’m sure this narrative spoke to many of us, and it was comforting to see that we have a lot of company. Some really good info capped off the good humor.

I loved it was not a “she tried, tried and made it” story

I enjoyed the stream of consciousness on comedy and heteronormative-colonialist-patriarchy, was vaguely trigged by the way she openly talked about mental illness and mediation, and was amused by her humor

Insightful and smart

Fresh and unpretentious look into coping with depression and imposter syndrome from a very funny storytelling vantage point.

Funny, honest, so many recognizable things

Recommend. Very open and honest, surprising topics next to imposter syndrome. Voice is very nice. Funny.

So much valuable insight, please read

This is a great book. Fun to listen to. Very enlightening and hard to stop listening once you start. This book should be renamed Awesome Narrator.

Had little to do with the title

Her voice was annoying and the author was just talking about herself, and it was uninteresting.