You’re Embarrassing Yourself by Desiree Akhavan

Writer, actor, and director Desiree Akhavan shares the stories she was told to shut up about—hilarious, horny, heartbreaking tales of a life in pursuit of art and love.

When it comes to shame, award-winning filmmaker and director Desiree Akhavan knows what she’s talking about – whether it’s winning the title of The Ugliest Girl at her high school, acquiescing to the nose job she was lovingly forced into by her Iranian parents, or losing her virginity to a cokehead she met in a support group for cutters. In You’re Embarrassing Yourself, Desiree goes to the rawest places: the lifelong struggle to be at peace in one’s body, the search for home as the child of immigrants and the anxious underbelly of artistic ambition.

With all the humour and vulnerability of Jennette McCurdy and the warmth and nuance of Jia Tolentino, You’re Embarrassing Yourself is equal parts funny and heartfelt, charting an artist’s journey from outcast to overnight indie darling, to (somewhat) self-aware adult woman. The result is a book that captures the pathetic lows and euphoric highs of our youth, and how to survive them, in a voice that is unmistakably, unapologetically Desiree’s.