Confessions of a 40 something F**k Up book review

Everyone thinks you get wiser as you age, but that doesn't happen. Keep reading to find out what happens as you head into your fourth decade of life. 

Hey, I'm Kyla Denanyoh. Today, we're talking about the book Confessions of a 40-Year-Old F**k-Up. Alexandria Potter wrote the book. The genre of the book is fiction. The theme of the book is a literary situation comedy. 

This book was so cute. I can't find it in print. I listened to this audiobook, and I absolutely enjoyed it. Now, I will say this. I definitely thought this was a nonfiction book. I spend a lot of time reading fiction and nonfiction. I like to switch up parts of my brain and challenge myself with different things. But I really thought this was a nonfiction book because last year, I read a book called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k, and I thought this was going to be in the same vein as that. But it wasn't. But it was still really cute. 

The book is about an unlikely friendship. And that was one of my favorite things. But there was a really funny part in the book where Nell says, I just want to have a life that is not based on perfect Instagram posts. And that is everything people are looking for in life right now.  In 2025, people are all about social media posting content. And so content is a massive part of many people's lives, my life, your life. And so, she's like, I don't want the pressure of having this perfect Instagram life. 

And I found that to be so compelling because Nell is almost 40. Shouldn't you not care? No, you always care. You will always wonder what somebody else thinks of you, even if it's just you wondering how you feel about yourself. You're gonna wonder how you think about stuff. That's just, it's human nature. 

And so, Nell has this unlikely friendship. She decides that she wants to start a podcast. And as she's podcasting, she is just recording it. She doesn't expect anyone to ever listen. One day, she goes to a party, and people talk about how much they enjoy this podcast. Oh my God, you should listen. Oh, this lady's so funny. They're talking about her. Weirdly, she's trying to avoid having this perfect life, but she ends up having a life where she's creating content, but it's still compelling to people's lives. It just isn't on display like an Instagram post would be. She's not spending all this money on marketing. She's not posting herself with her microphone and doing all of this stuff just to get the likes, and people are still listening to it and sharing it. 

I thought it was really funny that none of her friends recognized her voice. They're listening to the podcast and sharing it with other people. They're like, man, this person really gets me. They just didn't even think that Nell had it in her to do something this wild and crazy and brand new, like start a podcast. And here she is, rocking the world. 

That was key to me, especially because I have a podcast. I'm 40. I create content. I wasn't expecting so many similarities when I was reading the book, but it was great because you do create stuff. And yes, you make it for yourself, but you would like other people to see it at least. Or even if you look at it, you're like, next. You create it because you want to put your own voice out there. If somebody else is watching and enjoying it with you, it's a bonus, but you do create because you expect someone to listen. That's why you release it. It's not just a regular journal that you keep at home. 

This book was very unexpected but a very enjoyable read. Would I reread it? Probably not. Again, I picked it up and was really expecting it to be a nonfiction book, so my head was already in a different space. And so, no, I wouldn't pick it up. It was a good story, but it was nothing that I would need to revisit. 

Until the next book review, Kyla