When You Find Out the World Is Against You: And Other Funny Memories About Awful Moments

The author of the New York Times bestseller Everything Is Perfect When You’re a Liar returns with a deeper and even funnier new collection of essays about the pleasures and perils of living in Kelly Oxford’s head.

 Kelly Oxford likes to blow up the internet. Whether it is with the kind of Tweets that lead Rolling Stone to name her one of the Funniest People on Twitter or with pictures of her hilariously adorable family (human and animal) or with something much more serious, like creating the hashtag #NotOkay, where millions of women came together to share their stories of sexual assault, Kelly has a unique, razor-sharp perspective on modern life. As a screen writer, professional sh*t disturber, wife and mother of three, Kelly is about everything but the status quo.

 Perfect for anyone who ever wished David Sedaris and Mindy Kaling would just finally write a book together already, When You Find Out the World is Against You is filled with the biting, wise, and laugh-out-loud insights that have won Kelly legions of fans. Whether she’s detailing her obsession as an eleven-year-old with going to camp so she can become a “kissing bandit,” exploring the bittersweet boredom that so often accompanies parenthood, calling out the insanity of a posse of internet poodle vigilantes, writing bracingly about the anxiety that has plagued her as long as she can remember or taking us to ride shotgun as she stalks her husband on an accidental date with another man, When You Find Out the World Is Against You is Kelly at her most honest and disarmingly funny best. Her comedic skill, down-to-earth voice, and bull’s-eye observations on the absurdity of modern life mean there is nothing quite like seeing the world through Kelly’s eyes.

Kelly Oxford’s world is a landscape of the hilarious, the awkward, and the all-too-familiar:

• Coming of Age Camp-Style: An eleven-year-old’s master plan to get to summer camp, get her first kiss, and deal with puberty—not necessarily in that order.
• Modern Marriage: What happens when you accidentally find yourself stalking your own husband on a date with another man.
• An Unfiltered Look at Anxiety: A bracingly honest and often funny take on living with the anxiety that has followed her since childhood.
• Relatable Parenting Humor: The hilarious and bittersweet boredom that comes with raising three kids, from dealing with schoolyard drama to navigating their teenage years.

Full of razor-sharp observations, When You Find Out the World Is Against You is Kelly Oxford, one of the Funniest People on Twitter (Rolling Stone), tackling the absurdity of modern life, as well as the harder, deeper, more important stuff, too.

THINGS THAT CAN MAKE YOU FEEL REALLY CRAPPY (AN ABBREVIATED LIST):

When you realize that the pain in your armpits is just anxiety. When you realize anxiety is far more crippling than pain in your armpits.

When you realize your kids are old enough to render you obsolete—except when in need of new phones and/or jeans.

When you discover that the would-be leader of the country you now call home has said terrible things about women, on tape for the world to hear.

THINGS THAT CAN MAKE YOU FEEL A BIT BETTER:

Creating #NotOkay, where millions of women came together to share their stories of sexual assault and fight back, and feel slightly less ashamed and alone.

Laughing at yourself. Laughing with other people.

“I have worshipped the mind of Kelly Oxford for eons. Kelly Oxford’s concise, whip-smart observations feel eerily universal. When You Find Out the World is Against You shows that there is something to be learned from even the most absurd or devastating moments of life.” - Jill Soloway

“Kelly Oxford is a beautiful writer. She finds beauty in the mundane and humor in everyday eccentricities. She is our present-day, funny Joan Didion.” - Gia Coppola

“Bitingly funny.” - Glamour

“Oxford has a gift for snarky one-liners and self-effacing humor.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Darkly hilarious essays.” - InStyle

“With her signature wit…[Oxford] delves into the ups and downs of this thing we call life.” - Cosmopolitan

“Kelly Oxford’s writing is hilarious and fearless. She’s the badass Canadian sister I never had.” - Mindy Kaling

“Kelly is part geek, part freak. When You Find Out The World Is Against You shows us ourselves: our sensitivities, our awkward moments, our strange desires. She takes us through summer camp, dating, rape culture, Trump, death . . . Kelly Oxford c’est moi.” - James Franco

“Two things I’m grateful for: how imperfect Kelly Oxford is at life and decision-making, and how terrific she is at writing about what a goddamn mess she is.” - Patton Oswalt

“I have worshipped the mind of Kelly Oxford for eons. I love the way she synthesizes the crazy stew of bad decision making, rage, panic, anxiety, and total euphoria, often all in the same day. Kelly Oxford’s concise, whip-smart observations feel eerily universal. When You Find Out the World is Against You shows that there is something to be learned from even the most absurd or devastating moments of life.” - Jill Soloway