Crying Laughing by Lance Rubin (review)

When sophomore Winnie decides to put her fear of public performance aside and join the improv group at school (with a bit of persuasion from the cute Evan Miller), she's especially excited to tell her father, a former actor and the king of comedy as far as Winnie is concerned. Unfortunately, her parents have news of their own and it's not at all funny: Dad has ALS and it's progressing pretty fast. What she thought was going to be a school year of literal fun and games turns into a minefield of drama: things are increasingly strained at home as her father ignores his diagnosis, Winnie's best friend is distant and snappish, and her relationship with Evan is turning out to be an epic mistake. Winnie's a firecracker with charm, but her cleverly acerbic narration unfortunately makes her actual efforts at comedy within the book fall flat in comparison, and she ends up spending much of her time telling the reader what is funny rather than being funny. Her grief and anxiety over her father's illness are more subtly played, as she is caught between wanting to know the worst, hoping for the best, and just pretending the whole thing isn't happening. Some sly commentary on gender roles in relationships and masculine egos in the comedy world is organically worked in as Winnie is forced to dismantle the pedestal she's put her father on and reconsider Evan's motivations, but Rubin gives both male characters enough depth to still earn them readerly sympathy at the end. Although it's more likely to elicit some chuckles than full force lolz, this might make an apt fictional partner to Akilah Hughes' memoir, Obviously (BCCB 10/19), for a look at how tragedy and trouble can serve as fodder for cathartic comedy.