It's My F---ing Birthday: A Novel - Softcover

On the first page of It's My F---ing Birthday, the unnamed narrator initiates a new tradition: every year she will write "a personal state of the union to help me chart my profits and losses." We get these annual reports in chapters, from "Thirty-Six" to the concluding "Forty mmmmppphhh." In between lie several years of angst-ridden dating and parental torment in the already hallowed tradition of Bridget Jones's Diary. There are two differences: author Merrill Markoe, who spent many years writing for David Letterman (and collecting many Emmy awards), has a considerably darker comic vision than Helen Fielding. And she also resists the temptation to pair her narrator off in the service of a happy ending. In fact, this is one woman who finds out she's happier on her own: "One great thing I have noticed about living all by myself: All of my annoying habits seem to have disappeared." --Claire Dederer

“Funny in a sly, true, painful way.”—Los Angeles Times

“On-target, poignant . . . a study of one woman’s evolution from passivity to self-esteem.”—The Washington Post

“Witty . . . [Markoe] finds humor in those not-so-Kodak moments. So will you.”—Glamour

“Bickering parents, weird sex, and ambiguous floral arrangements pave the road to enlightenment in legendary comedy writer Merrill Markoe’s first novel. . . . Along the way she reminds readers that the heart is a fragile little critter. And sometimes the best we can do is make a wish and blow those candles out.” —O magazine

“A dark, witty story about one woman’s attempt to find the right man and not kill her mother.” —Talk

“Witty . . . Markoe’s very funny and astute about women’s insecurities.” —The Hartford Courant

“Perfect for curling up with at the end of the day when we long for the company of good friends, but they’ve all gone to bed. You know, after watching the Late Show.” —St. Petersburg Times

“Laugh-out-loud debut fiction . . . classy stuff that deserves tons of flowers from dazed and satisfied readers.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[Markoe] brings her crisp, gratifyingly feminist sense of humor and flair for satirizing the lives of frustrated singles to an irresistible first novel.” —Booklist

“The perfect gift for all women who face birthdays with grim determination, pepper spray and sharp fingernail files . . . Markoe teaches the joy of laughing through pain and bubbling through toil and trouble.” —Publishers Weekly