Sure, I'll Join Your Cult

 By Maria Bamford

Gallery     2023

288 pages     Memoir

It was the title Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult that really caught my attention when the advanced readers copy was offered to me by the publisher. I had been going down a cult rabbit hole with books and TV shows, and I thought Bamford’s book would fit right in.

First, I am sorry to say that I had no idea who the author was because of my lack of familiarity with stand-up comedy. I also had no idea what her interpretation of the word “cult” would be, but I dove into the book and read and laughed my way through it. The book hit home with me on many levels.

I loved her understanding of cults. I had never looked at cults the way she did. She used the term to describe Overeaters Anonymous and other 12-step programs, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People and even to describe Suzuki violin training. Once she described these programs, I bought into her idea that these are very cult-like although non-religious operations. I completely understood her predilection for joining these organizations to help her out of whatever mental state she was in—and at the same time to participate in something, even when she’s not very good at it.

The Washington Post reviewer says that the book becomes a “portal directly into Bamford’s mind.” The review also suggests that there is an “authenticity to her words that elevates them into something beyond the category of comedy memoir.” The reader is able to identify with her even as we are laughing at her pain and misfortune—because of the very clever way she presents her life to the reader. Each chapter closes with a crazy recipe (not real recipes), and I found myself looking forward to these recipes because they tied the entire chapter together.

I particularly appreciated her honesty about her mental health issues—even though they are told with self-deprecating humor. She mentions in the introduction: “I do not know what I’m talking about. And full disclaimer: cults, books, books about cults, and comedy are no replacement for meds. Medicine is the best medicine.”

I listened to the first third of the book on a car trip and then read the rest on my Kindle. I recommend that you listen if you can. The audio version of the book is extremely funny because it is read by the author, and she has a quirky and wonderful way of emphasizing words, sentences, and even whole paragraphs that makes listening a fantastic experience.

I watched several YouTube videos of Bamford’s comedy and a couple episodes of her Netflix series, Lady Dynamite. So, I was really surprised when I read that she had grown up in Duluth, Minnesota, my hometown. She had even gone to the same elementary school my siblings and I had attended. More than that, her mother had belonged to the same women’s organization that my mother had belonged to and her father had been active in the community theater—just like my dad.

More of the Washington Post review: “Some of her misadventures—among them, being committed to a psych ward and accidentally killing a beloved pug — feel like anything but laughing matters. But it’s a testament to Bamford that she’s able to fill these pages with stories that are relatable and consistently hilarious, even when they’re harrowing … This material, and the quirks of its presentation, make the memoir feel like a 270-some-page portal directly into Bamford’s mind. That notion would probably be terrifying to Bamford, who worries frequently on the page that she may be coming across as a massive narcissist. But there’s an authenticity to her words that elevates them into something beyond the category of comedy memoir.”

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