Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars | 1,731 ratings

Price: 17.72

Last update: 12-10-2024


About this item

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Multi-award-winning Hannah Gadsby broke comedy with their show Nanette. In this “enthralling” (The Washington Post) memoir, they take us through the defining moments in their life and their powerful decision to tell the truth—no matter the cost.

Don’t miss Hannah Gadsby’s Something Special, now streaming!

“Hannah is a Promethean force, a revolutionary talent. This hilarious, touching, and sometimes tragic book is all about where their fires were lit.”—Emma Thompson

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: PopSugar, Vulture

“There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself,” Hannah Gadsby declared in their show Nanette, a scorching critique of the way society conducts public debates about marginalized communities.

Gadsby grew up as the youngest of five children in Tasmania, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997. After moving to mainland Australia and receiving a degree in art history, they found themselves adrift, working itinerant jobs and enduring years of isolation punctuated by homophobic and sexual violence. When Gadsby was twenty-seven, a friend encouraged them to enter a stand-up competition. They won, and so began their career in comedy.

Gadsby became well known for their self-disparaging humor, but in 2015, as Australia debated the legality of same-sex marriage, they started to question this mode of storytelling, beginning to work on a show that would transform their career and would become “the most-talked-about, written-about, shared-about comedy act in years” (The New York Times).

Harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette traces Gadsby’s growth as a queer person, their ever-evolving relationship with comedy, and their struggle with late-in-life diagnoses of autism and ADHD, finally arriving at the backbone of Nanette: the renouncement of self-deprecation, the rejection of misogyny, and the moral significance of truth-telling.


Top reviews from the United States

Meghan L.
5.0 out of 5 stars Quite Possibly the World's Most Fascinating Woman
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2022
Reading Hannah Gatsby is like being inside an emotional pinball machine controlled by the wizard of pinball ... whose brain is like pinball. Masterful on every level, chock-full of lines I read and reread, picked apart, and savored. Poignant, tragic, brilliant, enraging, hilarious. Gatsby might not like the word "inspiring" applied to her book, but there, I've said it.

I've watched "Nanette" at least three times already, and now that I've read about how she constructed it, I'm going to go back and watch it a 4th time, knowing new things to look for ... and I'm bummed I can't watch all of the other versions because I want to see every incarnation. This book is so good I'm going to listen to it on Audible in addition to reading it in print because I have FOMO with respect to her delivery.

I'm not the fangirl type, but Hannah's made a fangirl out of me. I will go to my grave knowing that Hannah Gatsby's brilliant observations, masterful delivery, and seething outrage have changed my life for the better.
S. F. Russell
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning! Beautiful book
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2023
I just finished Ten Steps to Nanette. I loved the show (and her follow-up show Douglas), so getting to learn about Gadsby’s life and how she developed the work was truly fascinating! She’s funny and brilliant and gobsmackingly honest . It made me laugh out loud and cry and feel glad and heartbroken and alive. I’m so grateful to this remarkable artist that she is sharing herself and her stories as a way to heal herself and the whole wide world. Having her articulate her struggles and victories inspires me to keep on keeping on. Thank you, HG!
CLK
5.0 out of 5 stars An Atypical Masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2022
I cannot begin to articulate the painful and profound truths to be found between the covers of this book, nor should I. It is an experience that can only be had by getting a glimmer into Hannah's world, which she generously shares with her readers. There are so many layers and so much complexity, so many important thoughts to ponder. Interesting and informative, laced with just enough humor to help us tolerate the truth. Re-purposing comedy to express intense anger, trauma, and pain, without transferring it -Brilliant! Thank You Hannah ! sending a virtual, none contact hug.....
Ash
4.0 out of 5 stars Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2023
Really enjoyed this book. Gives some good context for the standup I saw.
Leslie Gerkens
5.0 out of 5 stars No Photos--Still Completely Worthwhile
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2022
First, the criticism--there are no pictures in this book. Maybe I sound like a child but I would really have loved to see photos of Tasmania, Hannah and her siblings as kids, etc. I love to see!!! So, I do feel a little cheated on that score. I'm not sure what to say about this book because I think it hits you differently depending on your experiences in life. I know that a lot of people relate to Gadsby because she is gay but I am straight and I relate to her on many levels, being a woman, dealing with depression and anxiety, having ADHD, being on the spectrum--at some points it felt like my story--I did not get my life changing diagnosis until later in life, like Gadsby, and it was a huge relief and help to know what was going on with me and how to deal. If you have dealt with any of the above and/or have trauma and shame this may be the book for you--or it may not, if it will bring up upsetting memories. She covers the Nanette controversy--which I don't really understand. I watched Nanette and was riveted. I thought it was amazing but I didn't give much thought to whether or not it was comedy. It was just brilliant and that was enough for me. I didn't find it a particularly funny book-although I did laugh out loud a few times. It may have been a hilarious book but I was so focused on the more serious parts that I missed some humor. That can happen with me. I read this book in 3 days, so engrossed was I, and I do not recommend taking it in at that speed--especially if you have trauma. I wouldn't say the book triggered me--Gadsby does give a trigger warning--but it did make me ruminate at length about my problematic childhood. That isn't a bad thing, necessarily, but it was a bit painful. I really appreciated how Gadsby went into the laws against homosexuality and the legalized homophobia in Tasmania--she gives updates throughout the book, on how Tasmania eventually changed its laws regarding homosexuality but you can only imagine how destructive and demoralizing it must have been to grow up in that bigoted environment--regardless of your sexuality. I am especially grateful that Gadsby included this because , of course, in America the republicans are trying to bring back those cruel, inhumane laws. One last thing!! I accidentally watched a video wherein a couple of...men, I guess you'd say, were putting Gadsby down--but in a subtle way--until one said that due to Gadsby's "neurodiversity" she "doesn't know what is going on". If it hadn't made me so angry I would have laughed because if there is anyone who knows EXACTLY what is going on, it's Hannah Gadsby. Also, this IS the last thing--I watched `Nannette' and `Douglas' on Netflix before I canceled my Netflix account because they support Dave Chappelle--so now I can't watch Gadsby except clips on youtube.com. That seems somehow wrong...
JD
5.0 out of 5 stars Read in private, you'll wake the neighbors
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2024
Funniest person on the planet, whether she wants to be or not. You'll laugh out loud. I promise.

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