Wow, No Thank You.: Essays

While most essayists write to an assumed reader, Irby goes beyond this motif by directly addressing the reader personally, virtually making the reader one of the characters in her essays. She accomplishes this in part through her conversational tone, using many currently familiar expressions and references to Internet memes. The more significant way she draws in her readers, however, is calling them “by name.” Often, she will emphatically say, “Girl!” or “Dude!” Her intent is to invite her readers into the dialogue as confidants.

By way of lowering the expectations of the reader, Irby consistently portrays herself as existing in a state of chaos. This obviously applies to her earlier life even before she became an orphan and was unhoused. The author extends the sense of chaos to the present, however, when she describes the constant state of anxiety in which she dwells, exacerbated by her folly—for instance, finding she cannot open the door of her new business on her first day of work—and her multiple health uncertainties. Through an air of perpetual chaos, the author enhances her empathetic connection to her readers.