Ten Steps to Nanette, Hannah Gadsby
Ten Steps to Nanette, Hannah Gadsby
17 Rating(s)
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
Club: $11.25

Ten Steps to Nanette
A Memoir Situation

Bestseller

Author: Hannah Gadsby

Narrator: Hannah Gadsby

Unabridged: 13 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/29/2022


Synopsis

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.

About The Author

Hannah Gadsby stopped stand-up comedy in its tracks with their multi-award-winning show Nanette, which played to sold-out houses in Australia, the UK, and New York. Its launch on Netflix, and subsequent Emmy and Peabody wins, took Nanette (and Hannah) to the world. Hannah’s difficult second album (which was also their eleventh solo show) was named Douglas, after their dog. Hannah walked Douglas around the world, selling out and scoring another Emmy nomination. Before all of this, Hannah appeared as a character called Hannah in Please Like Me (Hulu) and toured their native Australia and the UK as a stand-up comedian. They made art documentaries and did plenty of other things over the course of more than a decade in comedy, but that will do for now.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Trin on June 02, 2022

Wow, there are a lot of trolls in the ratings already, aren't there? This is a difficult read the way Nanette was difficult: it's extremely raw, the subject matter is at times brutal, parts are a bit too long and rambly, and Hannah Gadsby doesn't care what you think of her and that comes across. (Plu......more

Goodreads review by Theresa on April 06, 2022

When I think about watching Hannah Gadsby’s NetFlix special a few years ago, I remembered it as being funny and original. I didn’t remember the heartbreaking aspects she included. Her memoir, Ten Steps to Nanette, has laugh-out-loud funny bits, but it describes many painful memories she survived as......more

Goodreads review by Melissa on March 31, 2022

As an autistic lesbian, I feel that I am obligated to love Hannah Gadsby. And I do.......more

Goodreads review by Emmalita on March 26, 2022

Nothing I say in this review is going to adequately express how generally good this book is because I keep wallowing in the ways it is impacting me personally. It is very good and I think a lot of people should read it. Especially now when there is a rising focus on driving LGBTQ+ folks further into......more

Goodreads review by Bianca (Back, catching up) on June 30, 2022

I'm generally a reluctant memoir reader. I had no doubts about wanting to read/listen to this. Gadsby's shows Nanette and Douglas blew me away (check them out on Netflix). Comedians are smart people, even the arsehole ones. When I was young I used to dismiss comedy/comedians as not as "important" or w......more


Quotes

“For fans of Gadsby, [their] delivery on the page will delight just as it does on screen. [They] remain honest, with stories that draw laughter over situations that are always based in truth—harsh or otherwise.”Time

“Enthralling.”—The Washington Post

“A joyful read . . . Gadsby’s voice is intimate and close, and spending time with it is a lot like listening to a good friend relay a fascinating life story over a couple of pints at the bar.”Oprah Daily

“Similar to [their] groundbreaking comedy specials Douglas and Nanette, Gadsby’s memoir reads like a conversation with a longtime friend. . . . A can’t-miss memoir that will make readers laugh, cry, and everything in between.”Library Journal (starred review)

“In this stunning debut, Emmy Award–winning comedian Gadsby guides readers on a tour of [their] life that’s every bit as intimate, gutting, and untidy as the performance referenced in the title. . . .This stirring tale of resilience laughs in the face of the ‘inspiration porn’ industry.”Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Consistently self-effacing and contemplative, Gadsby acknowledges that [their] unique brand of deadpan observational comedy isn’t for everyone, especially since it often skewers ‘the two most overly sensitive demographics the world has ever known: straight white cis men and self-righteous comedians’. . . A witty and provocatively written life story.”—Kirkus Reviews