Little Miss Little Compton

September 1, 2020
Actress, comedian, and podcaster Myrin puts a twist on the idyllic small-town childhood memoir. Her parents got married on a dare (really!) and settled in tiny Little Compton, Rhode Island (pop. 3,512), where she grew up as a perennially naked child with a bowl cut who grew into a teenager with a penchant for corduroy knickers. Though Myrin describes her father's quirks with fondness, she does not sugarcoat his offhand cruelty, which worked itself into her growing sense of self. But her mother, Janet (aka JJ), is the costar of the book. The worst crime in JJ's book was to be a drip, and, though she didn't coddle, she loved her children fiercely, and, from her, Myrin learned scrappy creativity and that being herself was a gift. There are stories of midadventures in dating and auditioning, but the best parts of the book involve JJ, right up through her unexpected death. Little Miss Little Compton touches on tough subjects, like grief, but Myrin relates even the most humiliating story with a frenetic wit that will leave readers charmed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)