I’ve Tried Being Nice: Essays by Ann Leary
Ann Leary is done being nice. No one can say she hasn’t tried, but after a lifetime of people-pleasing, and with her children finally launched, Leary has stopped bending over backwards. In this relatable essay collection, the novelist sheds her always-agreeable image and shares the nitty-gritty details of life as a “borderline hermit” forced to interact with the world in ways she doesn’t always appreciate. The resulting stories are hilarious – from a home bat invasion to a dustup with a neighbor’s boundary-free dogs to red carpet foibles with her husband, actor Denis Leary. But there are poignant and personal stories here too. Leary is candid about her journey as a recovering alcoholic, and vulnerable about the struggles of staying in a long-term marriage. Readers will appreciate the messy humanity Leary displays. Ultimately, in letting go of performative niceness, Leary finds confidence and the freedom to instead pursue kindness, a value that “comes, in its purest form, from wanting, simply, to be good to others.”
Reviewed by Mary Kinser, collection development librarian, Whatcom County Library System
(Originally published in Bellingham Alive October 2024 issue.)