Like the best storytellers -- fictional or otherwise -- [Joseph] treats her people with compassion. She manages to be very funny. But she refuses to reduce her family to a comedy routine. Her stories are often sad, but she never lionizes suffering. Instead, she sifts through the ruins of her romantic and emotional entanglements, with an eye on the absurdities we endure in the name of love.

"I'm Sorry You Feel That Way" is sure to offend the faint of heart, but it's hard to recall another collection of essays, or a memoir, with more natural charm.