A Quick Review of ‘Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes’

How perfect is it that the review that’s taken the longest to write is titled that?

To be fair, I live in Georgia, so quarantine ended right after I announced this series. Goodbye free time, hello anxiety.

Anyhow, Sorry I’m late is a bit different than my usual read. It’s a memoir. This is the first time I’ve ever picked up a memoir by choice. But, that title was just so irresistible that I had to buy it.

To summarize, this book is about an introverted blogger who has come to the realization that she is lonely, so she tries acting like an extrovert to make friends. Throughout the book, she tried different things to meet people and become more sociable. She talks to strangers on the bus, does improv classes, and finally hosts a dinner party.

I know this all may sound boring, but Jessica Pan’s prose is just so engaging and fun. I often found myself reading farther than I first intended to. The only thing slowing me down was the “real-life interlude” chapters. There was a definite shift in tone and story that wasn’t bad, but it was different enough that I wasn’t as motivated to keep moving forward.

I loved this book. It’s brief, funny, and felt like I was reading about an older, less single, more Asian version of myself. As I read this book, I wanted her to succeed in becoming more extroverted. I wanted her to show me how to do it.

By the end of the novel, she learned that it is important for an introvert to step out of their comfort zone from time to time. She doesn’t really intend to change her whole lifestyle, but now she had new friends and experiences that she will always value.

This book won’t surprise you with all its twists and turns. It’s not an entirely new take that you won’t see the ending coming. It’s her real-life story. It’s as wild and crazy as the average person’s.

I would rate this book as a 3 out of 5. The score is only so low because of the book’s subtitle (‘One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes’). Yeah, she was trying new things but by no means was she accepting everything that comes her way.