"What in the World?!" by Leanne Morgan – Review

Dieu Donné Werque! Leanne Morgan’s What in the World?! is a side-splitting and heartfelt narration of a wholesome mother of two businesswomen, as well as a grateful wife in the making in the most comical Southern way. Morgan’s down-to-earth and hysterical approach to standup comedy is reminiscent in the book, humor and personal reflection provide readers with the essence of both the pros and cons of having a family and motherhood.

In this review, I will discuss Morgan’s comedic persona of the book, the structure and message of the book, the peculiarities of the book, and the role of humour in the book.

Click here to read What in the World?! for free with a 30-day free trial

Introduction: Leanne Morgan's Unique Voice

Leanne Morgan has also attracted a vast audience because of her genuine and most importantly, a down-to-earth personality, given by her comedy style. No matter the topic, whether it is raising children, dealing with marriage, or surviving in middle age, all the Morgan’s books are written like you are talking to your friend. What in the World?! does exactly that; she welcomes the reader into her world while tickling their funny bones and touching their hearts.

The title namely ‘What in the World?!’ reveals that Morgan has always been a comedic personality, who takes things with a pinch of salt and a mere ‘Shrug.’ Even from the opening page readers are introduced to her point of view – a mad swirl of frustration with modernity but a never-ending tickled fascination with it at the same time.

Plot and Structure: It is about a compilation of small aspects of Life.

Like many other popular Web series, What in the World?! does more of an episodic style, which creates a more memoir-in-essays style. while each chapter is integrated into the whole work to provide individual stories and vignettes on aspects of Morgan’s life, some chapters focus specifically on her role as a mother and wife, her struggles with ageing, diets and survival in today’s world. The narrative structure of the book enables the reader to read at a very slow pace without necessarily having to wait for the subsequent chapter to be able to get closure on the topics in a given chapter.

Morgan starts the book by sharing some of her experiences of growing up in Tennessee illustrating how the region contributed to the kind of humor that she has. She shares about childhood, being a member of a large family and the funny incidents that crop up in such traditions. From there, the book goes to her adulthood, with most of the humour drawn from her parenting three children, sustaining a marriage, and managing or rather most often struggling to attain sanity in the process.

It does and one of the stand-out chapters is about family vacations and how funny they are according to Morgan. From rushing children through airports to having them break the car’s speakers, Morgan amuses the audience as she converts what the majority of people consider to be a nightmare into comedy. I also like her video on dieting and body image; in the video, she mocks the various diets she has taken in the past and how they impacted her in both funny (and truthful) ways.

However, all joke-telling is not entirely amusing in the book; a few portions of pathos are also served. Morgan also delves deeply into more issues and themes of life, including parenting through teenage years, how people fear for the lives of their loved ones, and how people try to balance their careers and families. These moments help the book to stand not just as a series of funny stories, but as a gentle reminder and an appreciation of the comedy, hope, and chance in life.

Themes: Family, Motherhood and Life and Its Irony

By its essence, What in the World?! is about family – the crazy journey of parenting, being married, sharing life’s journey with someone and finding the self within the storm. Morgan accurately shares the experiences of her three babies from the sleepless nights with the babies to their leaving home.

One of the book’s key messages is to learn to love the flaws. Motherhood is not easy, and Morgan talks freely about the hard times when she felt like she was failing, or when things did not turn out as planned. Rather, she takes this gag and chuckles at those moments and invitations her readers to do the same as well. In one chapter she talks about women and how they should be ‘perfect’ wives/mothers and workers but the good news, even Morgan reminds us sometimes we’re all messy, we all make mistakes and really, no one knows what they are doing half the time.

Erbacher also discusses the second important topic throughout the book and that is aging and change. In this book, Morgan is not shy about discussing what it is like for her to be moving into middle age, the typical physical changes that take place that are described humorously as well as forgetfulness and new experiences of middle life. But she also has introspective thoughts about finding maturity alongside humour paired with the ability to laugh at oneself, and the ability to find happiness even in such tiny things in life.

Morgan’s concepts in the book are also influenced by the South primarily because of his background. Hearns’s stories give a feel of community, tradition and faith entrenched in her works. She lovingly describes her family, her friends and the Southern environment in which she lived where family reunions, church meetings, and living in a small town form the people’s identity. This Southern flavour brings an excellent and new dimension to her comedy, making the book come off like a chat over a glass of sweet tea on the porch.

Click here to read What in the World?! for free with a 30-day free trial

Laughing Together to Foster Bonding

From this social perspective infused with everyday experience, Morgan got his comedy centred on humour. Another factor that makes her comedy appeal to her readership is that her material is not gory or readymade; she turns the Rated R focus on finding humour in everyday life events that her readers can relate to.

From the difference in financial management to the struggle for cooking small-eaters or attempting to be cool in a world that always seems to become more uncool – Morgan’s humour is real. She writes about real life, meaning readers will understand her work at a much more personal level.

In the programme What in the World?!, Morgan shows that comedy is not telling jokes but helping people find their reflection. This is the strength of the book and why it is much more than just funny, anyone, especially women and mothers will identify with what she is saying. People recognize themselves in the problems that happen to the protagonist and realize that it is not only them who are experiencing this.

Writing Style: Conversational and Engaging

Leanne Morgan’s writing style in What in the World?! mirrors her stand-up comedy: being that it is informal, friendly, and simple in layout. Her Southern accent is easily recognizable, and the way she tells her stories is as if you are listening to a housemate while having dinner and she is recounting what happened in the household.

Where Morgan approaches the genre from a different perspective than other comedic writers in that she can be sincere at the same time. Morgan reminds us though that funny does not always mean fast, and although the majority of the book could make you laugh out loud and make you ROFL at times, there are also moments when the author knows when to pause and be philosophical. Ultimately, in such intimate moments, she shares with her fans fragments of her daily life and actions, her adversities and, occasionally, her dreams.

That is why the speed of the events described in the book is entirely appropriate to the format of the narrative. Every chapter can be read as a separate article which gives the reader the freedom to open the book and read a single chapter before setting it aside and coming back later. That is why What in the World?! will be useful for those people who do not have much free time to dive into a book but still would like to wittily come back.

Impact and Reception

Ever since, What in the World?! has found its audience, who enjoys Morgan’s humour, emotions, and Southern spirit. Hence, a significant part of the audience has been women, mothers, and fans of Morgan’s stand-up show, most of whom have appreciated the narrator’s stories and the welcome tone dominant throughout the book.

It has also pleased readers that, throughout this text, Morgan uses the dull experiences of the day and makes something remarkable out of them. From shopping at the supermarket to a disastrous family dinner to the craziness of the festive period, Morgan brightens our view towards life’s trivialities and makes us see the light side of things.

Conclusion: A Celebration of Life’s Flaws

The kind of humor Leanne Morgan presents in What in the World?!, is one greatly mixed with warmth in What in the World?!. By telling her stories, she tells her readers that one does not need to have the perfect life to live a beautiful life and that the best way to move forward is to laugh and proceed.

The humour used by Morgan is based on normal occurrences in life such as being a mother, wife and middle-aged and thus shows the readers’ reality. She is bubbling with charm and her stories give a reader a unique feel of having sat and heard an African sister and her experiences in life.

As with many books about comedy in everyday life, What in the World?! is both funny and reassuring, which is more than enough reason to recommend it to anyone who needs some light in these dark times. I found out that no matter what happens in life, one can never run out of things to joke about after listening to the stories Morgan has to tell.

Click here to read What in the World?! for free with a 30-day free trial