When it comes to shame, award-winning filmmaker and director Desiree Akhavan knows what she’s talking about – whether it’s winning the title of The Ugliest Girl at her high school, acquiescing to the nose job she was lovingly forced into by her Iranian parents, or losing her virginity to a cokehead she met in a support group for cutters. In this book, Desiree goes to the rawest places: the lifelong struggle to be at peace in one’s body, the search for home as the child of immigrants and the anxious underbelly of artistic ambition. With all the humour and vulnerability of Jennette McCurdy and the warmth and nuance of Jia Tolentino, this book is equal parts funny and heartfelt, charting an artist’s journey from outcast to overnight indie darling, to (somewhat) self-aware adult woman.