UNDERESTIMATE ME. THAT’LL BE FUN! tells you everything you need to know about this self-help book right up front. If the axe-wielding woman in high heels on the cover doesn’t give you enough clues, the author’s pen name, “Furiosa,” should dot that nose for you. This is a motivational book, but not the kind with a genial author tenderly exhorting the reader to practice mindfulness mediation. Furiosa, not unlike her namesake character from the movie Mad Max: Fury Road, takes a fiery, take-no-prisoners stance against anyone–herself included–who tries to hold her back from living life to the fullest. Swinging her “verbal axe” with gleeful ferocity, the author downs one minion of negativity after another. Bullies, haters, and online trolls fall under her blade, as well as “negative dullards” who rain on your happiness or good news and well-meaning friends who “don’t want you going for your dreams because they have long since given up on theirs.”

Furiosa directs her harshest blows, however, against her own self-critical thoughts. Sprinkled throughout the book are dialogues between the author and her inner voice, with the inner voice nitpicking and undercutting the messages of the preceding chapter (“Woo-wee! Someone is full of themselves today”), and Furiosa delivering a caustic smackdown in response (“And someone else is full of something, too.”) Occasionally, she relaxes her tough-gal posture and offers guidance to nourish the spirit. “Find what feeds your soul,” she advises. “For me, it’s a star-filled sky, a secluded beach in any season, a good book, and a warm blanket by the fire, delicious food shared with friends.” The author’s beautifully drawn recollections of her excursions into nature are some of the book’s high points, balancing its fiery exhortations with tranquil, evocative poetry.

Disappointingly, Furiosa swings her verbal axe too wildly and swerves into out-of-nowhere political ranting that sends the book careening off the rails. An entire chapter is devoted to denouncing modern feminism (“I see women marching in the streets shirtless or wearing only bras and shorts. They have painted SLUT on their bare stomachs”) as self-victimizing, and tosses in derisive swipes against trans people–“I cannot wait to see Serena Williams or Megan Rapinoe lose to a man who has decided to be a female athlete”–and the #MeToo movement for good measure. Furiosa goes on (and on) to deride feminists as “women who sit home Saturday nights with their six cats” and glibly defends toxic masculinity as “very intoxicating.”  Whether readers agree with her views or not, this chapter is an unnecessary detour, adding little relevant substance to the book, other than a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” call for toughness in the face of oppression. And it’s disheartening to see this staunch advocate for living your truth revealed as a prudish, reactionary scold. Worse still, it drops a stink bomb into what has been, to this point, an upbeat and positive experience. The author does her book a needless disservice by including this chapter, which will turn off a substantial portion of her potential audience while heaping scorn and mockery on many readers who would otherwise benefit from her advice.

UNDERESTIMATE ME. THAT’LL BE FUN! is both fun and inspiring and offers a fierce, defiant message of self-empowerment and embracing one’s true self. It’s a spirited and often lyrical guide to living a full and joyful life–until an ill-considered digression torpedoes its affirming message.

~Edward Sung for IndieReader