Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Happy People Are Annoying by Josh Peck

16 reviews

bronaghd07's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful sad medium-paced

3.75

i grew up watching drake&josh (still one of my favourite tv shows) and adore mean creak so to hear about josh’s life while these pieces of media were being made was fun. really well written and you can definitely tell he has a background in comedy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Eating disorder, Abandonment, Bullying, and Self harm

allieskat17's review

emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing fast-paced

4.0

Well written and very interesting. I never knew that peck struggled with drugs and was very interested to hear about his struggles with weight and self esteem after watching him as a kid 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Mental illness, Abandonment, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, and Sexual content

deshanejt's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I absolutely love learning how down-to-earth and relatable some celebrities are. To find out there are genuine people underneath the facade of Hollywood.

Josh's memoir was raw and brutally honest. He shared his experiences in candid detail, and I found his journey to find sobriety and happiness oddly relatable.

Mixing in dark and dry humor at times, with witty commentary. This felt very much like it came from the heart.

I remember growing up with Drake & Josh, and the Amanda Bynes show... They were role models, and reading about the most humbling of experiences and poor life choices Josh made throughout his life was a healthy reminder that we don't always have it altogether, and that's okay! We just can't stop trying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Drug abuse, and Eating disorder

Minor: Death of parent and Panic attacks/disorders

emiliamaria76's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, and Drug use

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

This is an actor I’ve seen on a lot of things but could never figure out where else I’ve seen him or how I know him. I’ll always know now. I really enjoyed this book. He has looked in himself and talked to his readers naked, or so it felt - like if I’d written it, that’s how I would feel about it. Good job Josh! Good luck with your future endeavors 🙃

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Eating disorder, Cancer, Infidelity, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

itsalilbitalexis's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.25

"Life is ineffable. It's too weird and complex to reduce to a single word: happy. ... joy will come as quickly & as strongly as sadness will, and the cycle will repeat in a beautifully fucked-up ballet of ups & downs until the sun eats the earth. But I now know one thing for sure:

The hard times are here to teach us, and the good times are to remind us what we're fighting for."

WOWOW. This was a GOOD one.

Confession: I've never watched the Amanda Show. Never watched Drake & Josh. Honestly, I don't think I've seen a single thing that Josh Peck is in (sorry, Josh) & I didn't really know anything about him... so I had no idea what to expect, other than knowing that people say he's hilarious, I was obsessed with the title, and this book came highly recommended from a friend who loves memoirs about mental health as much as I do. I kind of assumed it would be a "hot take, this is what it's like to be a child actor" humorous memoir - but it was so much more than that.

Often times, self-deprivation and humor in memoirs can feel cheap, ungenuine, reductionistic... But as he weaves his brand of humor into looking back on all the stages in his life, how he consistently sabotaged himself, and how he learned how to adapt and pivot, Josh Peck maintains the perfect balance of being genuine to himself and his personality, keeping the reader engaged, and also still discussing the hard/dark times in a way with which the reader can empathize.

My only gripe (truly) was that his discussion of growing his career on Vine, YouTube, etc. felt way too long - I loved his discussions on poverty, addiction & mental health, the difficulty he had in the world of acting, and just about everything in the book... but it just felt like that portion took longer than it needed to & didn't add as much to the story as the rest. BUT, I recognize that it was a critical chapter for him and it definitely spoke to his resilience and ability to pivot in a creative way.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this memoir (specifically, as an audiobook). It was so entertaining to listen to him narrate his life, while also feeling very authentic and encouraging you to feel connected to and yet also constructively critical of his experiences and actions.

4.25 ⭐️s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Abandonment

mandaraffe's review against another edition

I was mostly interested in his weight journey and being a child star, and those parts were very interesting, but they only made up a very, very small part of the beginning of the book. I’m sure his addiction story will be really impactful to other people, but at this point I’m going to move on from this one. Might revisit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug use

laurynsmith's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.25

this one made me giggle. i love josh peck and have gained an even greater respect for him after reading this! it was a little repetitive at times and skipped over things i wanted to hear. nonetheless, it was funny, heartwarming and extremely vulnerable. highly recommend on audio!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Abandonment

katiejohns's review against another edition

funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, and Death of parent

magdalena_rose's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment