Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir

I want so badly to give this five stars just off of the humor of it alone (I truly have not ever laughed as much reading a book as I did this one), and I'm sure lots of people would give it five stars! I just can't all because of about a chapter and a half in which the author talked about pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. Normally, this stuff being in a book, especially a memoir, doesn't bug me because I get that it's a big part of a lot of people's lives. However, what I really, really didn't need was all the pretentious, petty jabs at people who are childfree or don't have kids. Like, they were direct attacks, saying things like oh don't look so smug, this will be you eventually 🙄 not everyone who doesn't have kids wants them. It wasn't just one comment either, it was like constant in that span of a chapter and a half. The humor is the only thing that kept me going through it because I was really tempted to stop there.

I'll definitely be reading her other books, though! Absolutely hilarious author. Plus the audiobook was a lot of fun! Especially with the bonus material.

REREAD:
There's not a ton I'd add to this review after rereading it like two(ish) years later. I will say that the pregnancy stuffed bugged me less than the first time, but this time I caught some stuff that hasn't aged too well, so that kind of evened out the review to the same 4.5 stars lol.

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penguinsliketoread's review

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

3.25

I wanted to like this book more but it was challenging to read. Yes, some of the stories were super off the wall but maybe it was a bit too off the wall for me.

Some stories were amusing and funny but I just couldn't fully get into it. After a while it felt like it was dragging on as the stories just felt repetitive.

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izwit's review

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funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

4.5

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carireadsbooksandtarot's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

I read the Jenny Lawson books backward. This is fine except that that each book she has written has been progressively better than the last, making this one my least favorite. Compared to Furiously Happen and Broken (in the Best Possible Way), this one is just a collection of stories and conversations without much discernible theme. Though she mentions her mental health disorders, she doesn’t focus much on them, making it seem like the author is just a bit of a manic pixie dream girl, getting herself into silly situations and blurting out embarrassing things at parties. In the later books she is much more open about her mental health and, while still being funny about it, her stories tie in directly with her experience living with an anxiety disorder. If you were a fan of Jenny Lawson fan when she was just a blogger, this book may bring some nostalgia for those days (do people even blog anymore?) If you want to know which Jenny Lawson book is definitely worth the time, my vote is Broken (in the Best Possible Way), hands-down.

I'll also mention that I listened to the audiobooks of Furiously Happen and Broken but read this one. I really missed hearing Jenny read her own stories. That may have impacted how I felt about the latter two versus this one as well

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katelynrushton's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.5

Not my favorite of Jenny Lawson's books, but still thoroughly enjoyable

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jazminatondo's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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