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Tired as F*ck: Burnout at the Hands of Diet, Self-Help, and Hustle Culture by Caroline Dooner
bluejayreads's review against another edition
4.5
I picked this up because, like How to Keep House While Drowning, the title called to me. I am, indeed, tired as f*ck. I also was very intrigued by the “radical period of rest” mentioned on the back cover. I wanted to do something like that, and I hoped this book would tell me how to go about that. My enthusiasm was only increased as the book started out by saying that Caroline set aside two whole years for a radical period of rest. I was very excited, because that is exactly what I need. Just tell me how to do it, Caroline!
My library categorized Tired as F*ck as self-improvement and psychology, which I think is how I got the idea that there was going to be some how-to in this book. This book is, in essence, mostly memoir. There are some parts at the end where Caroline talks about her two years of rest experiment, but most of it is how she ended up at that point. It covers her medical problems, the medical fatphobia that led her to believe all her problems were from not losing enough weight, her attempt to obtain perfect health through diet and weight loss, her struggles with food, her undiagnosed eating disorder, and her career stress as an aspiring actress. A good 80% of the book is just covering all the stressors that led up to her needing those two years of rest.
And I completely get it. Extreme diets are stressful and make life harder at the best of times. Caroline somehow managed to go raw vegan for something like six months, which sounds like absolute hell the way she describes it. There is quite a bit on the stresses of becoming an actress and her attempts to force herself to become one despite disliking a lot of the process, but most of the story focuses on her weight and diet struggles. At some points it started to feel like a whole book advertising her first book, The F*ck-It Diet. (And it comes with a VERY severe trigger warning for eating disorders and dieting.) The self-help and hustle culture that the subtitle hints at takes a back seat to her struggles with diet culture.
It was an inspiring book, overall. Though most of it was just about her eating disorder struggles and did sometimes feel like it belonged in The F*ck-It Diet instead, towards the end when she actually started talking about her rest was good. I think if I’d gone in expecting a memoir, I would have appreciated it more. It was still very good, but I had expected (and wanted) a little more how-to. Because I also am tired as fuck and need to take some extended rest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Eating disorder
Moderate: Body shaming, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Fatphobia
Minor: Alcoholism and Cancer
mwhiting522's review against another edition
So. Much. Privilege. So. Much. Whining.
marieandthebooks's review against another edition
4.0
I binged the F*ck it diet and went straight on to binge tired as f*ck, so I felt I knew the format and general idea here.
I had read that it was also partly memoir - which it is! And I’d say it’s 3/4 memoir AND f*cknit diet and the tired part didn’t show up until the last hundred pages.
I thought perhaps the book would offer a more similar approach to the burnout that comes with hustle culture than it did so that was a little disappointing to me. However it did give some really good personal tips without the heavier research based backing.
I kind of love Caroline as a person and I think if we had the same orbit could be best friends, but I also think we’re both too introvert to go on bumble friends and make that happen.
Instead I will just listen to her audiobooks and agree with all her observations wholeheartedly. I TOO hate dating apps, binge drinking and society’s ducked up standards!
I chose to listen to both her books because I think she’s a damn fine actress and her tone and voice makes all the difference. They are so much funnier with her light tone than it can end up being if you add weight and seriousness to it. Then it might be super depressing cause she lists possibly all the worst possible things she’s lived through - but I truly believe she must have had some amazing times in between the tragedies to be able to write with such humor.
The book made me lower my shoulders for the period it took to read, and it reminded me to take stock on what’s important and what needs to be minimized if not cut to live a better life. I’d say that’s pretty good work for a book
I had read that it was also partly memoir - which it is! And I’d say it’s 3/4 memoir AND f*cknit diet and the tired part didn’t show up until the last hundred pages.
I thought perhaps the book would offer a more similar approach to the burnout that comes with hustle culture than it did so that was a little disappointing to me. However it did give some really good personal tips without the heavier research based backing.
I kind of love Caroline as a person and I think if we had the same orbit could be best friends, but I also think we’re both too introvert to go on bumble friends and make that happen.
Instead I will just listen to her audiobooks and agree with all her observations wholeheartedly. I TOO hate dating apps, binge drinking and society’s ducked up standards!
I chose to listen to both her books because I think she’s a damn fine actress and her tone and voice makes all the difference. They are so much funnier with her light tone than it can end up being if you add weight and seriousness to it. Then it might be super depressing cause she lists possibly all the worst possible things she’s lived through - but I truly believe she must have had some amazing times in between the tragedies to be able to write with such humor.
The book made me lower my shoulders for the period it took to read, and it reminded me to take stock on what’s important and what needs to be minimized if not cut to live a better life. I’d say that’s pretty good work for a book
writingbookscoffee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
ms_smith's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
plcbaker's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
fast-paced
4.0
More of a memoir but also permission to rest
hissingpotatoes's review against another edition
2.0
Really important challenges to pervasive societal toxicity, buried in a rambling repetitive mess of a memoir. I skipped 2/3 of the book.
toiaaaa's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
2.5
It felt like reading the medical history of the author and the reflections of each one where not that long. It wasnt what I was expecting at all but i was okay.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Alcoholism and Mental illness