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eringiglio's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Funny, brief, and enjoyable.
mandibibbs37's review against another edition
2.0
I haven't read any other pieces by Jenny Lawson, but I found this piece predictable and not very interesting. Her style of interjecting on her own writing slowed the pace of the piece so it didn't flow as well.
migreads's review against another edition
5.0
What a great quick read! I read this as part of a Kindle reading challenge, but may need to pick up one of her full length books to read soon. I loved the dark humor and fully support Halloween being the superior holiday!
donasbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I thought I would LOVE this essay from Jenny Lawson, who is bright and funny, and who scales some of the same mountains in life that I do. It's an essay about holidays, how great is that! From October 10 to January 2nd, my house sparkles, blips, and glistens! I love the holidays. What could go wrong? Right? I mean, right? So I kind of feel bad that I didn't like it.
And some of this essay is truly funny for me, like the bit about Halloween costumes in the 80s, holy cow those things were horrible! And I'm glad Lawson herself narrated the audiobook for this essay, as I don't think anyone else would have gotten it quite right. But check it:
...[T]echnically, wrapping paper is there only to hide the present until Christmas. If you hide everything behind the couch and then scream the name of your family member while you pull the gift out and launch it at them, it’s just as much of a surprise (possibly more if they’re not paying attention). It’s also ecologically friendly. You are saving paper—shiny, petroleum-based paper. So maybe I’m not only lazy. I’m carbon neutral. pp3-4
I have so many responses to this paragraph, but I'm going to keep it focused to the primary reason it's the perfect example for why I couldn't connect with this piece: it was the tone! Lawson employs a stridently cheerful tone throughout while expressing fundamentally uncheerful ideas, like wrapping up gifts destroys the earth. Thanks for a dose of cognitive dissonance, but I came for the humor and holiday love. Unfortunately in this essay, Lawson has love for only one holiday and slings poop at the others. The subtitle should be "A Halloween Essay" and that elf on the cover should be a skeleton.
Halloween is already awesome. It doesn't need to eat Christmas to stay that way.
Rating 2 stars
Finished November 2022
Recommended for fans of essays, nonfiction, dark fiction, dark humor, Halloween, horror comedy, memoir
And some of this essay is truly funny for me, like the bit about Halloween costumes in the 80s, holy cow those things were horrible! And I'm glad Lawson herself narrated the audiobook for this essay, as I don't think anyone else would have gotten it quite right. But check it:
...[T]echnically, wrapping paper is there only to hide the present until Christmas. If you hide everything behind the couch and then scream the name of your family member while you pull the gift out and launch it at them, it’s just as much of a surprise (possibly more if they’re not paying attention). It’s also ecologically friendly. You are saving paper—shiny, petroleum-based paper. So maybe I’m not only lazy. I’m carbon neutral. pp3-4
I have so many responses to this paragraph, but I'm going to keep it focused to the primary reason it's the perfect example for why I couldn't connect with this piece: it was the tone! Lawson employs a stridently cheerful tone throughout while expressing fundamentally uncheerful ideas, like wrapping up gifts destroys the earth. Thanks for a dose of cognitive dissonance, but I came for the humor and holiday love. Unfortunately in this essay, Lawson has love for only one holiday and slings poop at the others. The subtitle should be "A Halloween Essay" and that elf on the cover should be a skeleton.
Halloween is already awesome. It doesn't need to eat Christmas to stay that way.
Rating 2 stars
Finished November 2022
Recommended for fans of essays, nonfiction, dark fiction, dark humor, Halloween, horror comedy, memoir
alittlewrightreading's review against another edition
4.0
Funny and quick read. Definitely worth the time and left me wanting to read/listen to more of her work.
kimberlywyatt5's review against another edition
5.0
This was a great short story of someone’s love of Halloween. I’m a Halloween lover myself, but growing up I didn’t have any family traditions with it and didn’t really trick or tree due to the religious upbringing of my family. I loved reading about her experiences and it’s funny that she has a lot of Halloween decorations up year round as actual house decor. I couldn’t do the dolls though.
michellenet's review against another edition
3.0
52Books2022 Reading Challenge: Audiobook is narrated by the author