Reviews

How to be Happy: Not a Self-Help Book. Seriously. by Iain S. Thomas

lovelymisanthrope's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.5

I have been a fan of Iain Thomas for years, and I was looking for something lighthearted and reflective to help me be happy, so I picked this up. This book of poetry and prose is kind of difficult to explain because it is kind of a hot mess, but that is why I loved it. Iain Thomas explores his writing block and struggles with trying to produce art when he is struggling so much himself. This book has poetry and prose he wrote along the way and has email correspondences between himself and his grumpy editor. 
If you have struggled with depression or you are going through a difficult time and want to laugh, I highly recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

cassgordon's review

challenging reflective slow-paced

2.0

Not my favourite work by Iain S Thomas but I still love his writing. My brain couldn’t keep up with the way it was written and I found the way it flowed to be disjointed. 

theresidentbookworm's review

1.0

I hate to be on the side of the psychotic publishing employee who lied to and harassed Iain S. Thomas, but this book is such a mess. Truly, it is not a self-help book. I don't think it knows what it is. It's poetry mixed with short stories, emails, tweets, and ramblings of a poet who seems like he's in the middle of a nervous breakdown. Parts of it work, particularly the sections where Thomas actually does try to nail down ways to be happy, but the rest is weird and fragmented at best. Definitely not recommended!

jenniferaimee's review

2.0

This was an interesting read. It felt like reading a Tumblr in book form, and while I like Tumblr quite a lot, I don't think I like Tumblr as a book as much. This was a fast read, and many parts of it hit home. All of the poems were lovely, some of them were downright gorgeous. The way this was structured, as a sort of novel, made it a much lighter read than it would have been otherwise, and I appreciated that. I definitely enjoyed it and I didn't dislike any part of it, but it isn't a collection that I picture myself returning to in the future.