Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

A must read for anyone who loves an addict and /or is one themselves. I devoured this book. It is heartbreaking and beautiful and funny and deeply unsettling.

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erica_reads_things's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Reading this in light of Matthew's death was absolutely heartbreaking. Him and Friends was a large part of my media growing up and I am so thankful to be able to have gotten this insight into his life, struggles, and ultimate path to a life that he was happy and fulfilled with. A life that was much much too short. I really enjoyed hearing him narrate this himself - his voice and personality really shine amongst the humor and heart of this memoir.

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kristyhill's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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becbenway's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

4.0

This is an emotional book made even moreso after Perry had passed away. If you are a Friends lover, this will hit hard.

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alex_bousquet's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

I listened to the audiobok narrated by Matthew perry and I felt that added to the story as a whole rather than if I read it normally. He was so raw and honest about his battles with addiction.

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likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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billievee's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

As you can imagine, this is a bit heartbreaking to get through now. So much of this book feels like grim foreshadowing for what was to come.

Chandler was always my favorite Friends character, but it's a little harder to like Matthew in this. I've heard him called the real-life Bojack Horseman and it's easy to see why: they're both former TV stars with crippling addictions who can't help but constantly get in their own way. His childhood trauma and ongoing struggles with drugs and alcohol are sad to read about, but I mostly felt for all the people who ended up as collateral damage in his life. At least he openly acknowledges his mistakes. If nothing else, I see this as a cautionary tale for how terribly out of control opiate and alcohol addictions can become, demons that all the money in the world may not be able to save you from.

RIP Matthew.

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