Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

I loved it - great personal insight into Matthew Perry's struggles with addiction and alcoholism and how it affected him personally and his career. It's also written in such a lighthearted and Matthew Perry way, that you can't help but become engrossed in the book - even though he's talking about such serious and heavy topics, it doesn't necessarily feel that way due to his persective and presentation of them.

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teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

This memoir is beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. I think Matthew did an amazing job of showing the reality of addiction and what it is like in different forms. He did not shy away or sugar coat the ugly, difficult parts of it. For that, I think he deserves all the credit. Though is seemed a bit haphazard at times, I think it was an important part of it. Knowing he is now gone, makes it even more heartbreaking because you can tell he was really trying to do better. But addiction is a hard thing. He said it himself, addicts are not bad people.

PS. I did not watch Friends

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booktok_girlie6's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Oh my God. This isn't a book to read fast. But it is a book you need to read if you loved Chandler Bing. Matthew Perry had it all, almost lost it all. Until eventually it almost took him away. He should be proud of where he came.
This is an emotional roller-coaster and is not a book to take lightly. It's heavy but so worth the slow read.

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alexdelte's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

je suis si triste qu’il ne soit plus là, c’était si beau

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redheadbookgirl's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

▫️Addiction/drug abuse

▫️Brutally raw + honest writing

▫️Autobiography spanning decades

▫️Not just a 𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 memoir

Could I 𝐁𝐄 any more heartbroken after reading that last page? How do I even begin to write about this book + how it made me feel? Poignant, raw, and utterly heartbreaking, there are certainly undertones of the dry wit that we came to know Perry for, but ultimately this a was devastatingly vulnerable and honest account of the decades of struggles he endured.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so heartbroken by a celebrity’s passing + I knew from the off that this would be a difficult read. I, like many others, knew some of Perry’s struggles, but not the extent. From Kudrow’s foreword: [𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘺] & the book’s opening line: [“𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥”] I had already lost it and was bawling. It’s eerily surreal + hits even harder reading Perry’s story, knowing he is no longer with us.

I also had no idea how much parallel was held between Perry and the character of Chandler. He was, and always will be, my favourite friend but he was so much more than that + it’s heartbreaking to know he was battling such severe demons every day behind that smile and those one liners. He was struggling to live, but he still made us laugh, he still helped so many people and he still created a legacy. Perhaps saddest of all, was how hopeful he sounded at the end of the book and how close he seemed to his real fresh start.

This book was an incredibly difficult read but I am so grateful to have understood Perry a little more + feel honoured to have had an insight into his story. May you finally be at peace Matty🤎

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hellokaley's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

4.0

I added this book to my library holds following Matthew Perry’s death. It’s a difficult read, but so much more difficult knowing he is gone just a year after his memoir was published.

The story goes through his acting career and his brutal journey with addition that has caused a litany of health issues along the way. He brings the reader along on the lows of detox, short stints in sobriety, and the incomprehensible (if you’re not an addict) relapses. I truly cannot imagine how he functioned during some of the darkest times. I liked his stories about Friends and the close relationships of the cast. It is clear that people really loved him.

There are lots of negative reviews about editing and story structure but I didn’t think it was so bad. I really didn’t mind the interludes where we hopped timelines. There was a little bit of repetition and at one point towards the end, I looked at my audiobook player to see if I had accidentally skipped back a few chapters because I had already heard this part of the story. I could have done without the “chapter summary” feel sometimes, but in general, I liked the pace and the narration.

Overall, it is a really sad story with periods of triumph, success, and some happiness scattered throughout. It paints the ugly and cruel world of addiction, something too many people are experiencing and impacted by. I’m glad that he got to tell his story in his own words and happy I read it.

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allieskat17's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

An honest and heartbreaking story of the addiction that ran Matthew Perry’s life. This book chronicles his struggles with trauma, mental illness, and addiction in many different forms. Towards the end he even says he knows that it will kill him which is sadder to read since his death

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