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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
I received an ARC of this book, but my opinions expressed are my own. It's hard not to compare this book to "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" which is one of my favorite books, but Furiously Happy is different.
LPTNH is a humorous memoir looking back at growing up, whereas Furiously Happy is more dark humor essays about dealing with mental illness. I love Lawson because she is unflinchingly honest and has that perfect tongue in cheek humorous writing style that is needed when we talk about the "taboo" subject of mental illness. Lawson's writing style is honest and open (really, she does not hold back) especially when she talks about her own struggles and dark times, which may turn some readers off, but others readers will appreciate her candor and humorous ways of coping.
There are times in the book (especially the first quarter) that it was a struggle to get through because it honestly felt like Lawson was trying a bit too hard to be funny (random humor does not always go far in books like it does on blogs), but there are some genuine gem moments and life lessons that stuck home with me ("Being furiously happy out of sheer spite" and "Pretend your good at it" are some of those). I did enjoy this book, but you definitely have to be in the right mindset to read it.
LPTNH is a humorous memoir looking back at growing up, whereas Furiously Happy is more dark humor essays about dealing with mental illness. I love Lawson because she is unflinchingly honest and has that perfect tongue in cheek humorous writing style that is needed when we talk about the "taboo" subject of mental illness. Lawson's writing style is honest and open (really, she does not hold back) especially when she talks about her own struggles and dark times, which may turn some readers off, but others readers will appreciate her candor and humorous ways of coping.
There are times in the book (especially the first quarter) that it was a struggle to get through because it honestly felt like Lawson was trying a bit too hard to be funny (random humor does not always go far in books like it does on blogs), but there are some genuine gem moments and life lessons that stuck home with me ("Being furiously happy out of sheer spite" and "Pretend your good at it" are some of those). I did enjoy this book, but you definitely have to be in the right mindset to read it.
emotional
funny
medium-paced
It’s a book I expected to like, but for me, it was just too glossy. It feels weird to critique more because I didn’t finish it and it’s a memoir and she gets to share what she wants about her story. And it was published in 2015, so my 2015 self may have felt differently.
I like absurd books about terrible things. And I like that this encourages talking about mental illness. Different ways of talking about it resonate with different people, and this book wasn’t it for me, but it’s clear her work has helped so many other people and contributed to the conversation, and that’s an amazing thing!
I like absurd books about terrible things. And I like that this encourages talking about mental illness. Different ways of talking about it resonate with different people, and this book wasn’t it for me, but it’s clear her work has helped so many other people and contributed to the conversation, and that’s an amazing thing!
I bought this book years ago when I was going through a particularly rough bout of depression. I was expecting something insightful, and clever, and maybe in some ways relatable. A book centered around someone's mental illness in a humorous fashion sounded completely up my alley. But every time I pick this up and read it I cringe. It's so sporadic and "lol random!!" that it's almost insulting. A ton of the anecdotes sound so exaggerated and just plain stupid. Your husband yelled at you for falling off your bed and then he left you there? Haha?
tl;dr: Not insightful, not funny, at best it has some chuckle-worthy one liners, but Twitter already exists. I have never been so disappointed with a book.
tl;dr: Not insightful, not funny, at best it has some chuckle-worthy one liners, but Twitter already exists. I have never been so disappointed with a book.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced