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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
The first 40 pages were hilarious! It was quirky, but not as entertaining after that. The author has a whole host of mental diagnoses, including depression, insomnia, ADD, anxiety. She faints at the sight of a doctor's white coat, making pelvic exams crazy. She also fainted in the vet's waiting room. She has a unique perspective on life that is quite funny.
Finished this on audiobook, a good book to listen too. I love the author's southern twang.
This was a phenomenal book. Jenny Lawson was able to express the deep workings of her mental illness in a way that did not make the reader feel uncomfortable, but understanding. Even if you do not struggle with mental illness this book will help you understand that it is ok for people that do.
Very 2010s. Very elder millennial. Maybe i read it at the wrong time but it was just kind of self-serving.
One of my favorite authors and one of the few blogs that I actually follow! Funny, realistic and she gets it, she understands it and best of all she isn't afraid to talk about it - to make the rest of us feel we aren't in this alone in this. Can't wait to see her this July in Cedar Rapids- I'll be saving my spoons!
love when actually bipolar people write about being bipolar, tired of reading fake books by the not actually mentally ill. jenny lawson rocks, shes a hoot and a holler and this book was a fast & fun read
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
This gets a very forced two stars rather than the one I really want to give it because the introduction was actually good and gave me such hope. But then...the rest of the book happened and I couldn't wait for it to be over. In fact, at the end of the audiobook when Lawson said there was a bonus chapter for us audiobook listeners I said loudly to no one but myself, "UGH. GOD. WHY?"
I've read Lawson's blog sporadically over the past 10+ years and have always appreciated her voice and the frankness with which she talks about anxiety and depression. It was that which lead me to this audiobook (I've not read her first book), and that which made me so optimistic after the introduction. Yet, what was to follow was an amalgamation of inane ramblings that I would have struggled to read as a collection of blog posts, let alone in book format marketed as a memoir. Chapter titles include, "How Many Carbs Are in a Foot?", "Koalas Are Full of Chlamydia", "Cat Lamination", and many other OMG ZANY titles that I couldn't bear. Lawson seems to try so hard to be kooky and idiosyncratic and rather than being humorous, it comes off as agonizingly tiresome to me. Just ask any stoner for a collection of their deepest, most random, and nonsensical thoughts and you have a new Jenny Lawson book. This is not a memoir about mental illness - an introduction and one chapter of a many-chaptered book does not make a book "about" something.
Other frustrations when reading include her pointless name-dropping (Neil Gaiman and Brené Brown in the main part of the book, Wil Wheaton and some other famous people I can't remember in the acknowledgements - yes, we GET it, so famous, many famous friends), *numerous* references to spell check not acknowledging her wacky spelling of words that she invented, allusions to editors telling her not to include OMG ZANY Things A, B, C, D, etc., and the recounting of at least 540 conversations with her husband Victor whereupon she frustrates him with her constant abstract ramblings. All this without me even bringing up how much taxidermy pops up in this book.
If you want to read a memoir about mental illness, try Matt Haig's "Reasons to Stay Alive" instead. That actually *is* about mental illness and not a vain indulgence piece masquerading as a memoir about mental illness.
I've read Lawson's blog sporadically over the past 10+ years and have always appreciated her voice and the frankness with which she talks about anxiety and depression. It was that which lead me to this audiobook (I've not read her first book), and that which made me so optimistic after the introduction. Yet, what was to follow was an amalgamation of inane ramblings that I would have struggled to read as a collection of blog posts, let alone in book format marketed as a memoir. Chapter titles include, "How Many Carbs Are in a Foot?", "Koalas Are Full of Chlamydia", "Cat Lamination", and many other OMG ZANY titles that I couldn't bear. Lawson seems to try so hard to be kooky and idiosyncratic and rather than being humorous, it comes off as agonizingly tiresome to me. Just ask any stoner for a collection of their deepest, most random, and nonsensical thoughts and you have a new Jenny Lawson book. This is not a memoir about mental illness - an introduction and one chapter of a many-chaptered book does not make a book "about" something.
Other frustrations when reading include her pointless name-dropping (Neil Gaiman and Brené Brown in the main part of the book, Wil Wheaton and some other famous people I can't remember in the acknowledgements - yes, we GET it, so famous, many famous friends), *numerous* references to spell check not acknowledging her wacky spelling of words that she invented, allusions to editors telling her not to include OMG ZANY Things A, B, C, D, etc., and the recounting of at least 540 conversations with her husband Victor whereupon she frustrates him with her constant abstract ramblings. All this without me even bringing up how much taxidermy pops up in this book.
If you want to read a memoir about mental illness, try Matt Haig's "Reasons to Stay Alive" instead. That actually *is* about mental illness and not a vain indulgence piece masquerading as a memoir about mental illness.
A very funny collection of essays by the smart and witty Jenny Lawson. Even her serious moments reflecting on mental illness (her own or generally) are entertaining romps. The author reads the audiobook.