Scan barcode
A review by skelleycat
Freaking Out: Real-Life Stories about Anxiety by Polly Wells
4.0
A few years ago, I used to read nothing but nonfiction, and memoirs were my absolute favorite. These days, I don't read much nonfiction anymore, but when I saw Freaking Out on NetGalley, I knew it was a book I needed to read. Anxiety has been a recurring theme in my life over the past several years, and one thing that always makes me feel better is reading about how other people deal with things I've struggling with.
I wish I had had a book like Freaking Out when I was a teenager. I would have eaten it up greedily, rereading it whenever I needed to feel less alone. The thirteen stories contained in this book provide a great solace for anyone dealing with anxiety, whether it be their own or a loved one's. This book covers a wide variety of people, situations, causes for anxiety, and methods for dealing with it, which I found to be both eye-opening and helpful.
This is a relatively short read, but I think it works very well this way. Each chapter focuses on a different teenager facing different problems, all illustrated with an interesting style, and told in a familiar and somewhat confessional manner. I like this, because hearing stories that come straight from someone else's experiences (as opposed to being turned into a clinical essay) really make the subject matter hit home.
It's rare for me to do this, but I liked Freaking Out so much that as soon as I finished reading the eARC, I went out and bought the book online. Sure, I'm 31 years old -- far from being a teenager -- but the stories of these teens still resonated with me in a powerful way. This is a book I want to keep on my shelves, because I know it will be a nice thing for me to go back to, and also a good book to share with my husband, my sister, and anyone else in my life who might be dealing with anxiety.
I wish I had had a book like Freaking Out when I was a teenager. I would have eaten it up greedily, rereading it whenever I needed to feel less alone. The thirteen stories contained in this book provide a great solace for anyone dealing with anxiety, whether it be their own or a loved one's. This book covers a wide variety of people, situations, causes for anxiety, and methods for dealing with it, which I found to be both eye-opening and helpful.
This is a relatively short read, but I think it works very well this way. Each chapter focuses on a different teenager facing different problems, all illustrated with an interesting style, and told in a familiar and somewhat confessional manner. I like this, because hearing stories that come straight from someone else's experiences (as opposed to being turned into a clinical essay) really make the subject matter hit home.
It's rare for me to do this, but I liked Freaking Out so much that as soon as I finished reading the eARC, I went out and bought the book online. Sure, I'm 31 years old -- far from being a teenager -- but the stories of these teens still resonated with me in a powerful way. This is a book I want to keep on my shelves, because I know it will be a nice thing for me to go back to, and also a good book to share with my husband, my sister, and anyone else in my life who might be dealing with anxiety.