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A review by donasbooks
I Choose Darkness by Jenny Lawson
2.0
I thought I would LOVE this essay from Jenny Lawson, who is bright and funny, and who scales some of the same mountains in life that I do. It's an essay about holidays, how great is that! From October 10 to January 2nd, my house sparkles, blips, and glistens! I love the holidays. What could go wrong? Right? I mean, right? So I kind of feel bad that I didn't like it.
And some of this essay is truly funny for me, like the bit about Halloween costumes in the 80s, holy cow those things were horrible! And I'm glad Lawson herself narrated the audiobook for this essay, as I don't think anyone else would have gotten it quite right. But check it:
...[T]echnically, wrapping paper is there only to hide the present until Christmas. If you hide everything behind the couch and then scream the name of your family member while you pull the gift out and launch it at them, it’s just as much of a surprise (possibly more if they’re not paying attention). It’s also ecologically friendly. You are saving paper—shiny, petroleum-based paper. So maybe I’m not only lazy. I’m carbon neutral. pp3-4
I have so many responses to this paragraph, but I'm going to keep it focused to the primary reason it's the perfect example for why I couldn't connect with this piece: it was the tone! Lawson employs a stridently cheerful tone throughout while expressing fundamentally uncheerful ideas, like wrapping up gifts destroys the earth. Thanks for a dose of cognitive dissonance, but I came for the humor and holiday love. Unfortunately in this essay, Lawson has love for only one holiday and slings poop at the others. The subtitle should be "A Halloween Essay" and that elf on the cover should be a skeleton.
Halloween is already awesome. It doesn't need to eat Christmas to stay that way.
Rating 2 stars
Finished November 2022
Recommended for fans of essays, nonfiction, dark fiction, dark humor, Halloween, horror comedy, memoir
And some of this essay is truly funny for me, like the bit about Halloween costumes in the 80s, holy cow those things were horrible! And I'm glad Lawson herself narrated the audiobook for this essay, as I don't think anyone else would have gotten it quite right. But check it:
...[T]echnically, wrapping paper is there only to hide the present until Christmas. If you hide everything behind the couch and then scream the name of your family member while you pull the gift out and launch it at them, it’s just as much of a surprise (possibly more if they’re not paying attention). It’s also ecologically friendly. You are saving paper—shiny, petroleum-based paper. So maybe I’m not only lazy. I’m carbon neutral. pp3-4
I have so many responses to this paragraph, but I'm going to keep it focused to the primary reason it's the perfect example for why I couldn't connect with this piece: it was the tone! Lawson employs a stridently cheerful tone throughout while expressing fundamentally uncheerful ideas, like wrapping up gifts destroys the earth. Thanks for a dose of cognitive dissonance, but I came for the humor and holiday love. Unfortunately in this essay, Lawson has love for only one holiday and slings poop at the others. The subtitle should be "A Halloween Essay" and that elf on the cover should be a skeleton.
Halloween is already awesome. It doesn't need to eat Christmas to stay that way.
Rating 2 stars
Finished November 2022
Recommended for fans of essays, nonfiction, dark fiction, dark humor, Halloween, horror comedy, memoir