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A review by adamyeti
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
5.0
It feels strange to rate someone's autobiography to me. Who am I to criticize how someone tells their own story? Regardless, as an audiobook, I really enjoyed hearing Matthew's story in his own words. I've seen several people complain about the book being told randomly, non-chronologically, or out of order, and this really isn't accurate. I understand why some people feel this way, however.
There are two elements at play: the chapter interludes and tangential storytelling. Regarding the first, each main chapter recounts his life from childhood to present day in mostly chronological order. Between each chapter is a short interlude that either tells part of his more recent story or just an interesting/ funny story from the past. Thanks to the interludes' short lengths, this is very easy to keep track of and often just provides some levity. The second element that I think confuses people more is the way that he tells his story through tangents. As a made-up example, there may be a moment where he is talking about going to a dinner party with a man in 1994, and he briefly tells what happened with his relationship with that man many years later before going back to finish the story about the dinner party. I think this may be more confusing in text form, but in the audiobook it felt very much like how many people naturally tell stories.
Despite the technicalities about how it was structured, the story itself was incredibly honest, and I was really surprised to hear how well Matthew came to understand himself, his shortcomings, and why he made the mistakes that he did. Most of us can only hope to ever achieve that level of introspection. There was also a lot of self-aware humor along the way, as he poked fun at his past mistakes. It's a painful story that will give you a lot of insight into Hollywood, fame, and addiction. I highly recommend it to anyone.
There are two elements at play: the chapter interludes and tangential storytelling. Regarding the first, each main chapter recounts his life from childhood to present day in mostly chronological order. Between each chapter is a short interlude that either tells part of his more recent story or just an interesting/ funny story from the past. Thanks to the interludes' short lengths, this is very easy to keep track of and often just provides some levity. The second element that I think confuses people more is the way that he tells his story through tangents. As a made-up example, there may be a moment where he is talking about going to a dinner party with a man in 1994, and he briefly tells what happened with his relationship with that man many years later before going back to finish the story about the dinner party. I think this may be more confusing in text form, but in the audiobook it felt very much like how many people naturally tell stories.
Despite the technicalities about how it was structured, the story itself was incredibly honest, and I was really surprised to hear how well Matthew came to understand himself, his shortcomings, and why he made the mistakes that he did. Most of us can only hope to ever achieve that level of introspection. There was also a lot of self-aware humor along the way, as he poked fun at his past mistakes. It's a painful story that will give you a lot of insight into Hollywood, fame, and addiction. I highly recommend it to anyone.