de Jenny Lawson
In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea.
But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.
As Jenny says:
"Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos.
"Most of my favorite people are dangerously fucked-up but you'd never guess because we've learned to bare it so honestly that it becomes the new normal. Like John Hughes wrote in The Breakfast Club, 'We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it.' Except go back and cross out the word 'hiding.'"
Furiously Happy is about "taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they're the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence. It's the difference between "surviving life" and "living life". It's the difference between "taking a shower" and "teaching your monkey butler how to shampoo your hair." It's the difference between being "sane" and being "furiously happy."
Lawson is beloved around the world for her inimitable humor and honesty, and in Furiously Happy, she is at her snort-inducing funniest. This is a book about embracing everything that makes us who we are - the beautiful and the flawed - and then using it to find joy in fantastic and outrageous ways. Because as Jenny's mom says, "Maybe 'crazy' isn't so bad after all." Sometimes crazy is just right.
In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea.
But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.
As Jenny says:
"Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos.
"Most of my favorite people are dangerously fucked-up but you'd never guess because we've learned to bare it so honestly that it becomes the new normal. Like John Hughes wrote in The Breakfast Club, 'We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it.' Except go back and cross out the word 'hiding.'"
Furiously Happy is about "taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they're the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence. It's the difference between "surviving life" and "living life". It's the difference between "taking a shower" and "teaching your monkey butler how to shampoo your hair." It's the difference between being "sane" and being "furiously happy."
Lawson is beloved around the world for her inimitable humor and honesty, and in Furiously Happy, she is at her snort-inducing funniest. This is a book about embracing everything that makes us who we are - the beautiful and the flawed - and then using it to find joy in fantastic and outrageous ways. Because as Jenny's mom says, "Maybe 'crazy' isn't so bad after all." Sometimes crazy is just right.
Critiques-
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August 31, 2015
Popular blogger/author Lawson (Let's Pretend This Didn't Happen) writes that this "funny book" about mental illness is not so much a sequel to her last book, but rather "a collection of bizarre essays and conversations and confused thoughts stuck together by spilled boxed wine and the frustrated tears of baffled editors." While followers of Lawson's blog will be familiar with her fascination with unusual topics (e.g., stuffed critters, the mysteries of Japanese toilets), newcomers may initially be jolted by the author's litany of diagnoses (depression, anxiety, autoimmune disorders, phobias, insomnia, etc.) as well as her unique ability to turn life's lemons into hilarious stories. Lawson decides that rather than wave a white flag, she will combat mental illness by being "furiously happy." Helping her stuffed raccoons ride on her cats, visiting Australia in a koala bear costume, and battling menacing swans are just a few of the ways she creates humor in a life that might defeat a less inventive individual. She also shares days of darkness, social anxiety, and a range of fears that sometimes keep her housebound. Though mostly comedic, the text also addresses such serious issues as self-injury and why mental illness is misunderstood. Lawson insightfully explores the ways in which dark moments serve to make the lighter times all the brighter. -
September 1, 2015
Lawson (Let's Pretend This Never Happened) returns with another autobiographical work, this one focused on her experiences living with mental illness. The title comes from a hashtag Lawson started on Twitter after a friend's death to encourage people living with depression and anxiety to stockpile ridiculous, joyful memories "to take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence." Her own furiously happy exploits lead to stories about her collection of odd taxidermy, the time she rented a sloth and a wallaby to surprise her husband and daughter, and a trip to Australia, where she donned a kangaroo costume in an effort to get closer to wild kangaroos. As delightful as much of the book is, Lawson is also candid about her struggles with depression, self-harm, and crippling anxiety, the difficulties of nailing down the right combination of medications to treat her conditions, and her fears about the effects of her illness on her family. VERDICT The stigma surrounding mental illness can only be lifted if people affected are willing to talk about their experiences and everyone else is willing to listen. This book is a profane, hilarious, touching, and essential part of that conversation. Recommended for all public libraries.--Stephanie Klose, Library Journal
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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September 15, 2015
Lawson, known as The Bloggess to readers of her immensely popular blog of the same name, fills her second memoir with stories that revolve around the crazy things that happen in her life, with an emphasis here on her struggles with mental illnessmainly anxiety and depression. Lawson is known for blowing just about everything out of proportion, often proudly. For example, she recounts how she was once convinced that a herd of swans was chasing her in order to eat her, or, worse, impregnate her (hey, she read about it on the Internet!). In most of these anecdotes, her long-suffering husband attempts to bring her back to reality. But, in some, she digs deep, revealing how her mental issues leave her feeling frightened and useless. Scenes from her therapists' offices are funny but usually uncomfortably so. Lawson is a witty comic writer, but the repeated subject matter here feels best read in bits and piecesas one would with a blog.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: TheBloggess.com gets a reported one to two million page views per month, and promotion at book and library conferences has been high. While Lawson's offbeat brand of humor might not be a hit with all readers, the 300,000-copy print run suggests that this book will make the best-seller lists as quickly as her first title, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, did.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.) -
Starred review from November 30, 2015
Lawson—aka “the Bloggess”—delivers a captivating roller-coaster ride of a performance that elicits wickedly uproarious laughter and heartfelt emotional catharsis. In this collection of personal issues, Lawson mixes her lifelong struggle with mental and physical illnesses and her quirky brand of humor, connecting those two threads together with the notion that those who suffer the deepest lows should embrace a form of happiness that allows for the wild and uninhibited side of life. Lawson possesses a distinct vocal pitch and tangential style of delivery that matches the unapologetically scattershot nature of her narrative. Her renderings of the daily banter of her marriage to a supportive husband with a diametrically opposite temperament ring with authenticity. As a quirky animal lover who also loves taxidermy, Lawson doesn’t miss a beat in giving voice to the rich characterizations she has created for the critters in her life, both living and dead. Her language is not for the faint of heart, but the appeal of Lawson’s sheer humanity cannot be denied. A Flatiron hardcover. -
Allie Brosh, author of Hyperbole and a Half
"Jenny made me laugh so hard I feared for my safety! I think that's how she was able to get past my defenses and make me feel more okay about myself."
- Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW, author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Daring Greatly "You'll laugh, wince, writhe in discomfort, cry, then laugh again. You might even feel the need to buy a raccoon. But the two things you'll never do is doubt Jenny's brilliance or her fearlessness when it comes to having honest discussions about mental illness, shame, and the power of human resilience. She's changing the conversation one rented sloth at a time."
- Paul Fischer, author of A Kim Jong-Il Production "I freaked strangers out by snort-laughing on the subway and in restaurants. I can't stop talking about this book to friends. I'll shut up now and let you resume your life but buy this book. It's AMAZING."
- Neil Gaiman "The Bloggess writes stuff that actually is laugh-out-loud, but you know that really you shouldn't be laughing and probably you'll go to hell for laughing, so maybe you shouldn't read it. That would be safer and wiser."
- Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors and This Is How "Even when I was funny, I wasn't this funny."
- O, The Oprah Magazine "Lawson's self-deprecating humor is not only gaspingly funny and wonderfully inappropriate; it allows her to speak...in a real and raw way."
