I read this book during my annual Nonfiction November. Things can get can of dark and dense during this month so I was excited to check out the new Jenny Lawson. She never fails to make me laugh with her writing. But more than that she's relatable. I get the things that cause her stress, I totally get what it feels like to be awkward around other people. I definitely laughed out loud at certain parts. Will definitely recommend to others

I loved it! Humbling book... since the first time I read something by Jenny Lawson (let’s pretend author) I have loved her comedic thoughts and should she ever like to be friends... I would be her best! I have never met such an out of the box thinker but when I crack open her book I wear myself out laughing!

I love sarcasm humor but Jenny has such comedic thoughts that I can not help but laugh. Her husband Victor is such a gracious person described by Jenny to put up with her.

I recommend to anyone needing a great laugh to buy this book and help Jenny pay her huge medical bills since her insurance company is miserly. Five stars! Great book!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jenny Lawson shines when telling it to us straight. The good, the bad, and the hilarious. Lawson's third book brings us tales of Shark Tank ideas, dog condoms(but not for why you think), how Victor is always telling her what to do (and don't), and real talk about depression and mental struggles. She has a way of making you laugh until you cry, wishing she was your best friend just to be included in her adventures, and feel like "you're not alone" isn't just something others tell you.

Depression and crippling anxiety is something I struggle with, only lessened with the help of a great support system and medication. When I read Jenny's books I relate to her during her highs and lows. My mind also races from one topic to another and then back again, and my wife can very much relate to Victor and the way he keeps Jenny on track. These books are a treasure, ones that I will continue gifting at birthdays and Christmas' for a very long time.

I highly recommend this and all her other books to anyone touched by depression whether it be yourself or someone you love. I cannot wait to see what Mrs. Lawson shares with us next. I adore you, Jenny. Thank you for making me feel less alone, and filling my house with laughter.

Jenny Lawson has been a favorite for many years. As a person who struggles with mental health myself, it is refreshing and oh-so-beautiful to have books like hers to find "my people" and bring light to such dark topics.
I found myself both laughing and crying while reading this book. Sometimes I was all out cackling and couldn't breathe. It was wonderful. Other times I found myself with silent tears rolling down my cheeks as I felt so deeply what was being said. I've been in a lot of the situations, felt the same struggles. And just knowing that someone else had been there too...well, there's no words to express how it feels to be wholly understood.
This is an absolute must read for anyone who struggles with mental health (even physical health as those topics are included as well).

Thank you to Jenny Lawson, Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for this ARC.

Jenny Lawson is on fiiiiiiiire in this new memoir! This is by far the funniest and saddest of all her books. She mixes hilarity with seriousness perfectly. I haven't laughed and cried so much while reading a book, ever. My husband banned me from reading this in bed at night because my silent laughter kept shaking the bed and keeping him awake. The chapter about the cockchafer had me literally crying.

I love how Jenny Lawson speaks so candidly about her issues with mental illness. Yes, she does put a funny spin on it sometimes, but she is REAL. Her willingness to put all her issues out there is so amazing, and she's helping to normalize the stigma that surrounds mental illness. Her books have helped me laugh through the hard times, and I'll forever be grateful to her for that. I'm going to purchase this once released so my 17 year old daughter can read it as well.

If you haven't read any of her books, this is the one to start with. All of her books are great, but Broken is my absolute favorite.

My favorite author has always been, Jenny Lawson.
Her books have always made me feel like I have a friend by my side who understands the things I've been through.
In this new book, Jenny continues to share her anecdotes in her daily life and experiences with her physical health, anxiety, and depression.
Many of her stories are posts that Jenny shared on her Twitter account or on her blog
https://thebloggess.com/ If you have never entered that blog I highly recommend it there is a lot of content about her life and many weird things that you will probably like.
Like all her books, there are parts that made me laugh and others that I could not bear the urge to cry, in particular, the part that talks about her grandmother because it is the same thing that is happening with my grandma right now.
My dream is to one day travel to Nowhere Bookshop and thank her for sharing her stories and for helping me find hope in the most difficult moments of my life.
Thank you so much to Henry Holt and Company for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.
5 stars!!!!

I have loved Jenny Lawson since a friend of mine placed her first book in my hands and told me I must read it. I did and it was as amazing as my friend told me it was. When a different friend told me that Jenny Lawson had a new book coming out, I knew I had to read it. And it did not disappoint. Once again, Jenny Lawson combines the hysterical with the serious. This book was exactly the book I needed as 2020 was coming to a close and 2021 was starting. I laughed harder at this book than I had laughed in 2020. It was a bright spot after a dark year.

I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley.

Lawson is my soul sister I love her quirky stories and how she is so relatable In this go around, Lawson goes through TMS, an alternative treatment for anxiety and.depression for those with chronic conditions that don't respond to medications. I like Lawson when she frankly talks about her illnesses. Laugh out loud funny in parts, especially when she is sparring with Victor her husband..

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Jenny Lawson is one of my favorite authors of all time. She writes with a poetic quality, but she is also able to make you doubled over in laughter. Broken was no exception to that.

Broken (In the Best Possible Way) is a poignant and hilarious look at living life. Each personal essay explores the greatest triumphs and obstacles that she faces every day. She tells stories of her struggling with anxiety/depression, navigating her aversion to social interactions, and living with chronic illnesses. These stories alternate from being bother serious and humorous.

I was reading this book while my students were taking a test, and I had to put it down because I was cackling into my kindle. That isn't a good look for some one whose job it is to be responsible for the well-being of children. I laughed during anecdotes about buying foot condoms for dogs and digging tiny penises out of her "car holes." I cried during her open letter to her insurance company and during stories of battling with depression.

This book should be required reading for anyone struggling with mental illness or chronic illness. I couldn't recommend a book or author more.

Jenny Lawson’s books are an auto buy for me and Broken was no exception. It was laugh out loud hilarious, thought provoking and tear jerking. If I hadn’t seen actual pictures from Jenny’s childhood and current life, I would never imagine that her stories could be real, but it is all so so true, Jenny makes me feel normal and that is saying a lot. Showing how life isn’t perfect, anxiety and depression are real and survivable and staying true to yourself is important. I definitely loved so many chapters, including stories of shoes lost in elevators, diarrhea for a cover to leave, tweets that went viral and reasons her husband knows better than to take her to social gatherings.

This book is a great release to laugh, realize the hard days wont last forever and feel more normal in your wonderfully weird body.

Full disclosure: I'm a HUGE fan of Jenny Lawson, so I'll try to be objective with my interview.

"Broken" is another home run for Lawson, but it's decidedly a departure from her previous work. While her other two books had dark humor, there were points here that were decidedly dark. And they had to be: this book is about coming to terms with any number of physical and mental ailments, and for much of that time it's not fun and games. Lawson talks about going through TMS therapy and how it brought back some of the sunshine, but she also mentions viciously fighting the insurance company to make this a reality. Her letter to the insurance company is sure to pack a punch for most American readers, and it's an angry, visceral, and honest cry for action against their policies.

Is it as lighthearted as "Furiously Happy"? No. But you could consider this the inverse of "Furiously Happy" because to be furiously happy, you need to be broken. And we all are. And that's okay.

Another hilarious installment from Jenny Lawson that will not disappoint. Writing candidly about her mental health and how it affects her every day life leads to funny, though definitely awkward and sometimes painful, stories that she is generous enough to share with the world. I would recommend this to pretty much anyone as the format makes it easy to pick up and put down for light reading, and the content is humorous as well as uplifting while she shines a light on mental health.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an e-arc.

I'm a huge fan of Jenny Lawson's books and have been a reader of her blog for years. Her latest book <i>Broken (In the Best Possible Way</i> will be another treat for other longtime fans of Jenny's work for its blend of absurd humor and intimate look at mental illness.

Lawson is at her best in her essays in the book. Chapters such as "Souls," "An Open Letter to My Health Insurance" and "I Am a Magpie" are especially beautiful. I'm less of a fan of the chapters that rely heavily on listing such as "These Truisms Leave Out a Lot of the Truth," which tend to be a bit tedious to get through and work better as blog posts.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Jenny Lawson has created a book that proves life is worth living and reveling in no matter what illness(es) you may be living with. Ms. Lawson lives every second of every day on her terms. Yes, she has days where she hides in her closet, but she manages to keep those days to a minimum and does everything she can to treat her disabilities and move forward with grace but much more to move forward with a smile on her face.

Jenny Lawson's latest book further explores her lifetime of mental illness, depression and anxiety as well as gives hope to fellow sufferers with her description of her EMDR therapy. Lawson's usual wacky humor left me stifling laughter in the middle of the night. The description of what makes her marriage work is inspiring. All in all, I still want to be Jenny's best friend.

Laugh out loud with Jenny! Jenny's ability to make lemonade out of lemons with a twist of sarcasm helps to take the sting out of my own mental health and physical health issues. She brings levity to the ridiculousness of our worlds, relationships and sagas. I just love her and you will too!

I've been a fan of The Bloggess for many years, so I was excited to get my hands on a copy of Lawson's latest, Broken. This book is filled with the same humor I've come to expect from her books but is filled with fresh observations and hilarious personal stories from the author's life.
As with her other books, one of the themes in the writing is mental health. Lawson discusses her struggles with trademark candor , humor, and heart making it relatable for those with their own struggles and great insight for those who don't.
Overall this is a fantastic read whether you're new to Lawson's writing or are a longtime reader and this will easily be one of the funniest books of the year.
Many thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for the advance copy.

In the last two pages of “Broken (In the Best Possible Way),” Jenny Lawson explains that the cover illustration was done by an artist named Omar Rayyan. His collection contains “whimsical paintings of people carrying their own baffling little monsters.” To her, this embodies how she feels about her battles with depression and anxiety. “I take mine out in the sun and try to appreciate that the flowers it rips up from the garden can sometimes be just as lovely when stuck in the teeth of its terrible mouth.”

As fans of Jenny AKA The Bloggess know from either her previous two books or social media accounts, she suffers from not only mental illness but ailments such as rheumatoid arthritis, pre-diabetes, and anemias. In “Broken,” she really takes those monsters by their horns. One chapter is a painfully-relatable letter to her insurance company, another details her many months going through experimental treatments. While her wit can be found in these sections, they’re just not… funny. And that’s OK, it doesn’t appear they’re supposed to be.

The unique thing about this book is that intermixed with these more stoic chapters are laugh-out-loud ones. That is, if your brand of humor includes things like toddler-sized tiny condoms for your dog to use as boots, buttworms, and bearcat hot buttered pee. (Yes, you read that right.) There are lists of mortifying things she’s said, mortifying things strangers have done and tweeted to her, and mortifying corrections she’s received from her editors.

It’s been a few years since I read her other books, but I don’t recall their ranges of emotion being so vast. As a whole, reading “Broken” is a bit like doing laps in a pool. Start in the deep end with illness, swim to the shallow end to LOL, flip turn and head back to the deep. Seems fitting, since I think she’d agree that to deal with the depths of life, you have to just keep swimming.

My thanks to Ms. Lawson and Henry Holt & Co. for the opportunity to read an advanced review copy via NetGalley. “Broken” is scheduled for U.S. publication on April 6, 2021.

In 2012, I had what I like to refer to as a mental breakdown, for its dramatic implications, but it was really a severe, extended anxiety attack. During my recovery (if you can call it that; I was diagnosed with an actual anxiety disorder because of this, ahem, event), I was reading Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, which had been released in hardcover a month and a half prior to my craziest days.

I already knew who Lawson was; I had read about Beyoncé the giant metal chicken and Jenny’s long-suffering husband on her blog. What I didn’t know, though, was that continuing to learn about her adventures (and misadventures) would help me survive those tough times. Let’s Pretend was one of the few things that sparkled when everything seemed gray.

This week, after a hellacious year not only for myself but for the entire country, I finished reading Broken (In the Best Possible Way), Lawson’s third memoir. What I learned was unexpected, even though it should not have been: she no longer sparkles, but she is burnished like leather, perhaps the kind used to make her high school notebook.

When I say that this should not have been unexpected, I mean this: everyone grows and changes and pivots. And when I say that Lawson no longer sparkles, I mean this: in that growing, changing, and pivoting, she has shed a great deal of the need to be “on,” opting instead to share the deeper truth about her life.

That has been a process for her, as it is for everyone. As she eases into middle age (she turned 47 just last week), she seems more comfortable discussing her mental health in-depth. She’s never kept any of her struggles a secret, exactly, but like most of us would, she has largely held back the gorier details from her books. Hilarity, it appeared, was something she used to protect her readers and indeed herself.

This should not be taken as an indication that Lawson is no longer funny—she is, as you’ll see in so many chapters here, from descriptions of burgling raccoons to an unhinged discussion of dog condoms and yet more conversations with Victor, that best of foils.

But the most affecting chapters are the ones in which she buckles down for what we might call real talk: about her depression, her anxiety, her marriage, her childhood, and even the weather (both factual and metaphorical). It’s refreshing to watch someone else struggle with these things—not out of any malice or schadenfreude, you must understand, but out of feeling recognized, seen, and validated.

Because it can be a tough row to hoe, this life tinged with sadness or nerves or whatever you happen to call your own emotional dilemma, whether it’s temporary or long-term. I hope that others out there encounter the updated version, Jenny 2.0 (or 3.0, or whichever version she herself designates), and feel understood, or if they don’t live with mental illness, begin to recognize what their friends or family members may be experiencing. It certainly helped me.

To make a hard left turn after all of that, though, I must admit that my favorite part of the book was this:

Editor: You’re missing an antecedent.
Me [Lawson]: No, YOU’RE missing an antecedent.

Nothing like a good, sassy comeback to assure the reader that the Lawson we first met still exists, after all.

This quirky read is raw, funny, and a great view into mental health issues. Jenny Lawson does it again! There were a couple chapters that seemed like it needed a little bit of editing down but overall a good read!