Love Jenny Lawson’s mix of funny and inspirational stories in Broken. She will make you laugh out loud as well as cry because she touches your heart with her words.

Highly recommended - especially for anyone struggling with mental illness. You are not alone.

“Embrace your beasties. Love your awkwardness. Enjoy yourself. Celebrate the bizarreness that is you because, I assure you, you are more wondrous than you can possibly imagine... monsters and all.”
- Jenny Lawson, A Note about the Cover

Thanks to Netgalley, publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a long time fan of Lawson so reading this book wasn't a reach for me. This book is a compilation of essays, some funny, some touching, all told with honesty and Lawson's unique point of view. Is every essay a home run? No, but nothing is the perfect fit for everyone. In the end, I laughed, I empathized, I felt like I knew Jenny Lawson a little better and like her even more.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I felt kinda meh about this one. Not really connected with the story, even though I did read the whole thing. I would read further books by the author. This one to me is bland. It wasn't as funny as I was hoping, and honestly a lot of it was just sad. Not the book for me.

2/5 Stars

Do you want to hear a story about how I almost went blind because of diarrhea rats? Of course you do.”

If that piqued your interest, you’re on the right track with checking out this book.

I’m curious what parts are verbatim from her life and what has been adjusted for humor, but either way, this lady lives a pretty crazy and hilarious existence that she has documented, unfiltered, in these pages.

Let’s just get this out of the way first: It’s increasingly hard to find clean comedy these days. So I’m going to assume that if you are considering this book then you are okay with a lot of swearing (f-words) and inappropriate humor. Because that’s somewhat of a standard for a lot of humor, though I don’t like it (hence 1 star detraction), I will not critique that here; but just be aware of what you’re getting into.

So that aside, I did think this book was pretty funny- more so the first half than the second. But I laughed out loud several times which says a lot.

I actually have no idea who Jenny Lawson is. In fact, as I read this book my brain kept reading it to me in Amy Schumer’s voice…

If you are already a fan of Jenny, I’m assuming you will find this book to enjoyable. If you, like me, are a Jenny-Lawson-newbie, here’s a brief summary of her niche: She deals with mental and physical illnesses of many forms including severe anxiety, agoraphobia, rheumatoid arthritis, pre-diabetes, and some memory loss (among others—don’t worry, she’ll tell ya about it; she says she “collects diseases like other people collect Beanie Babies”). She writes books and finds the humor in her ailments. Considering all that she has gone through, it’s an amazing feat that, like she says, is necessary to her survival. She is very transparent and honest and throughout the book she intersperses more meaningful and sober meditations on life, health, pain, and identity.

“It’s weird because we often try to present our fake, shiny, happy selves to others and make sure we’re not wearing too-obvious pajamas at the grocery store, but really, who wants to see that level of fraud? No one.”

“Human foibles are what makes us us, and the art of mortification is what brings us all together.”

Thus, we have a hodge-podge of embarrassing, surprising life experiences and musings from Jenny Lawson (who is not Amy Schumer).

One of my life goals is to write a memoir someday and I feel like a lot of the structure of her book is similar to what I would aspire to do when my time comes. I love that her chapters are random and don’t flow together and are often just lists of things— I think that’s also representative of her state of mind and how she lives life which adds to this book’s honesty and authenticity. I also love her super long sentences, use of caps and punctuation, footnotes, sidenotes to the footnotes, and parenthetical disclaimers and clarifiers— the humor and voice is spot on. The way she relates her conversations with her husband, Victor, is also hilarious. I can easily picture her writing this book and asking him questions as she’s typing and arguing about pointless things and then writing about it.

And I love her relationship with spellcheck:

“Spellcheck keeps underlining ‘kegels’ and saying that it doesn’t understand what they are. JOIN THE CLUB, SPELLCHECK.”

“Spellcheck keeps telling me that ‘buttworms’ isn’t a real word and I understand your disbelief, spellcheck, but just because we want them to not be real doesn’t mean that they aren’t. Ugh. I totally got distracted by my buttworms. Sorry. This chapter is not about buttworms.It’s about tuberculosis. Which the doctor also said I didn’t get from cat buttholes. In fact, she said it mostly comes from prisons and schools, which are pretty much the same thing if I’m being honest.”

“‘Because she’s a good person and that’s what normal people do,’ Victor interrupted interruptingly. (Spellcheck is saying ‘interruptingly’ isn’t a word because I guess it’s never spent time with Victor before. Also, it stopped me in the middle of writing this in a totally interruptingly way. Way to disprove your point, spellcheck.)

Also there’s a whole chapter about the editing process of her book and some back and forths she had with her editors:

“Editor: There’s no hyphen in ‘monkey waiter.’Me: How do you know? They don’t exist yet.Editor: They have them in Japan.Me: Clearly we need to hang out together more.”

“Editor: You switched from present tense to past tense here so we need to change so that the tenses match. I suggest you change ‘I was crazy’ to ‘I am crazy.’Me: Harsh. And accurate.”

“Me: If I got stabbed right now you’d find a way to fix this book without my help, right? Can we just pretend that happened and you can take over? Or do I need to be real stabbed?Editor: It’s gonna be okay.Me: Did you just use the word ‘gonna’?Editor: It hurt, but it seemed like you needed it.Me: You’re one of the good ones.”

And then her chapter where she takes truisms and makes them ‘better’:

“THE BEST THING TO HOLD ON TO IN LIFE IS EACH OTHER… Or the remote. Or the phone. I’m always losing those. But I almost never lose people, because I can just call them and be like, ‘Where are you? Also, have you seen the remote?’ Unless I lose my phone. Then I have to scream until someone comes and calls me with their phone so I can find my phone. So I guess holding on to each other is good too in case you need your phone.”

“IT’S ALWAYS TOO SOON TO QUIT… Unless we’re talking about smoking. Or spending all your money on lottery tickets. Or being a serial killer. Actually, skip this truism. I need more information.”

It’s the type of book that you read and then will come to mind in later conversations where you want to share one of her stories or comments and think “Oh, this one time, my friend Jenny…” and realize, oh yeah. I just read her book. She’s not actually my friend. But her simple and conversational writing will leave the impression that you know her intimately.

Here are some more quotes to illustrate her humor and diverse subject matter. (And then I conclude with a little look at her more serious observations.)

“And while I do prefer to be barefoot, I do not like to be wearing just one shoe, because then you’re lopsided and it feels like you have accidental temporary polio. (No one gives themselves polio on purpose, Victor.)”

“Apparently someone had called security to report the wayward shoe. I guess they’d kept the elevator stopped while they made sure it wasn’t a bomb or a maybe investigated how some trashy Cinderella had made it as far as the elevator. Then the security guard brought my shoe down to me and I gave him two dollars because I don’t know how much you’re supposed to tip for your own shoe, and I vowed to never walk out of my shoes in an elevator ever again, and I never did until I totally did it again one week later.”

“(Note: Fight or flight syndrome is what a lot of people with anxiety deal with during stress. My choices seem to be either shank the person who is making me scared or get rid of all my fluids so I can run faster. I choose peeing over stabbing. You’re welcome.)”

“Someone gave me a poster that says, ‘Let her sleep for when she wakes she will move mountains,’ and I think it’s a nice sentiment because it encourages people to not wake me up, but I already can’t sleep because tomorrow I have to go to the bank and I can’t turn off my brain and now I’m finding out that I HAVE TO MOVE MOUNTAINS? I’m probably only sleeping late because I was up all night worrying about mountain relocation. Maybe the mountains need to stay where they are. Why is this my problem? Screw this. I just scratched out the part about moving landmasses and left ‘Let her sleep’ standing. Because I don’t throw babies out with the bathwater. In fact, I don’t throw babies at all. Or move mountains.”

“Victor tried to make me feel bad because I never got Hailey a birth certificate, but in my defense I didn’t get one because they’re like baby receipts and I’m not gonna get a refund. Then Victor said that they’re not for returning babies, they’re to prove that you have a baby, but I already have proof that I have a baby and her name is Hailey and she lives here.”

“And that’s sort of what depression is like…like when your mom turns into Kathie Lee Gifford’s face on giant, murderous swamp puppies. If you don’t have depression this analogy might seem baffling, but if you have it, you’re probably pointing at this page and saying, ‘BINGO, LADY. YOU NAILED IT.’”

(Her being a ‘bad risk’ to insurance companies) “It’s like global warming for elderly people. They probably think it’s likely but they know they won’t live to see us invaded by polar bears and volcanoes (I don’t know how global warming works) so they keep committing arson with aerosol bottles or whatever dangerous things elderly people do for fun (I don’t know how elderly people work). Basically, I’m global warming. But faster. And with fewer polar bears. (I don’t know how good analogies work.)”

“Victor was like, ‘Why is there a disco ball on the credit card?’ and I said, ‘It’s not for me. It's for some famous retired monkeys who aren’t allowed to roller skate anymore.’ And that’s when Victor threatened to turn off my credit cards.”

“But I explained that if I were a dentist I’d bury all the extra teeth I pulled in a pit in the backyard and then maybe a hundred years from now someone would dig them up and be like, ‘Holy crap! A serial killer must’ve been here!’ And that would be nice because it’s fun to add a little mystery to strangers’ lives. I’m a giver.”

“Luckily, my TB was inactive, so it was as lazy as I am. Apparently I’d been exposed to someone with active TB at some point and now I carry it around, along with all my deep-seated resentment of girls who were mean to me in junior high.”

“I don’t know if you’ve ever had a trash-fire shower, but that’s pretty much what this whole week has been like. Literally and figuratively. And it makes you rethink a lot of your choices… like my choice to ignore things I don’t want to think about until they are literally on fire around me, which is probably the most American thing about me.”

“On the other hand, I don’t think I’m allowed to vacuum anymore, so I guess it all works out in the end. It still sucks though. Or blows. Maybe both.”

So yeah. She definitely has a gift for comedic writing.

But then she would also throw in some introspection.

Her letter to insurance companies was very compelling and probably speaks to the heart of a lot of people dealing with compounding medical issues and having to fight so hard for coverage of the medication they need to live.

I found it moving when she opens up about her memory loss and forgetting people or things that have happened. I am a very nostalgic person so memories are so important to me. I fear what it would be like to lose them. But I thought she said it well here:

“If one day I look at you and don’t remember who you are or how much you mean to me, know that your importance is still as real then as it is now. Know that you are locked away someplace safe. Know that the me who loved you is still sitting on that beach, forever feeling the sunlight. And know that I’m okay with not having that memory right now, because the me that holds it tight is keeping it safe and uncorrupted and glorious. And she loves you. And I do too. Remember that.”

She titled this book ‘Broken (in the best possible way)’ because she knows she faces a lot of obstacles in her life, but she has also seen the good from a new perspective and has insights on life that many would never understand. I love her honesty and transparency. I’ve not dealt with severe anxiety or depression so this was an illuminating read for me. Here is her world:

“The problem is that depression is my forever side dish to any period of convalescence and illness, and depression lies. It tells you that you are worthless. That life was never good. That you are a drain on the world and that it will only get worse.”

“I always told Hailey that being afraid of the dark was silly because the thing about darkness is that it’s not just a place for things to hide. It’s a cloak that hides you as well. The night can be a friend. And that’s a good thing to know, but only when your head is working properly and you can assure yourself that once you step back into the house you’ll cast a shadow again instead of being one. That promise doesn’t exist tonight and I hurry back inside, feeling claustrophobic in the darkness that seems as if it will consume or wash away what little bit of me I have left.”

“If I look closer at these stories that make up my life, a strange theme emerges. It’s the idea that something is only real if it’s damaged. I suppose it makes sense in a terrible sort of way. After all, we are changed by life… it puts its teeth in us, it leaves its handprints and marks and scars on us. And as much as we try to ignore those things, in the end they make us who we are. For good or for bad, we are changed and touched and broken and mended and scarred. And those marks (inside and out) tell a story. They tell our story.”

And then this concept she spends time on in her last chapter. It struck me and I can’t read these words and abandon them:

“I’m not much for organized religion, but I think we all have souls. Glowing half orbs… And as we live, our spheres crack. They splinter with sadness or loss or doubt or pain…Then we walk around with these slivers missing… these holes… Sometimes we try to fill these holes with things that seem to fill the gap but aren’t right. We wedge a square bit in a round hole, but it’s a large hole, so it fits, although inexactly… Sometimes the sphere is too broken for people to go on. It’s like when people say their God hole is empty. We’re all built differently, and maybe for you the missing piece is religion, or trust or love or acceptance, but we’re all shattered in our own way and we all pick up pieces that others leave behind… We are broken. We are healing. It never ends. And, if you look at it in just the right light, it is beautiful.”

First, this is her heart so I don’t want to take away from her sharing these pieces of her. I can’t fully understand everything about her that has shaped her viewpoint. But I can’t read this and leave it at that. What she finds beautiful is healing, however imperfect, seeing something good come from something bad. She sees a glimmer of something much brighter. She misses out on the real healing and redemption that can only be found in God.

I can’t help but be reminded of Lysa Terkeurst’s awesome book ‘It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way’. She says, "What if shattering is the only way to get dust back to its basic form so that something new can be made?" Throughout her book she uses analogies of dust, of pottery. Of the biblical truths that we were made from dust. God makes beautiful things out of dust. God uses the things that break us to make something new in us.

Jenny is right that we are all, indeed, broken. Truer words have not been spoken. But she is wrong to say that it never ends. There is a hope that awaits us that promises we will one day be whole and perfect. Jenny’s broken body, riddled with diseases and trash-fire, is a work in progress that God desires to redeem if she puts her trust in him.

“Some things won’t be fixed on this side of eternity; they just have to be walked through. But when my brain begs me to doubt God—as it most certainly does—I find relief for my unbelief by laying down my human assessments and assumptions. I turn from the tree of knowledge and fix my gaze on the tree of life. I let my soul be cradled by God’s divine assurance. His Son. Who completely understands. And who will walk me through every step of this if I keep my focus on Him. That’s how I survive the 86,400 seconds called today.” (Terkeurst)

Lawson’s book, Broken, is simultaneously light-hearted and deep, both humorous and sobering. It’s a finding of brightness in the darkness and of a real acknowledgment that there is something broken in us that we are all searching to heal.

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

P.S. I was today years old when Jenny’s epiphany became my epiphany that the chicken crossing the road to get to the other side was because: “OMG, THE OTHER SIDE= DEATH. THE CHICKEN IS SUICIDAL,’ and suddenly I understood the joke for the first time ever and now I’m wondering what other basic things I think I understand but really don’t at all, and Victor says there are probably too many.”

Broken is part memoir, part humor and part commentary on living with mental health illness. Irreverent, sassy, quirky and wise, Lawson’s witty prose will have you cracking up, and thoughtfully reflecting from one chapter to the next. Her style is as unique as her stories. After all, Who hasn’t repeatedly lost one shoe in public places?

4.5 stars, rounded up.

Jenny Lawson, AKA The Bloggess, has a new book out, and I do believe it’s my favorite. My thanks go to Net Galley and Henry Holt for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Lawson bucks a somewhat disquieting trend, and I am so glad. The trend is to make the first three chapters—most likely what sells the book—sterling, and then fill the rest with mediocre, highly missable prose. In contrast, the earliest part of this memoir is good, but it’s not great. She starts slow and then builds toward most of her best material, leaving me smiling as the book concludes.

But let’s go back to the material at the start, which I find to be random in a way that yearns for the hand of a high profile editor. I’m throwing my hands up, wondering just why a professional writer would blather on like this. Can she write a coherent sentence, and then end it when it’s over? Of course, I continued reading and loved the essays in the middle, and as we draw near the end, she refers to the challenges she encounters in writing, citing her inclination to overwrite, and the resultant paragraphs that contain “a run-on sentence that would make an English teacher cut herself,” and I howled, because that’s it, exactly. Almost exactly, I mean; I was moaning, but I hadn’t reached for anything sharp.

What is it about depression and humor, and the connection between them? It’s hard to tease apart all of the components that make Lawson’s writing so compelling; to a certain extent, it’s alchemy of the human spirit, I suppose, combined with skill at self-expression. But there are other components much easier to spot. One is her disarming frankness; for example, she mentions that people, remarking on her twentieth wedding anniversary, ask about her secrets for a long and happy marriage, and she tells us that actually, not all of those years have been happy. There are good periods, and there are bad periods. And then she adds, not entirely jokingly, that part of the reason she is still married is that there are things in her marriage that she doesn’t write about.

But even more compelling is her level of perception, and her ability to understand the subtext of just about everything.

I’ll mention my favorite parts, but I am not giving up any more humorous quotes, because that’s a crappy thing to do to a humor writer. There’s a funny part having to do with shoes, and the kayaking trip from hell, which she dubs “Divorce Creek.” The chapter about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, which is a serious bit for the purpose of informing us, is interesting and may be of help to a number of readers. (However, the searing honesty about her suicidal impulses might actually be a trigger for a profoundly depressed reader.) And the infuriating experiences she has had dealing with insurance makes me want to throw things, but it is important that she includes them here.

If you’re a fan of The Bloggess’s writing, you have to get this book. If you are new to her work, you can dive into this memoir without reading her previous ones. Highly recommended.

The whole thing is laugh-out-loud, snort-till-you-can't-breathe fantastic, but HOLY SHIT, that letter to her health insurance company? WOW.

Bless and keep Jenny Lawson. She continues to be such a charming light in the darkness.

The self deprecating, irreverent humor queen, Jenny Lawson, has a new release - and sign me up. I find Lawson's writing insightful and relatable as someone who also suffers from anxiety and I highlighted large chunks of the book as it spoke to my anxious mind. For example, in one chapter Jenny describes looking out the window of her hotel room in NYC "at locations that might as well have been on Mars. I got dressed and decided to go outside, if only for a minute. But I couldn't. I stood at my hotel door, and it might have been a brick wall.. It's not even something you can complain about without feeling stupid. I was being given such an amazing opportunity and I was losing it and there was nothing I could do about it."

Lawson's brand of humor is anecdotal, meandering, undeniably quirky and it strikes me as genuine - but I think it's important to acknowledge that her writing style might not appeal to all readers. Luckily, you can tell from chapter one if this book is for you, and if it is, you're good people - and if it's not, you're still good people.

I don't know if I've ever finished reading a book and wanted to immediately start reading it all over again, but with this one, I do.

It's full of Lawson's signature sense of humor, overflowing with the hilarity of excess and the unusual. It's also full of real, deep-seated, feel-it-in-your-gut truths. That's a hard line to balance, but Lawson has made it her brand. Hard lived heart with a cup of hearty sarcasm. Perhaps the best medicine for anyone who's ever battled mental health issues is a book by someone who knows exactly what they're talking about, with the courage to still laugh.

You don't need me to tell you read it, just go on and read it. You'll thank yourself. But also, and seriously, let's thank Jenny Lawson.

An enthusiastic 5 STARS for this wonderfully hilarious and vulnerable book by Jenny Lawson. I have loved everything she has written and she remains an important voice in bringing honesty, knowledge, and humor to the world of living with and accepting one's mental health. This book not only reflected my own struggles with Depression, but helped me greatly in having a better understanding of my daughter's Acute Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This is a book that EVERYONE should read as we work towards a greater understanding and acceptance of mental health awareness.

In Jenny Lawson's newest book, she returns with more adventures with wild animals, mental illness, and fights with her husband Victor. While reading her previous two books, Let's Pretend This Never Happened and Furiously Happy, I laughed until I cried multiple times. This book was no exception. Lawson is able to relay stories of depression, anxiety, and treatment plans and problems in a way that not only can readers relate, but that they will laugh as they say "Me too!". Fans of Lawson's previous books will not be disappointed by this installment and new readers will eagerly look to find previous books after finishing this one. I am recommending it to everyone I know.

This week we are moving into a mixed genre of Autobiography and Humor. I seem to be on quite a roll here with changing genres each week.

Once again like Historical Fiction, which I seem to end up reading a lot of when I don’t mean to, I do not generally read Autobiographies. There isn’t a great reason why I don’t but somehow, they don’t seem to rise to the top of my TBR pile.

BUT… I will always make an exception for Jenny Lawson. I realize it is very possible that you have never heard of Jenny Lawson. Or is it just that I think that no one else’s mind works the same way as mine? Anyway…. I think that I first heard about Jenny Lawson at a convention for bloggers. Yes, there is such a thing, and I went once. Jenny Lawson is The Blogress. (https://thebloggess.com/) and she is funny. Her first book, Let’s Pretend It Never Happened was hysterical. It came out in 2012 and I still remember some of the funny parts. This is saying a lot because I have read many books since 2012.


In Broken, Jenny Lawson blends very funny stories with her own story of depression and anxiety. The book seesaws between laugh out loud funny– I did laugh out loud and would read parts to Silent Sam who didn’t seem to appreciate the humor as much as I did – and parts where you just want to help her through her bad times. She is honest about her bad times and what she has done to try and help herself. She is under a doctor’s care and in the book, you follow her problems with side effects and fighting the insurance company. The book is a look into her world and how debilitating and funny it can be. The stories she tells about herself will make you feel better about every time you have said the wrong thing. (It is a wonder that her husband ever takes a conference call at home.)

The most succinct way I can sum up the book is to say that it will break your heart while you are laughing. Her perspective is her own. She is obviously very intelligent – her mind makes leaps that frequently seem completely different than where my mind would go in a particular instance, but her leaps do make sense when you read them.

At the end of the book, there is a section called “A Note about the Cover”. In it, she talks about how she ran across the artwork of Omar Rayyan. In his artwork, he has

“…strange and whimsical paintings of people carrying their own baffling little monsters, dangerous looking creatures that were wild and untamed and often happily destroying everything around them. I suspect I’m projecting, but I’ve never seen a collection of art that more perfectly encapsulated how I felt about my own battle with depression and anxiety and the monsters in my head…”

She goes on to talk about her personal “beasties” and how they are terrible but there is something about our personal beasts that is wonderful and unique to each of us.

“Embrace your beasties. Love your awkwardness. Enjoy yourself. Celebrate the bizarreness that is you because, I assure you, you are more wondrous than you can possibly imagine… monsters and all.”

And that is her message to all of us. We are all wonderful in our own way. And after reading her story, it is moving that her desire is to build you up while it is such a struggle for her.

Yes, Yes, Yes, I recommend this book. It is not easy and not fun all the way but it is beautiful in its own way. (And I was given a ARC of the book in exchange for my honest review.)

Thanks for reading.

This may be my favorite Jenny Lawson book yet. I could not stop laughing listening to this. I definitely recommend listening to the audiobook for her books because she narrates them and it's always hilarious. I will pick up anything she writes!

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for. an honest review.

Jenny Lawson is a treasure. After 2020, I’ve been obsessed with books that can make me laugh out loud because we all need a few extra laughs! This book did that for me.

Please reread those last two words, “for me.” While I found her humor amusing, I don’t know if it would be for everyone. I would suggest giving it a try if you’re a fan on hers! Or, if you enjoy a mix of hilarious stories and serious topics, this could be for you too.

Her biggest topic throughout the more series stories is mental illness. While I related to a few stories, I absolutely think this book helps spin the negative stigma on mental illness. She explains how much she enjoys life while living with her illness and I think more people need to read these firsthand stories more often.

Since I had the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook, I preferred the audiobook since it was narrated by Lawson herself! So! If you are picking between the two, I would suggest the audio.

Big thank you for the ARC

Broken (in the Best Possible Way

I Picked Up This Book Because: I enjoy the author’s work.

Media Type: Digital
Source: Netgalley
Dates Read: 3/11/21 - 4/7/21
Stars: 4.5Stars

The Story:

Here we are again entering the mind of my favorite mad woman, Jenny Lawson. A deep feeling soul with a very strange way of thinking. Fortunately her strange fits and makes her books so enjoyable. Ms Lawson had perfected the art of taking us on a journey through REAL but with such grace, humor and gentleness that we can almost forget a lot of her writing is sparked from the lowest points of human experience. While she speaks of depression and the difficulties of getting proper treatment here in the U.S. she also entertains us with stories as if we were just friends sitting around a firepit with a glass of wine and time to just enjoy each other's company.

I did receive this book as an advanced copy but I will soon be picking up the audio version because I missed her voice/tone/inflections throughout her tales and I also hear her cat makes cameos throughout the book because she had to record it at home.


The Random Thoughts:



Challenges:

TBR 20 in 21 - From/set in a country you’re from

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Jenny Lawson is back with her current essay collection, Broken (in the best possible way). Jenny highlights her mental health struggles in many of the essays. As someone you battles with anxiety I felt seen in some of her writing. We've started talking more about mental health, especially with the pandemic, but it's something Jenny Lawson has never shied away from. Jenny also discusses her battles with her health insurance which is something I think almost everyone can commiserate with. Our health insurance companies shouldn't be the ones to dictate what is best for our health when our doctors want to do something different. I can't count the number of times my doctors and I have fought with my insurance to get arthritis medication that would work best for me.

A theme highlighted throughout Jenny Lawson's collection is although you may feel alone you aren't. There is someone going through a similar journey although you may not know it. Don't let the demons win but try to persevere because you are wanted.

There were quite a few laugh out loud moments while reading. My husband got to hear quite a bit back as I read portions to him. Thank you Jenny Lawson for being a bright beacon in this messed up world we live in.

If you haven’t read a book by Jenny Lawson then you are absolutely missing out. I know that some people are thrown by her covers. She explains them and it’s so perfect. It makes absolute sense! For example, in this book she talks about the illustrator that did this, has a lot of “people carrying their own baffling little monsters” in his collection. She says, “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.”

Jenny is brilliant at making you laugh, mostly at her expense, and then getting really real with you. She is so honest and unfiltered. A lot of her thoughts start in one direction but then has these long tangents. Honestly, sometimes it’s the best part! I’ve learned so much about her, her thinking process, and her mental health. I love how real she is and doesn’t shy away from the uglier side of things. She lays it all out there. She tackles some sensitive and hard things but can bring the humor too.

This book really does kind of pull you in a lot of directions, emotionally. There are some really serious things she talks about. For example, a chapter is a letter written to her insurance company. It’s not funny and it’s so sad but very true. She opens up a lot about her therapy and treatments. Not only that but all the diseases she has and medications she’s taking that cause other side effects. It’s not funny at all but I’m so glad that she sheds a light on these things. She does it in a way that doesn’t say, “feel sorry for me” but it’s just what it is.

I highly recommend the audio version. It give it so much more and I really enjoyed it. I listened while I read along and it made it all the better. If you are looking for a great audiobook/book then I highly recommend this one.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company for sending me a copy of Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson via Netgalley.

I love Jenny Lawson and if we both didn't have such an aversion to people, I would want us to be friends. Broken is more like a collection of essays even though there are threads that may link the chapters. Some are hilarious. Some are serious. Some take you deep into mental health issues. Some are just crazy adventures, usually with animals. I found myself highlighting almost every passage, so I had to stop. What good are highlights if they cover the whole book????

I found her letter to her health insurance company especially poignant because it encapsulated all my feelings about health care in the United States. It's infuriating. But of course, my favorite stories are about Jenny and animals. When it comes to animal rescue, I have found my kindred spirit in Jenny. I too have rescued a rat, and not even a nice feeder rat, but a street rat in an unfortunate predicament. Also, I would like Jenny to name all my pets because she does come up with the best names.

If you need a laugh, read this book!

I was sent an advanced read copy of this book from the publisher though all thoughts are my own and I'm so very grateful to have a copy to cherish!

Jenny talks about her struggles with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues, chronic illnesses with rheumatoid arthritis being among them along with the struggles to get the right medication while fighting with her insurance, being a mother, wife and her sense of humor. I haven't laughed so hard reading a book in a long time which was such a wonderful feeling and was well worth the odd looks I'd get while reading this book in public.

She mentions her struggles with leaving the house, days where her depression leaves her in a fog and her memory is not very good so often she'll forget what she's doing or the conversations that she's had. I found myself cheering for Jenny when she was able to go on a vacation with her family and what a natural high it brought her because it's something she was able to do for herself as well as her family.

I found myself laughing about some aspects especially her list of why she shouldn't to go parties, the whole chapter that was titled "Awkwarding Brings Us Together" and other awkward moments she's encountered that I can relate to in a number of ways. It really is a struggle to sometimes have a regular conversation with someone without feeling like you're being an odd duck to so speak. Much of what she talked about in the last chapter really hit a chord though I won't go into details because that involved spoilers but will stay with me for some time and gives a glimpse into just how important it is to be nice to each other because you never know what things some one may be going through. I related to this book in a number of different ways as I struggle with my own mental health and I'm so glad that this book exists because it's important to talk more about mental health and to be able to laugh about some aspects of it while also riding the roller coaster so to speak of life.

One of my favorite quotes by her that I will hold close and brought tears to my eyes (in a good way): Forgive yourself for being broken. For being you. For thinking those are things you need forgiveness for.

Whether you have read any previous books by Jenny or read her blogs or not, I highly recommend checking out this book as it is well worth a read. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors and I will happily read anything she writes.

I received an e-ARC of this book, but to the surprise of almost no one, I actually wound up listening to it on audio and let me tell you, that was the way to go. Jenny Lawson is unsurprisingly brilliant at narrating her own story, but like, truly, the way all of the emotions shine through. Her stories are wild and ridiculous and hilarious and sometimes so heart wrenching. As with any essay collection, some of the essays worked better for me than others, but, as with all essay collections, I actually have no idea how to review it. So... Here goes, I guess.

Jenny Lawson has a lot of illnesses that have all sorts of impacts on her life. She also has tremendous social anxiety, generalized anxiety, OCD, and depression. She's married and has a daughter. There are stories in here related to basically all of those things and wow, the horror of thinking through the fact that the medicine that is saving you in many ways is also killing you was... intense. She has chronic pain and briefly touches on going to the hospital and having people call her a drug seeker, which is a really negative thing I know many people with chronic pain have dealt with.

Her stories about her arguments with her husband delighted me though because they have some of the most hilarious arguments. I thought MY brain and mouth connection meant that I have a stream of consciousness thing that happens sometimes, when I'm over tired, but it turns out I had no idea. She is so funny and open about the things that come through her head and I was so delighted to find out that this is normal. (In at least that other people do it too.)

There were multiple chapters where I would have to pause the audiobook because I was laughing too hard to hear it. But, there were also chapters that were heavier and made me tear up. Her grandmother had dementia and the entire chapter was so poignant and I just really loved hearing from her perspective.

All in all, I'm so grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for the e-ARC, sorry I wound up purchasing and listening instead? Definitely worth it though. This book was marvelous.