A witty, absorbing and brave memoir, cleverly presented as a series of beautiful comedic vignettes, focusing primarily on the author's struggles with anxiety. Insightful, heartbreaking, raw, and deeply personal, with fascinating and hilarious glimpses behind the scenes. A great read.

I was a bit confused at the start of the book but carried on reading. It shows how what seems to be on the surface a perfect life has cracks, heartbreak, worry and pain. Different solutions work for different people and this book highlights this. An interesting look in to someone else's life.

I feel like this book will appeal to all, but definitely to Millenials that feel as if their 'mess is a bit of a life'. Totally poignant and totally needed within its time context. Georgia Pritchett's memoir is fast-paced without missing any of the important details. It perfectly encapsulates the transition to womanhood.

What was this book?! I always love reading books about anxiety and depression, as it makes me feel that I am not alone when I suffer. However, this cannot be called a book!! This is just short random snippets that don't fit together and don't really explain much.
Did not enjoy this at all!

A funny and relatable take on what it means to be anxious. Georgia remembers being anxious from a young age, all the 'normal' life things feeling not so normal. Never have I felt so seen and heard from a book. This book will make you giggle.

This is a great humorous take on anxiety. I could totally relate to this book and found it very helpful to compare my experiences and Georgia’s.

Super heartwarming memoir of comedy writer Georgia Pritchett, mastermind behind series like Veep! It was really inspiring to read about her dwelling with anxiety and her life's events in general.

Georgia Pritchett has always been anxious, even as a child. She would worry about whether the monsters under the bed were comfortable: it was the sort of life where if she had nothing to worry about she would become anxious but such occasions were few and far between. On a visit to a therapist, as an adult, when she was completely unable to speak about what was wrong with her it was suggested that she should write it down and My Mess is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety is the result - or so we are given to believe.

I'm no stranger to anxiety and Pritchett delivers the sense of the paralysing feelings and panic perfectly. What she also captures is the carapace which she exhibits to the outside world. Even on the worst days, she will appear to be calm and in command despite the fact that her inside is a tornado thrashing the surfaces of her brain and the panic overwhelming. What will surprise many people is the use of humour: when life gets really bad, introduce the funny side, make people laugh and perhaps you'll get by. People won't notice how you're really feeling. Some parts of the book are hilarious - I laughed out loud on several occasions and then felt guilty when I realised what I was laughing at. Even the darkest moments are lightened by humour.

If you suffer from anxiety, will the book help you? It probably won't do so directly but Pritchett is a multi-award-winning drama and comedy writer with a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Producer's Guild award. Despite having a debilitating problem - a problem which must, on occasions, seem overwhelming - she's successful and professionally funny. She copes with a family which has its own problems.

It's a quick read - I read it in one sitting - mainly because it's written in a series of comic vignettes which almost force you to read just one more before you put the book down. You can't help but warm to the wit and be impressed by the honesty that's displayed. Did it help me? I feel less alone - and that has to be a good thing.

I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to the Bookbag.

Thanks NetGalley for providing me an arc in exchange for a review. Honestly I wasn’t entirely sure what I signed up for when requesting this book. I thought it might have reflected the authors process with coming to terms with her anxiety with references to instances in her childhood before diagnosis.

The structure of little anecdotes and stories made me put it down 21% into the book. I prefer when books have a flow to them. I understand this adds to the struggles of those with anxiety as literally the inside of my anxious brain is a constant ramble like this book however I just didn’t really find myself hooked and wanting to read more

** ARC provided by Netgalley via the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ***

I adored this book and raced through it in a day or so. I don't really know how I have not heard of Georgia Pritchett before as she is an award winning writer of some great shows, like Miranda & Veep, This book is a memoir in a bit of a different format. Lots of short anecdotes, some are really funny, some a little darker but the overall tone is so warm & lovely.

The title alone was enough for me to request title and the premise is that her therapist has asked her to list things that make her anxious and here it is! I could definitely relate and will be recommending this book highly and often!

The title of this book hooked me immediately. I really enjoyed the first half of this memoir / anxiety roadmap, there are so many references that you can relate to and many anecdotes that are brilliantly personal to anyone that reads this.

The second half I couldn’t seem to connect to and the writing stopped drawing me in as much, making it a bit of a tough read. Probably because it stopped resonating as much. Overall though a book that has a bit of everything humour, heartache and a healthy dose of anxiety.

I don’t know what I was expecting from this book but it wasn’t what I got. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it, the anecdotes were too short and disjointed, it just felt all too chaotic which is difficult to get into when your own mind works in the same way! It’s a shame but we can’t like everything!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Georgia Pritchett is a writer who has worked with some of the UK and USA's best known comedians and actors. If you think this book is going to be a step by step account of her career, then this book is not for you. However, if you enjoy witty personal commentary and have had any experience with anxiety, then you will enjoy and/or relate to this book.

It starts with Pritchett's therapist suggesting that she write down all of her worries. It very much reads as little snippets of things that Pritchett has worried about over her life and I found it a bit difficult to get into initially because there isn't much of a narrative. It is however relatively chronological which helped. And while many of the comments are written in a witty way, the funny comments are often written alongside some gut punchingly emotional moments. That is definitely the strength of the book and I suspect is why Pritchett has had such a successful career.

I very much hope that writing the book was a help to Pritchett and I am grateful to her for writing so openly and honestly about her experiences with anxiety.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I don't think these words will accurately convey just how much I loved this book. It's witty, emotional, real and the most reassuring read I've had in a long while. Read this and you'll get what it means to be anxious.

I loved the first half of this book and the style of the vignettes, the lessons learned and the cultural references had me laughing out loud at times. However, although the second half when she became an Adult was still well written and she dealt very well with traumas she faced, I also thought it felt very rushed and would have benefited from being a longer book or maybe 2 volumes?

Thank you to netgalley and Faber and Faber for an advance copy of this book

For those of you who are unaware of who Georgia Pritchett is, she is the talented award winning writer on shows such as Miranda, The Thick of It, Veep, Smack the Pony, Have I Got News for You, and The Real McCoy. Finding herself weighed down by anxiety and depression, she found herself unable to speak of or express her worries to a therapist, who advised her to write them down instead. This original, fun, smart, comic and witty memoir is the result, it is largely in the form of anecdotes, vignettes, and thoughts, covering her childhood, where her anxious nature is apparent, family, school, college, personal relationships and her stellar professional career. The vignettes can appear random and difficult to pin down in terms of when the events related happened.

Her father is referred to as The Patriarchy, and her mother, The Witch, as a 4 year old Georgia thought God was Jimmy Osmond, and all the stories she was writing featured baby budgies falling from their nests and unable to find their way home. Her shyness made speaking problematic, became familiar with writing haikus at her offbeat school, and went to Scotland on family holidays so that their West Highland terrier, Flo, could get back to her roots. Georgia invented a superhero alter ego and had an imaginary friend, Samantha, who was never keen on spending any time with her. She got in with the wrong crowd at teacher training college, Christians, prior to dropping out! After getting her foot in the door as a writer of jokes on BBC Radio 4's Weekending, she never looked back, Georgia had found her place in the world. She gives an eye opening account of the male dominated and misogynist world of her profession.

My favourite parts of this fabulous memoir are the emotionally heartbreaking miscarriages, the health scares of her partner, The Moose, and giving birth to her sons, the Speck and the Scrap, and the joys and challenges of raising them. This is one of the most wonderfully warm, hilarious and riveting memoirs that I have ever read, of an anxiety ridden Georgia Pritchett making her way through life, personally and professionally, blessed with all the funnies, self deprecating, in the tradition of so much British humour. It will have you gripped and laughing your way through from beginning to end. I am not going to lie, not all of the humour hit its mark with me, but the vast majority did. Absolutely brilliant, not to be missed and highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

During a therapy session, Georgia was advised to write down all the things that made her anxious after she failed to find the right words to vocalise her fears. This book is the result of that list. It is not a secret that I have suffered with anxiety for a while, so when this was offered to me to review, I jumped at the opportunity. This had me laughing, empathising, and bonding with Georgia, by the time I had finished coming full circle with her, I felt like I had made a new friend.

This is a memoir with a difference. Although this is a serious topic, Georgia writes with humour, failing to take herself too seriously as she guides her readers through her life. It is written really well, with short sharp chapters, making it easy to follow and this does not have the heaviness that some mental health books can have. This is a light, fluffy way of looking at anxiety and bringing awareness of the subject from an insider's perspective.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to all.

From worrying about the monsters under her bed as a child (Were they comfy enough?), to embracing womanhood, (One way of knowing you have crossed from girlhood to womanhood is that men stop furtively masturbating at you from bushes and start shouting things at you from cars. It's a beautiful moment) worry has accompanied her at every turn. This memoir is a joyful reflection on just how to live - and sometimes even thrive (sometimes not) - with anxiety.

On the whole, this was a nice, light-hearted read which I could delve into in free moments. There were so many relatable stories. I especially liked the way she wrote of the transition to womanhood. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

I have a mixed opinion of this book. I have no prior knowledge of the author, I was drawn in by the title. On one hand there was some funny bits, on the other some of the things that are meant to be funny may have needed a bit more thought about before writing. They come across as offensive but maybe more so to people who can relate to what she is describing...

It jumps a lot from one period of time to another and it's often difficult to know where we at the time..

This is another memoir – one of lots I’ve read over lockdown. I don’t know what it is, I just seem drawn to other people’s lives and how they choose to live it. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and they said the same. Memoirs like >Untamed> by Glennon Doyle, for example. Maybe as we can’t live our own lives, we live vicariously through others? Or maybe while ours are on hold, it’s interesting to see what everyone else is doing with theirs, like a kind of inspiration mood board?

Georgia Pritchett is not a name I knew, perhaps shamefully. I read this because I was interested in the format, and it came with some excellent advance praise:

'A book that keeps you laughing, even when it breaks your heart.' – Sara Pascoe
'A fantastically entertaining and surprising book. I knew I would laugh - and I did, several times on every page. She is hilarious - exuberantly funny, wickedly funny, wryly funny, darkly funny. All the funnies. But this book really shook my heart too. To read it is to meet the kindest, warmest, most wisecracking companion you could hope for. Georgia Pritchett is the new friend we all need right now.' – Marina Hyde
‘Brimming with wit and honesty, these vignettes are the perfect nourishment for an anxious world.’ – Nina Stibbe
‘I'm SO excited about this.’ – Richard Osman
‘Georgia Pritchett is a singularly hilarious person. Her book is a delightful and perfect reflection of her. It's tenderness sneaks up on you and really packs a punch.' – Julia Louis Dreyfus
She describes her early years, clearly in a UK which is a bit earlier than my childhood years, where bus fares cost 2p. Still, her talking about trying to get a pet which wouldn’t run away from her when she tried to put doll’s clothes on it, wishing for a barbie and getting a one legged Action Man instead, calling her dad The Patriarchy and her mum The Witch – I understood and loved the descriptions. She paints vividly in short paragraphs, and I can see the whole scene laid out.
She’s also open about her anxieties, not knowing what to do with her life, really, and somehow getting into comedy writing.

It’s fascinating seeing her progress in a really difficult profession, especially for women and especially 30 years ago. It’s still tough now, so being able to read her memoir as a trailblazer was great. She only shares negative reviews, calling them her own private Statler and Waldorf. Amongst that though, she is clearly good at what she does – you can see that from her writing. You can also see that in the jobs she gets, the calls she gets from Ronnie Corbett, Spitting Image, Arnando Iannuci. She’s currently writing for Succession, a show which I cannot wait to come back for the next season.
It’s a testament to how unsung the writers are in comedy, especially if you’re a middle aged woman. She doesn’t push this point, by the way – she’s grateful and appreciative and loves what she does, but it’s easy to see how hard it’s been to continue.

The best thing about the anecdotes, apart from the continuity of certain jokes, which make you feel like you’re de facto part of her circle, is that she has an amazing way of delivering a sucker punch, right to your heart. One story is about her joy of another female comedy writer being on staff at Spitting Image, which ends with her funeral after her death at 26 years old, from heart failure caused by aneroxia nervosa. It’s so gently done, and so human, that it’s easy to see how and why Pritchett is such a prolific writer.

I’d recommend this for fans of TV, for well written scripts, comedy and with a love of sharing what it is to be human.

Thanks to Netgalley and Faber & Faber for the DRC. This book is released on July 1st.