Saturday, July 20, 2013

Book Review: "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson

Jenny Lawson, if you don't know, is a very well-known blogger called "The Bloggess". She is very well known because she is very, very funny. Her twisty view of the world makes for some hilarious misadventures, which she shares in this book. 

I would heartily recommend this to everyone I know except for one glaring problem: Jenny has an extremely foul mouth. And, by extension, writing voice. She unabashedly throws the f-word onto nearly every page, often multiple times. She talks without a hint of shyness or caution about... everything. EVERYTHING. At least that way, you know she's being honest and there is no confusion about what she might mean. No innuendo-- it's just all stark and in-your-face. Some of that made me a tad uncomfortable. I really don't like so much cussing and I normally don't read books with that much cussing, but she is just so dang funny that I kept going in spite of myself.

I found myself laughing out loud many times and when my kids wanted to know why I was laughing I couldn't tell them to read this book... 

She is very honest about her mental health, her former anorexia, her current RA, her heartbreaking miscarriages, and her very unusual childhood. Lawson has a talent for making almost anything funny. Her arguments with her husband (which tend to include death threats), the odd behavior of her dog, her former job in HR, and many of the basic things that happen in life are situated just right for humor and comedy. 

The book reads just like her blog. It is not narrative in any way; it's more a jumble of stories and experiences put into mostly chronological order. Some chapters were taken right from her blog. 

If you can handle her language and her lack of reverence about religion, (particularly about Jesus), you will enjoy this book. (To be honest, I skipped the chapter where she used Jesus' name a lot, so I don't know if it was sacrilegious or not... I wouldn't be surprised, though.)

It is really, really funny.

No comments: