Broken (In the Best Possible Way) By Jenny Lawson

Jenny Lawson

Am I allowed to rate my own book? Because *technically* I have read it so I think it still counts. I'm giving it one star for every year I thought I'd never finish it and if you are reading this and struggling with your own story, know that you are not alone. We all have stories inside of us that grow and change and inspire and mortify and serve as warning sign or guideposts. Thank you for listening to mine.

Emily (Books with Emily Fox)

Just started it and I'm already laughing!

Regina

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 now available.

Blog:
www.confettibookshelf.com
IG: @confettibookshelf

Candie

I am definitely in the minority here but I did not really like this book at all. There were a few random sections throughout where she gets real and talks about her mental health issues that I thought were interesting, but overall the book just felt really forced to me. It felt to me like she was going out of her way to be really absent-minded and scatterbrained in order to seem cute and funny. her stream of consciousness writing style is not my type of humor at all and seemed a bit ridiculous. I guess it just wasn't for me.

Jesse (JesseTheReader)

I love seeing how Jenny Lawson approaches her journey with Mental Health. She coats it with humor, but also never shies away from how hard things have gotten for her. This one didn't land as much as her past work has (I still need to read her debut OOP) and there were a few essays that felt like fillers. (Example: the entry where she fills the pages with replies to a funny tweet she posted) Overall though I still love her charming style and the heart filled moments that are sprinkled throughout her books.

jv poore

Broken: In the Best Way Possible is the third collection of comical, every-day-life essays by Jenny Lawson (also known as The Bloggess). Ms. Lawson is one of the few people on this planet willing to share self-deprecating stories, not just for a laugh; but to show those who feel alone that they really aren’t.

Most of us have felt the frustration of our own forgetfulness. Ms. Lawson’s recollection issues provide perspective. Her open letter to her health insurance company highlights contradictions in their policies along with procedures that are almost nonsensical. Relatable, if you’ve ever been baffled by insurance.

Some chapters surprised me with anxieties and odd decisions so very similar to mine. Finally, someone else who waffles between answering the door when the mail-carrier requires a signature or just ignoring it and driving to the post office on another day. Hoping to feel up to face-to-face communication in the future.

To me, one of the most challenging aspects of clinical depression is not being to explain how it feels. I cannot emphasize enough how validating and exactly-what-I-needed-right-now this book is. It isn’t written to a specific, clinically-depressed audience, though. Ms. Lawson bravely speaks to absolutely everyone. Even those with brilliantly-balanced chemistry will be amused by these anecdotes.

Oh! And I learned what kintsugi is. When Ms. Lawson’s husband suggested it, he was so spot-on that he must have felt like a rock-star for a moment.

Reading Broken is like receiving a desperately needed hug from the person who knows you best and loves you anyway. And, I absolutely adore the new name she gives to the Acknowledgements section.

This review was written by jv poore for Buried Under Books, with huge “Thank You!” to Henry Holt & Company and Goodreads for the Advance Review Copy.

karen

NOW AVAILABLE!!

this might be my favorite one yet, but i am too broken to review it RN. go get it, though - you will not be disappointed!

*************************************************

apparently, because jenny lawson is the vaccine that will protect me against anything 2021 has in store is an acceptable response to the question "why are you requesting this book?" over on edelweiss.

WHOLEHEART THANK YOUS TO J-LAW AND E-WEISS!!!

Catherine (alternativelytitledbooks)-trying to catch up!

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Co., and Jenny Lawson for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 4.6!**

You ever had that friend that who not only can make you laugh, not only can make you cry, but can make you laugh from crying AND cry from laughing?

Jenny Lawson is JUST that wizard.

This is Jenny's third book, and those familiar with her humor realize she will be discussing everything from some 'interesting' (and not G rated) product pitches for Shark Tank to embarrassing and ridiculous anecdotes from some of her blog and Twitter followers that will have you have you snickering, if not full-out belly laughing. Jenny loves taxidermy and tangents, and her frick-and-frack banter with husband Victor is always a treat. What I love most about her comedic essays (and this is just in their written form) is that they are the weirdest stories where the beginning of the chapter can leave you saying "Huh? How exactly is she going to circle back to receiving a bag of dicks at the post office?" But lo and behold. She always does, and once you've actually heard the story, you think "Well of course. Why WOULDN'T she have received a bag of dicks? Perfectly logical."

The juxtaposition to the wild and wacky, however, is Jenny's discussion of her mental health struggles, which are heartbreaking in a sense, but also so relatable at times she takes my breath away. The essays in this book were particular poignant and interesting, since Jenny also discusses her experience with TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) therapy, which I had only heard of prior to reading this book. Other than Matt Haig, there is nobody who discusses depression and anxiety with such acuity as Jenny Lawson. The few essays on these topics alone provide enough advice (including a top ten list of what techniques work best for Jenny), empathy, and insight to put her alongside some of the best self-help writers I've read, like Brene Brown. There are so many passages I wanted to go back and highlight in this book, and as an avid fan of her blog and all other social media, I can say some of the email newsletters she sends are just the right words you need to hear on a particularly bad day.

I am so proud to call myself a Jenny Lawson fan, because she is one of the most unflinchingly authentic, unique, intelligent, and real bloggers I've ever come across, and her essay about being Broken is one of the best of the bunch here. If you need a cry-laugh, a laugh-cry (and let's face it, you could probably use at least one of those!), PLEASE pick up this fantastic book! She is quirky, gifted, funny, and empathetic...in all the best possible ways! 4.5 ⭐

Barbara

Jenny Lawson

Jenny Lawson - born and raised in Texas - is a journalist, blogger, author, and humorist who suffers from mental illness, attention deficit disorder, clinical depression, anxiety attacks, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune problems, and more. This makes Lawson's life challenging, but her medication - as well as her husband and daughter - help Jenny cope.

Jenny tries to see the 'funny' in life, and shares her observations with her readers.

I'll give some examples of Jenny's anecdotes, to provide a feel for her humor.

Jenny tells a story about constantly losing a shoe, because one foot is slightly larger than the other. So Jenny walked out of a shoe in a hotel elevator, waited for the elevator to return.....and no shoe! Turns out someone reported it to security. Jenny vowed to stop losing a shoe, but proceeded to do it again and again. Thus Jenny once had to pretend wearing one shoe was an Avant-garde fashion choice, once lost a shoe in a public toilet, once lost a shoe in a storm drain, and so on. (I'd advise fashionable sneakers. 😃)

***

Jenny writes about being so uncomfortable at parties that she gets verbal diarrhea and makes terrible small talk, like comparing dog poop and human poop. Ick!!

*****

After repeatedly mentioning genitals in a chapter about a cockchafer maggot, Jenny looked to Twitter for gender-neutral words for private parts. Hundreds of responses poured in, some of Jenny's favorites being niblets, no-no zone, Area 51, the south 40, the Department of the Interior, my hoopty, my chamber of secrets, my bidness, fandanglies, and the good china.

*****

In a chapter about editing her books - which Jenny does with a gallery of professionals - Jenny acknowledges that the process is awful and painful and hilarious and mortifying...but not boring. For fun, Jenny describes conversations she had about her books with a variety of editors.

Some examples:

◙ Jenny confuses the pirates Blackbeard and Bluebeard because they have the same last name. Editor: I don't think "Beard" was their last name.

◙ Jenny: Let's change "butt" to "buttonhole." Editor: Are you sure you want to do that? Jenny: Oops, that was autocorrect. I meant let's change "butt" to "butthole."

◙ Jenny: Can I just leave a poop emoticon to say sorry for being shitty at words. Editor: The poop image is an "emoji." An emoticon is a typographical display of facial representation using text only. Jenny: Jesus, I can't even use poop correctly.

*****

Jenny has a knack for fun animal names. Her dog is called Dorothy Barker; her suggested monikers for a neighborhood owl are Owl Roker and Owlexander Hamilton; a yard rat is dubbed Boo Ratley; and a squirrel who steals peanut butter crackers is named Squirrelly Temple.

Dorothy Barker

*****

Jenny also tells stories about her husband Victor, her daughter Hailey, and her parents and grandparents. Much of this is amusing, though stories about pulling off chicken heads, eating goats roasted in ground pits, and snacking on gerbil jerky can be stomach-churning.

Ground Pit Oven

*****

In a serious vein, Jenny excoriates her insurance company, which avoids paying for her medication and treatments....a phenomenon that's probably familiar to much of the general public.

Jenny also talks about contracting tuberculosis because she takes immunosuppressant drugs for her rheumatoid arthritis; getting panic attacks; having childhood anxiety attacks that were so frequent her mother had to change jobs to work in her school; having regular suicidal thoughts; and experiencing extended periods of depression. Jenny goes on to describe the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) she received to relieve her psychiatric symptoms - treatments that are extensive and painful, but which helped.

Jenny getting TMS treatment

Jenny's books do good by helping others who suffer from mental illness. Jenny writes about being on a book tour and meeting wonderful people who dealt with some of the same issues she had. Many folks shakily told her that it was the first time they'd left their house in weeks. Jenny was proud to be able to talk to each person, though it was VERY draining for HER, because she gets anxious being around people. A difficult conundrum indeed.

Jenny signing books

I like Jenny's humor, and there are some REALLY amusing chapters in the book. However, many sections feel forced, like the author was trying too hard to be funny.

Still, the book demonstrates that mentally ill individuals can have good times and enjoy life, which is a lesson worth learning.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Jenny Lawson), and the publisher (Henry Holt and Company) for a copy of the book.

You can follow my reviews at
http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/

Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)

Completed second reading. Review to come...

Jenny Jenny, you're the girl for me,
You don't know me but you make me so happy...

We could all use a little Jenny Lawson right this very minute.

I finished reading this four months ago. It has been sitting on my currently reading shelf ever since, because I kept meaning to go back and read it a second time when my life had settled down a bit.
Finally starting the re-read today.

Tucker (TuckerTheReader)

Maxwell

Jenny Lawson never fails to deliver—both laughter and tears. She balances humor and sincerity so well and seems like such a darn good person that I'd love to be friends with. If you have read and enjoyed her two previous memoirs, you'll love this one just as much. She is consistent, if not a bit repetitive, but honestly I can't fault her for that because her voice is so strong and she always has the most ridiculously amazing stories to tell. How does she have so many mishaps in her life?! Also the animal encounters never end. I loved it. I'd highly recommend reading all of her books, in order preferably, but you definitely can just dive into this one if you're interested!

ScrappyMags

Made me laugh at my depression. #winning

Shortest Summary Ever: Jenny Lawson battles many things - depression, anxiety, cock chafers... say whaaaa? Life is tough, yo. Yup, welcome to Lawson’s world where she combats mental illness, conquers her fears (um... ok maybe one), and engages is a war of words with her hubby Victor (spoiler: Lawson always wins). Strange and hilarious thoughts are discussed in her irreverent, hysterical way.

Thoughts: Jenny (I pretend we cool like that in my mind) is my bestie... she just doesn’t know it. Now she’ll read that and think a) psycho who is “my biggest fan” and hide the sledgehammer or b)she hears this A LOT and smiles. I assure her it’s B (FYI I don’t own a sledgehammer. And I have 2 beagle rescues so ya’ know I’m trusty). I think many people FEEL Jenny Lawson - particularly those who suffer the same afflictions. Those who don’t - I’m gonna’ guess you haven’t traveled this path and pray you never do.

I am sadly one of those path people. I spent 7 years of my life homebound with panic disorder w/agoraphobia and Major Depressive Disorder, but then found out along the path I had some serious physical medical issues, namely - Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, GSID - a sucrose intolerance. Anemia, Gastroparesis, Diabetes, and Hashimoto’s. And in the middle of all this? Pre-cancer of my vulva known as VIN III. Yep I had to have a piece of my vagina - removed. Thankfully not the crucial bits. I battled insurance, a doctor who told me to “push through “ my issues... all of it.

Yeah, Jenny and I are simpatico. And my hope is that she’s reading this and going “OMG well I never lost a lady part, so that’s SOMETHING.” And I hope the loss of that lady bit makes her feel better about her problems. If they had let me save that lady bit I’d give it to her as a medal and pin it on her so she could wear it and tell people how much her new bestie appreciates her. I mean what did you give YOUR bestie? Bet those flowers are looking lame right now. All Because she made me feel better about my problems. And damn that feels good.

I think we’d sit down and agree that the true hope is that neither of us has to have the loss of lady bits or excruciating procedures anymore. That’s some truth.

This book spoke to me in ways that left me laughing out loud or crying. But most of all Ms. Lawson (because I’m nasty) has inspired me to document my own battles. She lays out her life in a raw, unfiltered way. She’s fearless though she talks of her fears. She’s brave while explaining how she’s feeling anything BUT brave. She’s human in every sense of the word. It’s true for me that if I lose my laughter I’ve lost everything. That’s when I know
It’s all over for me. Thank God for my bestie Jenny.

All my reviews available at scrappymags.com around time of publication.

Genre: Non-fiction Humor

Recommend to: all my chronic illness peeps and those who love a good bawdy joke. Bette Midler fans.

Not recommended to: angry people with no souls or tolerance for swear words.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co for my advanced copy in exchange for my always-honest review and making it almost worth losing the lady bit so I could laugh over this book (no, not really... that really hurt, but you have my love).

Danielle

Real vulnerable and real ramble combined with humorous shortcomings and triumphs. 🤗 Jenny never fails to lay it all out there- the good and bad. The fact that she can joke about her life and daily struggles is fantastic. 👍

Jessica

I loved Broken (in the best possible way). This book is real and unfiltered. Broken is similar to her other books where she says what she thinks. It is very honest and comes out like a stream of conscience. Lawson does a great job bringing the reader inside her head and explaining what she is thinking. Sometimes this results in long tangents. I found Broken to be refreshingly honest. Lawson talks very openly about her depression and anxiety. She even describes how difficult book signings are for her but how worthwhile she finds meeting her fans. Broken is a mix of funny and serious. Lawson will make you laugh with a hilarious story and then talk openly about her loneliness and depression. I think the world needs more people with Lawson’s honesty.

I recommend Broken (in the best possible way) to fans of Jenny Lawson and anyone that thinks the idea of a mix of funny stories and serious discussions of depression would be interesting.

Thank you Libro.fm, Macmillan Audio, Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for Broken (in the best possible way).

Full Review:
https://justreadingjess.wordpress.com...

Ashley

I don’t know what happened with this one. I thought her last two books were really funny, but this one just didn’t hit at all with me. Probably just me, based on the other ratings. Oh well.

Blaine

Basically the secret to a long-lasting marriage is memory loss and well-meaning lies and beach margaritas.
...
I decide to keep the broken dove even though I can already hear Victor in my head telling me that she’s too broken to save. I will nod and agree but I still won’t part with her. She will tell a story to people who will wonder what magic she must have if she’s still treasured even in this state.

She is shattered but she is special.

And if you don’t look too closely you can hardly tell she’s broken.

I read Jenny Lawson’s first book,
Lets’s Pretend This Never Happened, on my wife’s recommendation. Of course, by the time I read it she had probably already read a third of it to me a little bit at a time when I asked what she was laughing about now. Ms. Lawson had a bizarre childhood, and that memoir is hilariously bonkers.

Broken is more like Ms. Lawson’s middle book,
Furiously Happy. It’s not really a memoir, more a collection of essays. The majority are quite funny, and sometimes completely absurd, such as the one with her e-mails with Master Paul of the Vampire Brotherhood and the chapter where she details the six times she lost her shoes while wearing them. The single funniest essay is probably “Awkwarding Brought Us Together,” in which discusses dozens of responses she got on Twitter after she shared an awkward encounter she’d had at an airport. And as always, the chapters involving her conversations with her husband Victor are a highlight.

But a fair number of the stories are more serious, even sad, with the best being the excellent-but-frustrating “An Open Letter to My Health Insurance Company.” Ms. Lawson shares a great deal about her ongoing struggles with mental health, depression, and autoimmune disorders. These essays may not be funny (though they usually have their moments too), but they are human and poignant and moving.

Broken is about accepting yourself for who you are, and finding the beauty in your broken parts. It’ll make you laugh, and feel, and think. Recommended, especially the audiobook, read once again with gusto by Ms. Lawson.

Elizabeth (Plant Based Bride)

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH.

Finally I have found a 99% accurate representation of my brain in book form.

Jenny Lawson is an international treasure and I am a new fan for life!

Read this book! (Actually, listen to the audiobook because her narration is the best).

(Seriously. It’s like a warm hug of encouragement with rambling sidebars about bags of dicks and losing shoes in elevators thrown in.)

Thank you to Libro.fm for providing me with an influencer copy!

Trigger/Content Warnings: depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, chronic illness, medical content, animal death

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Debbie

Doing figure-eights on my pogo stick!

Oh brother, this is one funny and creative woman! My god! If I could shove this book in your face right now, I would. A review can’t do it justice. I took forever to start this review because I kept rereading chapters—and let me tell you, I seldom do that. Too much new stuff in my queue. Time is precious—so who wants to do re-reads? But I could not resist.

Lawson is a blogger with a wicked sense of humor. She is self-deprecating, and stories of her life are bizarre and hilarious. She has such a good sense of the absurd, and she never misses an opportunity to take you with her on a ride through her wonderfully skewed reality. Mix that with her huge curiosity, and you have some damn funny stories. She’ll take a little thing (like her shoe falling off in an elevator) and blow it up into a story that will crack you up. I’d describe her as a comic genius. What’s fun is I still think of her stories—her trip to the dentist and to the post office are priceless, and remembering them always makes me light up. But really, it kills me to mention just a few. There are gems all over the place.

But half the book is about Lawson’s battles with depression and anxiety, and those are obviously serious in tone. She’s one wise cookie. If you have either or both afflictions, her words will make you feel like you’re not alone. She doesn’t hold back—she chronicles her own harrowing experiences in detail; she’s very articulate and infuses her thoughts with a lot of emotion. There’s a chapter called “Introverts Unite.” The last couple of lines actually made me cry; it reminded me of the power of books.

It’s impossible not to feel sorry for her, but that’s not what’s she after. She just wants to help others, and she succeeds. Her chapter on anxiety is really good (says this person with a lot of anxiety); loved her reminder that “all small terrors pass.” Also stellar is her chapter about a bizarre but legit treatment for depression (which involved doctors applying magnets to her head—I kid you not). Oh, and besides her head stuff, she has big physical ailments, too, like rheumatoid arthritis. She goes through a lot.

But what I’ll remember the most is the funny. Even her chapter titles are a hoot. Some favorites: And Then I Bought Condoms for My Dog; So I’m Paying to Beat the Shit Out of Myself?; How DO Dogs Know They Have Penises?; and Up Divorce Creek Without a Paddle (Because the Guide Didn’t Trust Me Not to Push Victor Overboard with It). Remember, these are all true stories!
--
Some of my favorite quotes:

“My choices seem to be to 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.”

“My friend Karen refers to me as ‘Britney Spears in Mensa” in that I seem like a ditzy weirdo but most of the time I not only am in on the joke but am smart enough to recognize that I AM the joke.”

“Basically the secret to a long-lasting marriage is memory loss and well-meaning lies and beach margaritas.”

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

While awaiting her endoscopy and colonoscopy:

“I also want to ask if they do the scopes at the same time, because if so I would literally be a shish kebab for a few seconds.”

and:

“Most children go through stages of refusing to eat lima beans or brussels sprouts, but we drew the line at eating anything we’d watched get a booze enema.”

[The above quote refers to beer can chicken, where you stick a whole can of beer—CAN(!) and all—into the hole of a chicken you’re about to roast. Seriously, this is a true thing. I would not have thought so had my brother not told me he was preparing it, a couple of weeks before I read about it in this book. I was horrified, flabbergasted, and fascinated. And I thought he was putting me on, of course.]

The last chapter, one long metaphor, is probably the one Lawson feels is the most important. Said simply, it relates shattered glass to the feeling of being broken. There’s a definite upbeat tone—hence her book title: Broken (in the Best Possible Way). Although brilliant, it went on a little too long. It’s hard to keep using a metaphor forever, I think.

Anything that didn’t thrill me? She likes vampires and that is a concept I can’t get with. Also, there’s a chapter where she talks bearcats and pee with her sister, Lisa. It seems contrived and a little self-conscious; it’s just her imagining things. I like it better when she’s telling stories of weird things that happened to her (like when the squirrel fell on her head, I kid you not.) Also, I didn’t like it that the voice of her sister sounded just like herself—maybe she should have called the other person her alter ego or something, not her sister.

And one other tiny thing: she says “totally” a lot, which totally reminds me of a valley girl, which most certainly she is not. And damn if I don’t find myself saying “totally” more often after reading her books, and for that she is in big trouble! I’m WAY too old for “totally!” But I must admit it’s fun to say; I feel like I’m channeling a coed from California.

But what do I have to say about these complaints? I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care!! Lawson is a comic genius, like I said, and I absolutely loved getting to be inside her weird head. So there are a few stories I didn’t love? That’s just the way the cookie crumbles. This book still goes on my absolute favorites shelf.

This is the third book of hers I’ve read. The other two are
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir and
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things. With this one, she has just earned a spot on my Favorite Authors shelf. Any book that makes me laugh this hard, makes me want to pass it out to all friends, and makes me want to pick it up and reread it—is pure gold!

Thanks to NetGalley and Edelweiss for the advance copy.

La Crosse County Library

Broken (In The Best Possible Way) (2021) gets the award this year for the most funny book! I can't recall having had to put down a book before now because I was laughing so much! Such is the power of Jenny Lawson's irreverently funny writing documenting the hilarity and wonder found in everyday life. If you've read her previous books, Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir (2012) and Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things (2015) you'll know what I mean.

Jenny Lawson has struggled all her life with anxiety and depression. This is definitely a hard topic to write about, but Lawson is unflinching in her description of her mental health journey and how she copes with the ups and the downs, in the hopes of helping other people dealing with mental health struggles and be open about it. Despite a seeming acceptance of the importance of mental health as many people have suffered during the pandemic and the resulting economic downturn, there still remains a stigma. And as Lawson notes in her book, she has to fight her insurance company on covering the medications and other treatments she needs that are often deemed "unnecessary" or too costly.

Despite all this heartbreak and suffering, Lawson notes that her mental health struggles have made her appreciate all the little things in life when the darkness lifts. Not only that, Lawson comes to terms with accepting herself as she is, as an imperfect human being. I laughed, I cried as I followed along her story.

Even if you're not suffering from mental health issues, this is a book worth reading, to expand your empathy for your fellow human beings and to love the imperfections in yourself as well.

-Cora

See also:

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir (2012) by Jenny Lawson

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things (2015) by Jenny Lawson

Find this book and other titles within
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Melissa (Way Behind Again!)

Equal parts laugh-out-loud-until-I'm-crying, heart-wrenching, heartwarming, and yes, kind of cringey and even often crude, I yet again really enjoyed my time with Jenny Lawson.
I listened to this as an audio book, which, to me, is the best way to experience her memoirs. She reads them herself and the fast-paced (even run on most of the time) delivery made me enjoy and love this all the more. When she is telling her stories and gets sidetracked and backs up and then sprints forward she almost feels like a friend who has come into your house and is telling you this bizarre tale that you know is true yet can't quite believe. Her stream-of-consciousness writing really connects with my sarcastic personality.
That's not to say that there aren't difficult parts. She has long been open about her health and mental health struggles and some of those chapters are incredibly painful. But...but...she always offers a bit of lightness and hope even in the midst of the darker days.
I highly recommend Lawson's books, but realize that for every story about lawn gerbils and boxes of penises there are stories about dark depression and pain. It's a balance that I think she handles well and we can all take something away from learning to find the lightness in every situation.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Jonathan K (Max Outlier)

A salad of depression, hilarity and insights

Having read all her others, this one is a mixed bag and I was tempted to rate it 3 stars. She goes to great lengths to discuss her battle with anxiety and depression, while adding stories of her dysfunctional family and odd adventures in town and abroad. While her depression tends to dampen the humor, its difficult not to like. Chapters range from hilarious to depressing and a few that are just plain dull.

The book gets off to a roaring start, stalls, picks up again and ends with insights worth considering. "I'm pretty sure.." is one of several overused phrases but work nonetheless. What's always funny is the quirky names Jenny creates for creatures and pets; example: 'Dorothy Barker', her dog and 'Hunter S Tomcat'. From an interview I learned it took 4 years to write which comes as little surprise given her depression, sad that it is. For those familiar with her writing, its recommended and for those who want a good laugh, skip the chapters about anxiety.

Kelly (and the Book Boar)

Jenny Lawson writes about a lot of things in her latest release. Such as:

Holes in her brain
Fucked up feet
Dog’s vagina
Getting stuck
Non sequiturs
Truisms
Insurance
Convos with Victor and Lisa and Hailey
Being an introvert
Doctors and dentists
Pets
Marriage
Vagina lasers
Cooking and cleaning
Buttons
Bags of dicks
Pets (but sadly none of the undead variety)

And depression/anxiety/mental illness. I appreciate that Lawson has become a spokesperson of sorts for subject matter that has been NOT discussed openly pretty much ever, but I am here for the funny. I battle my own inner demons on the regular so I pick up books like this as an escape. It doesn’t help that Lawson comes off as a real one percenter sometimes either. Being able to afford treatment at all is a luxury for many. Feeling better enough to tackle a trip to Europe is nothing but a dream for most - financially if not emotionally. While Lawson still comes off very authentic, unfortunately she’s not always very relatable. I think maybe I need an entire book filled with mortifying moments. Here's one of my own …

I’m going to go ahead and tell y’all a little story about how I came to find @thebloggess because we are obviously kindred spirits with our affinity for dead critters and also because my favorite part of this latest release was hands down the public shaming of ourselves on the interwebs. Okay so about a billion and a half years ago this really not newfangled invention known as the interwebs was finally rolled out for staff at the company I worked for. While it was given to us in order to conduct any legal research that may have been requested, obviously we did not use it for work at all. I got the bright idea to do look for some sportsball paraphernalia that the children needed and typed in what any normal sporting goods store patron in the Midwest would – “dicks.com.” Now as I mentioned above, this World Wide Web was a new thang for our law firm and therefore no firewalls had been implemented. Spam blockers weren’t being utilized either. So when I say I absolutely DID NOT get the correct Dicks – I mean to tell you I. ABSOLUTELY. DID. NOT. and thanks to zero dollars having been spent on reducing pop-up advertising I did not get one site containing the wrong dicks, I got about 147 of them simultaneously. And then I couldn’t figure out how to turn down the sound because speakers had literally never been necessary in the history of ever before that moment. Oh and I worked directly across from Human Resources. #employeeoftheyear

Mitchell says I need to stop being such a crybaby bitch and most people probably can’t relate to collecting dead shit and yet somehow I do so I should STFU and give this 5 Stars . . . .

That Mitchell, always a helper.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell

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I read and loved FURIOUSLY HAPPY when I was in a pretty bad period of depression and it did for me what HYPERBOLE AND A HALF did-- it made me laugh, even as it made me feel seen. When one of Jenny Lawson's follow-up memoirs went on sale, I bought it immediately without even checking to see what it was about, because the warm, glowy feelings I had from FURIOUSLY were so strong.

Sadly, I didn't really enjoy this one much at all. There's a scene in the TV show The Critic where Jay's boss, Duke, wants the ratings to go up and starts harassing Jay to be more funny. After a pretty lame pun, Duke demands, on-air, "Where's the joke?" to which Jay sheepishly says, "It's really more of a bon-mot." Duke is not amused. I felt a lot like Duke while reading this book, waiting for a joke that never arrived. Especially since the author's zany, stream-of-consciousness humor felt so forced and unlike her previous book.

There were a few sections about this book that were really good. I think her open letter to her insurance provider should be printed out and everyone should be made to read it (especially politicians and law-makers). I also liked the sections where she talks openly about mental health and chronic pain, because those are things that should be normalized, and the more people do that, the more natural it seems. The cringe compilation she got from her followers sharing some of their top embarrassing moments was also pretty great-- although in that section, the humor really wasn't hers. Bits and pieces of the writing in other sections wrenched a smile or a raised eyebrow but overall, this was a miss for me.

2 to 2.5 stars

Scottsdale Public Library

I feel like Jenny is my spirit animal.

Thank you for writing about the embarrassing things you do like starting fires in your house and making me feel better about when I start fires in my house (the latest was a toaster fire because setting it sideways shoots the hash brown patties out onto a plate like it would be in the beginning of Pee Wee's Big Adventure but it also sets all the crumbs and grease on fire).

And thank you for discussing your anxiety because it's good to have a buddy (an author you've met once) who also involuntarily tightens or shakes their hands when anxiety or sensory overload takes over and you realize you are not as unusual as you feel you are, although being unusual is also how you like it and would never want to be "normal."

Thank you for the laughs and the comforts and your vulnerability. -Sara S.

Leslie

"Usually I struggle with simple things. I make strange choices. The strength it takes to shower or the energy it takes to eat? You don’t get both, so choose wisely. Every action takes such work … as if living with mental illness is like waking to a different disability each day. Someone else could quickly do the simple tasks of the day, but I am hobbled. It can take hours for me to do what could be done on a good day in minutes.

When I read a Jenny Lawson book or read one of her blog entries, I feel seen in a way I don't often feel. It's similar to the way books by
Allie Brosh make me feel. She captures anxiety and depression in this way that is so real that it's as if she's pulling thoughts out of my head. I think I say that about every book I read by her. Basically when I read a book by her, I know I'm going to like it and relate to it. I also know that while she will inevitably emotionally destroy me, she will also make me laugh. A lot. That's one of her superpowers. She will go deep and dark with one story then lift you up with laughter in the next. This collection was no different.

Her thoughts on being an introvert were spot on.

"Someone once told me that the difference between introverts and extroverts is that introverts recharge by being alone (like any normal person) and extroverts recharge by being with others (like vampires).

Jenny's husband Victor has been one of my favorite parts about all of her books and blog entries. I love how she drives him completely nuts and he often seems frustrated or grumpy but in a funny way. Then suddenly you get these moments of sweetness from him that make me melt.

Before we walked back inside Victor hugged me and calmed me and made me laugh. “I am a bad risk,” I said, sighing with acceptance. He was silent for a minute. “You are a bad risk,” he agreed, nodding as he looked up at the stars. “But one I’m happy to take.”

Her conversations with her child, Hailey, are another constant in both her books and blog and crack me up.

Hailey would look at me in awe. “And you couldn’t afford YouTube?” she’d ask. And then I’d explain that there was a time before YouTube and then she’d start to doubt the veracity of my stories and I’d just say, “Yeah. We couldn’t afford YouTube.”

And as always, like I wrote above, her musings on anxiety and depression made my heart hurt but also strangely soothed me because it's comforting to know other people struggle too as messed up as that sounds.

"It’s a strange thing … to be tangled up in things no one else really cares about. To be so busy with worry that your constant back-and-forth looks like utter inaction. To be so afraid of doing something wrong that you end up doing something worse. To be exhausted by a marathon that looks like complete paralysis on the outside but feels like being on both sides of a violent tug-of-war on the inside."

So there you have it. Another gem from Jenny Lawson. I did rate it four stars and not five because I didn't love it quite as much as
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things. But I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Just a note, her blog can be found @theblogess.com.

"The world is shattered and we wander barefoot through one another’s broken shards and glittering slivers. And some of us bleed from the cuts. And some of us heal. And if you’re lucky, you do both. We are broken. We are healing. It never ends. And, if you look at it in just the right light, it is beautiful."

**One day I will run out of David Tennant gifs. Today is not that day.**

Heather K (dentist in my spare time)

*3.5 stars*

Broken by
Jenny Lawson oscillates between a real heart-wrenching picture of what it's like to live with depression and anxiety and an uproariously funny collection of observational and awkward humor. I loved both parts of the book equally, though the writing style and some of the chapters felt repetitive towards the end of the book.

I enjoyed
Broken much more than
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things, which I read years ago and considered too one-note. Broken had some of those elements and sections that felt draggy, and I'll admit that I even skimmed a few parts. However, the bright spots of the story overshadowed the less interesting sections.

I couldn't stop laughing while reading a few sections. Like, fully-body laughter, which is rare for a book. The mix between these very funny sections and some really compelling, more serious sections was very effective and made for some moving reading. The parts of the book where Jenny Lawson talked about her struggle with depression and anxiety were very eye-opening for me, and I think it made me understand more about the struggles that people with different mental illnesses go through.

Despite some repetitive sections, I think
Broken was a successful and entertaining read.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

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Jenny (Reading Envy)

Jenny Lawson is back with her honest and funny look at life, including chronic illness, marriage, depression, rats, and more. I was giggling in the corner while I read it.

I had a review copy so missed out on illustrations. Sad! I also think she could use less capitalized words (which reads like screaming) and still get the point across, it's a bit abrasive right in a row.

Doug

4.5, rounded up.

Just what this horrible year needs right now is the return of Jenny Lawson, who is really the ONLY author ever to make me LOL so hard I cry, blow milk out my nose and pee my pants, all at the same time. I've now read all four of her books, and this is something of a return to the full power she exhibited in her first classic (
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir).

Along with the side-splitting, sometimes implausible, yet entirely true mishaps she relates, are also some sobering chapters that deal more intimately with her issues with anxiety and other illnesses, both mental and physical; along with her battles with medical professionals and dastardly insurance companies to get the help she needs. Long-suffering husband Victor and sister Lisa are back, as well as a cameo from the taxidermied mice of the first book, and a full contingent of bewildered new encounters.

Some chapters don't quite measure up - the Shark Tank ideas one goes on much too long and devolves into some sophomoric scatology, but those missteps are few and far between. It's just a real comfort to have Ms. Lawson back to remind us that no matter how bad things are - she's probably had it worse!

Sincere thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for the opportunity and privilege to preview and honestly review this book a full 5 months before it's available to the rest of you! :-)

Title	:	Broken (In the Best Possible Way)
Author	:	Jenny Lawson
Rating	:
ISBN	:	1250077036
ISBN-10	:	9781250077035
Language	:	English
Format Type	:	Hardcover
Number of Pages	:	285
Publication	:	First published April 6, 2021
Awards	:	Goodreads Choice Award Humor (2021)

Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

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