Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things by Kelly Williams Brown

Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things Reviews

• 
  Donna Davis

  Kelly Williams Brown is an experienced author, but she is new to me. I ran across this odd little book at exactly the time I needed it, and maybe you do, too. My thanks go to Net Galley and Putnam Penguin for the review copy; this book will be available to the public July 6, 2021.
  
  Brown points out that mental illness remains one of the few conditions that are cloaked in secrecy and shame. Nobody afflicted with bipolar disorder chooses it, and although it can be successfully treated, there’s no cure, either. The title of the book reflects her choice to simply own it. “This is the water I swim in…I wanted to talk about how I have come to be content in my own skin.”
  
  In sharing her journey, she tells us how nearly impossible it is to find a psychiatrist within a reasonable commute, who takes your insurance; now try doing it while you are in a precarious state of mental illness. At one point things come to a head, and in a fugue of which she has no memory at all, she rises from bed and attempts suicide, nearly succeeding. Had her boyfriend not found her when he did, she would have died. “’Lots of people, they just take a few aspirin and say they want to die, but you meant it!‘ the very kind ER doctor says with something that sounds a tiny bit like begrudging approval.”
  
  The crafting aspect of this book is partly a device, used to share what kind of mindset caused her to resort to it, and also which crafts are soothing at life’s most difficult times; several of the crafts she discusses are just as mysterious to me after reading her instructions as they were before. Her favorite little origami stars, which grace the book’s cover, are among these. And there are some crafts for which she tells us she has no clear instructions, and recommends YouTube tutorials, so that part’s kind of a wash. However, there are a couple of things that do sound interesting and that I might try. I initially rated this book four stars, thinking that if a person puts crafts in the title, the crafts should be clearly taught, but later I decided that this book really, truly isn’t about crafts.
  
  Brown has money, and at times I am a little alienated by her wealth, that is obvious in her narrative. But she recognizes this, and she uses it to drive home the point:
  “I had good insurance, and open schedule, and no internal conflict over therapy—and yet it was still fucking impossible. My privileged ass could barely make it happen. Think about the hurdles that Americans who don’t have these advantages face every day when they’re trying to access help!”
  
  I have deliberately left out the humor here, the places that at times make me laugh out loud. You can find them for yourself. They are well placed, preventing the overall tone from becoming too grim.
  
  I found this book the day after dropping a close family member off at the psych ward of a local hospital, and it seemed almost like an omen that I should read it. If you are contemplating reading it, whether due to mental health issues of your own, or of those close to you, or simply out of curiosity, I highly recommend you do it. This little gem may become a cult favorite, and it would be a shame to be left out of the loop. And if it inspires you to be more vocal in advocating for mental health awareness and treatment, and of dragging this pervasive problem out of the attic and shining some light on it, then the world will be a better place.
  
• 
  Provin Martin

  ‘Everyone does their best. Some peoples best is shitty’. - Granny Barb
  
  What a wild read that a lot of the time is all over the place! Chocked full of great stories and saying that will make you laugh and cry (sometimes at the same time). It was the wild inconsistent ride that I needed and i learned a few crafts along the way. Haha. This book is great for those who struggle with life- it’s full of reminders that your not alone.
• 
  Literary Redhead

  If Job were a woman with irreverent wit, he’d be Kelly Williams Brown, whose EASY CRAFTS FOR THE INSANE reveals 700 Bad Days that rival Job’s for Most Terrible Life. Her marriage died, she broke three limbs, her dad was diagnosed with cancer, and she ended up in an inpatient psych unit when medication triggered mania.
  
  🧶 That Kelly can invest her story with such humor makes it more palatable, but this is some really heavy stuff. Even for readers who have had similar maladies. That said it is a brave, beautiful and important memoir that reveals the truth of mental illness without taking itself too seriously. Yet I took it to heart and cried after Kelly’s long string of Very Bad Luck. I asked Job’s question, “Why?” The answer. More Bad Luck.
  
  🧶 But then, joy of joys, Kelly begins to heal! Her broken bones mend, she’s back on meds that work, she gets a job she enjoys, makes a new group of friends, builds stronger relationships with family, and opens her heart to contentment — as with Job a happy ending!
  
  🧶 Hurrah and a must-read for anyone who loves beautifully written memoirs, seeks solace when deeply depressed, or loves crafts (included here with descriptions) because they know crafts soothe the mental beast and can actually be really really fun. Don’t miss this one!
  
  5 of 5 Stars
  Pub Date 06 Jul 2021
  #EasyCraftsfortheInsane #NetGalley
  
  Thanks to the author, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.
• 
  Kerry

  I couldn't stop reading this. As someone who often turns to crafts when times get tough (I got EXTREMELY into sewing when I was depressed and working at a factory and pretending I didn't actually want to write books), I related so much. Things get very dark and if reading about a suicide attempt/severe depression is gonna be triggering for you, I would tread lightly! But I loved it and it reminded me of how much I love making things and meeting people and the world in general! Also there's a paragraph about how working at Home Depot would be fun because the employees are made up of, like, one sassy old-timer who can tell you everything you need to know and a bunch of friendly gay teens and you know what? It DOES sound like a nice work environment.
• 
  Jenny (Reading Envy)

  I feel like the title of this one could be negatively received but the author uses "insane" to speak of her own struggles with mental illness, and crafts that helped. She takes it up to during pandemic times so it's all very recent and relevant.
• 
  Cynthia

  I found this book self-indulgent, immature, and not worth my time. The "crafts" were silly activities more suitable for children. The author chronicles her time spent feeling sorry for herself. By the end of the book, she matures a bit, but not enough to make this book worth reading. The crafting tie-in is an insult to those who genuinely do quality crafting.
• 
  Robin

  Publishing date: July 6, 2021
  
  To many of us, Kelly Williams Brown was a success. She was a popular columnist for a newspaper, and her book
  Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps appeared in the New York Times bestseller list. Heck, even a House Hunters episode made her seem genuine and appealing and it was one of the few episodes that didn't make me want to throw my shoe at the TV. But it all came tumbling down when she fell into a deep depression after a divorce, broken bones, and her dad's cancer diagnosis, where she came close to losing it all (including her life). This memoir is a moving journey of a woman's mental breakdown and recovery (with the assistance of learning various crafts, some quite complicated) that, while told in a sometimes flippant and irreverent style, is candid, harrowing, and heartrending.
  
  Fans of Jenny Lawson's
  Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things , Allie Brosch's graphic memoirs, and books by Samantha Irby will want to keep an eye out for this fabulous memoir.
  
  Thanks to the publisher for the advance digital galley.
• 
  High Plains Library District

  What seemed like a light romp through some anxiety and depression (and crafts) quickly became quite harrowing and dark. The book started a little slowly but she excels at descriptions – of a difficult marriage, of depression – that ring deeply true. The chapters are interspersed with easy crafts to occupy your mind if you feel unable to do much else.
  
  In her first book, she invented the word “adulting” and this is, in many ways, the antithesis of that book. Instead of learning the skills to becoming a fully functioning adult, she winds up locked in a psychiatric hospital with no decisions to make. And yet – I admire her honesty and her willingness to shed light on mental illness, to show that even someone so apparently ‘put together’ can fall apart. And find her way back again….
  
  -Marjorie
  
• 
  Jason Pettus

  2022 read, #19. DID NOT FINISH. I bet there's a big and enthusiastic audience out there for Easy Crafts for the Insane, the latest memoir by Kelly Williams Brown, who (I just found out today) was the sole creator of the now famous cultural term "adulting" (due to her first memoir), but who then after the book's success immediately went through a two-year emotional downward spiral into the depths of depression, aided mightily by a series of physical accidents, a divorce, and several deaths in her family. But Jesus Christ, her personal writing style is just so oppressively twee and whimsical that I couldn't even make it through 10 pages of her nonsense before I found myself literally screaming out loud (and I'm not making this up), "NO! NO!!! I'M NOT GOING TO PUT UP WITH THIS FOR 250 MORE PAGES!" So, you know, I didn't. Buyer beware.
• 
  Karen

  "It is following good mental health hygiene—which is the real self-care, although it’s so, so boring! It is cultivating contentment rather than chasing happiness."
  
  I have never heard of Kelly Williams Brown before this book. I have not read her previous books and I think I was drawn to this book because it mentioned crafts. As a crafty person, I have to say that most of the crafts in this story are simple and not anything to write home about. But I still read them all because Kelly's humor is all over them and it's fabulous.
  
  I loved her voice throughout this whole book. The way she talks about her life and her mistakes and things that happen to her and the way she describes the people in her life (even those who abandon her or whom she abandons) is magical. She clearly is a person full of life and joy.
  
  "The guy tells me what he says he tells everyone he transports in my current circumstances: he hopes that I take this as an opportunity to rest, to reset, to try again. That it is never too late for anyone, and if I’m still here, there’s a reason. He guesses everyone needs a break every now and again. I should take the break and make the most of it. I should take it and use it to figure out what it is I’m still here to do."
  
  I kept cringing for most of this book because she makes one mistake after another and really pushes her life into places where you want to shout "no, don't do that!" and it's like watching a car accident. but you also can't help but be in love with her and root for her and want to wish her the very best.
  
  "I hadn’t realized how very dark and small my world had become. I’d dropped each joy, one by one, not noticing they were gone or really remembering I’d had them at all. I stopped listening to music, stopped dancing, stopped going on country drives. I stopped enjoying food, found no pleasure in good company, but instead a temporary lessening of misery, which made me a super-fun presence. Depression is so talented at turning you from a foodie into someone who wishes they could just eat a compressed nutrition bar every day, except about everything."
  
  Because her personality is so colorful, her vitality is so obvious that you can't help but wish well for her. And there's so much emotion and truth in her words. There's so much wisdom in the lessons she learns as a result of ongoing insanity that has become her life for a while.
  
  "So perhaps here is the point of it all, my precious plums: bad things happen for good reasons or bad reasons or no reasons at all, to all of us. There is nothing to be done about it except perhaps breathe, abide, and hold on to the faith that no matter how awful today was, you never have to live it again."
  
  And in the end there's so much peace and grace and self-compassion that you are left with nothing but hope for her and her life. I enjoyed every moment i spent with this story. I will say the chapters around suicide are hard to get through and can definitely trigger folk.
  
  with gratitude to netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Ashley Holstrom

  The queen of Adulting gets personal with this moving memoir about depression and the easy crafts that helped her get through her darkest days. A series of unfortunate events—a divorce, several broken limbs, her father’s cancer diagnosis—led her into a deep depression and a stay at an inpatient facility. When she got home, she turned to crafts to settle her mind. But they were small, silly crafts, like tiny paper stars, which helped her build her life again. Crafting tutorials are included if you, too, need something to accomplish in a day.
  
  ✨ From
  Funny Mental Health Memoirs at Crooked Reads.
• 
  Madeline Dahlman

  This was a shallow, self centered, surface memoir. It was a waste of time, frankly. I think she needed about 10 more years minimum of reflection back on this time period before she could be honest with herself about the way she treated the people who cared for her…also, the description of her time hospitalized made to seem as though it was weeks or months when in reality it was 4 days?? Give me a break…
• 
  Jess Witkins

  I wasn't sure what to make of this book when I started reading. I was familiar with the author and her first book, Adulting, which offered usable, real advice for young adults and twentysomethings about how to make it in the real world. I assumed this book would be just as funny.
  
  It is, but differently so. In the vein of other authors who've made a name for themselves crafting one story, and then release a new book years later about how much of their lifestyle book was nice and all, but not actually the life they were living, so here's a new book where they fess up and speak honestly and vulnerably and now you can actually tell they've grown in the process (think Glennon Doyle). That's what this is, albeit still in a quirky Kelly Williams Brown way.
  
  This book is serious. It does not begin that way. There's some vaguery and glossing over the demise of her marriage, and there are crafts thrown in along the way, which is not my jam, but it was hers. Stick with it because - wow - she gets real about the mental health collapse she suffered after life threw multiple broken bones (who loses use of BOTH their arms at the same time?!), loss of family members and friends (death and disconnecting), tumultuous relationship status, dad gets diagnosed with cancer, and her new medication meant to help with depression instead causes her to fall into mania. She actually tackles A LOT in a short amount of pages and shares some real insights into living with mental health problems. Even the added craft elements become more entwined with what she was battling mentally and seem more useful.
  
  Anyone who can survive all she did and come out the other side has a story to tell, and I hope by sharing hers, it brings validation and understanding to others who may be struggling with their mental health and find hope (in crafts perhaps), but in carrying on. This is an impressively emotional book that uses levity within its seriousness to tell the story.
  
  Similar reads include
  Broken by Jenny Lawson and
  That's Mental: Painfully Funny Things That Drive Me Crazy About Being Mentally Ill by Amanda Rosenberg.
  
  Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Alison

  This one is a hard one for me to rate because I hate rating anyone’s account of their mental health and suicide attempt low… but I didn’t like this author as a person. There were multiple times where I thought damn girl you don’t need to say that, like when she said being on a morphine drip made her feel like we’d probably learned a lot and come a long way since the Holocaust (yes I get she was being hyperbolic and making a joke but I felt it was uncomfortable). I felt like her privilege was showing in a lot of instances and while she acknowledged that I thought she came off rather whiney. I didn’t sense a ton of growth from her by the end and the whole crafts angle seemed like a gimmick that never played out.
  
  I think talking about mental health and getting help is good but she always made it almost seem like she didn’t think she really needed the help and I don’t know if that’s a positive contribution to the larger mental health narrative.
• 
  Ivy Digest

  I am acutely aware of the struggles with mental illness, especially with depression and suicide, so I read this with a view to recommending it to a sufferer. But mental illness and crafts are just vehicles for the author's indulgent self-absorption. Insanity is not funny nor something to be made fun of. It is a stark reality for millions. I could not bear to finish this.
  
  For a remarkable memoir on multiple mental illnesses and chronic diseases, read Jenny Lawson's "Broken (in the Best Possible Way). It's my favorite and a Good Reads Choice Awardee for 2021. That's the one I'll give to sufferers.
  @IvyDigest
• 
  Katie

  I was quite disappointed by this book. I love crafts and mental illness memoirs are right up my alley. Perhaps it was because I expected more crafting or perhaps it was because I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, but I found her to be quite unlikeable throughout the entire book. While I appreciated the fact that she clearly shows the way depression can cause you to treat people in a way you normally wouldn’t, I never found her redeemable in the rest of the book. We definitely don’t have the same sense of humor.
• 
  Sonja

  This book sat in the TBR pile for a while, but once I started it, I read the first half in one sitting and the second the next day. It is the story of a really unfortunate series of events for a really delightful person, told with just the right balance of wry humor, forthrightness, and poignancy. It is strange, I realized several times, to read the memoir of someone I actually know about events I was somewhat aware of in real time - but to see the puzzle pieces fitted together and realize how much can happen in one’s periphery. Ultimately, it is a story well-told sprinkled with charming crafts I might actually try. Well done, Kelly.
• 
  Marjorie Elwood

  What seemed like a light romp through some anxiety and depression (and crafts) quickly became quite harrowing and dark. The book started a little slowly but she excels at descriptions – of a difficult marriage, of depression – that ring deeply true. The chapters are interspersed with easy crafts to occupy your mind if you feel unable to do much else.
  
  In her first book, she invented the word “adulting” and this is, in many ways, the antithesis of that book. Instead of learning the skills to becoming a fully functioning adult, she winds up locked in a psychiatric hospital with no decisions to make. And yet – I admire her honesty and her willingness to shed light on mental illness, to show that even someone so apparently ‘put together’ can fall apart. And find her way back again….
  
• 
  Dana Abel

  Just like Adulting, I really connected with this book. Though I have not struggled through most of the experiences or feelings as the author, her voice and mentality feel very familiar and relatable. I loved the crafts and I'm excited to try to make some of the little paper stars. The author does very well keeping the tone approachable and upbeat, while dealing with some pretty dark subjects without making light of them.
• 
  Estee

  Lovely title and premise for this book. I also loved the cute illustrations throughout!
  
  Although it is an interesting story, there were times when I found myself skipping a few pages. It felt like I was sitting next to a person I didn’t know at a party and was politely listening to them. At one point I had to take a break to read something else for a bit.
  
  Overall I just wish there were more crafts and less memoir.
• 
  Ellen

  The quick summary: "700 Awful Days" (and some that aren't so awful!!) in the author's life, told as humorously as possible, with the segments of life's retellings recalled by the crafts being done at the time.
  
  Some immediate craft take-aways: I am going to craft a dragons egg out of nail polish, thumb tacks, and foam eggs. There is nothing more I desire than to use up some of my excruciatingly many bottles of nail polish and also have a dragon egg at the end.
  
  Some personal take-aways:
  Brown and I have a GrannyBarb in common; I spent a semi-significant amount of time reading this book weeping at every mention of GB, because Kelly knew her in ways that I did not, and each drop of knowledge (or reminder of her blue kitchen table) was bittersweet (death and grieving and love all twined together). I also have a small GB shrine set up; I had her license plate above my door to guard my comings and goings. I had no idea she went to silent meditation retreats yearly; the many ways you can not know someone are astounding.
  
  HOWEVER; I don't think the glowing ways Kelly writes GB into an immortal existence through memoir would make anyone else weep. That's a personal reaction.
  
  Less immediately personal take-aways:
  -There's a bit near the beginning where Brown regales us with her post-divorce move to a small town called Independence, where she hangs out in a zippy convertible with her big dog and hints at streetracing, which is about the best recommendation for running away from yourself that I could think of
  -She's an absolute charmer of a writer, even when things are rough, even when she's poking at topics that are spiky.
  -Which doesn't mean that some very real topics are not discussed, including one of my favorite-least favorite, the dissolving of a friend group that you thought you might form a commune with and how devastating that is.
  -Also the dark dread of the 2016 election.
  -Also the concept of redoing a bathroom in gold and flamingo print (powerful)
• 
  Traci Young

  July has become the month of memoirs for me on accident, and I am into it. I could not deny this book from reading the title, and I'm really glad I gave it a shot! I have not read any of Kelly's other books just cause I'm not big on self-help-ish books typically. But this book was sad, strange, witty, and has once again convinced me that if I could give up my need for perfection, I probably would greatly benefit from becoming a crafter. I found Kelly's writing really honest, often brutal, but also often funny. Definitely some heavy, heavy topics are covered, but I still could not put it down.
  
  
  
  
  TW: Mental illness, Death, Attempted suicide
• 
  Jessica

  What a quirky little memoir about some horrible things that happened in Kelly's life and how she lived them and grappled with them. Another book that shows our humanity. Oh, and there are fun little crafts throughout the book that I'm excited to try.
  
  Here are some great quotes from the book:
  
  p.8 - I was finding success hollow. It is amazing, yes, and it was fun in the moment and made for an impressive bio. But it doesn't - and can't - sustain you. The quality of your relationships, the skill of building and keeping contentment, and your ability to sit with pain and not squirm away from it is what will actually keep you going after that first flush or happiness.
  
  
  P.260 - so perhaps here is the point of it all, my precious plums: bad things happen for good reasons or bad reasons or no reason at all, to all of us. There is nothing to be done about it except breathe, abide, and hold on to the faith that no matter how awful today was, you never have to live it again... Things, both good and bad, change must faster than you imagine they do. You do not know what the future holds.
• 
  Lisa

  This was a cute read, but I wasn't completely captivated by it. I found the author to be a little bit wallowing. However, I recommend it. It was funny in parts, and an easy read.
• 
  Natalie

  The title grabbed me for so many reasons:
  1) our "it's crafty" slack channel at work - the name says almost all you need to know about it - but during the covid-19 shutdown the projects we posted on there ran the gamut and that was a-ok!
  2)there's something about getting in a craft groove during a time when you need a contemplative moment or just one that is occupied with something that's not high stakes, doesn't have a deadline and is by its very nature a little goofy and silly and lighthearted.
  3)I completely understood how Kelly made all those stars. I sympathized immediately with how she remembered her highs and lows by the craft projects and social occasions that bookended some of her best and worst times.
  
  There's no way to give a memoir a meaningful rank or a score - they're honest or they're not. They're funny, poignant, sad, heartbreaking, ridiculous, irritating and all the things human beings are to one another. Kelly is an unreliable narrator of her own story - the who, what, when, where, why she practiced as a journalist are not going to come into play for everything the reader grows curious about.
  
  That's okay - how often do you show guests your closets, attic, basement, and that weird shelf in the garage.
  
  Give the woman a break - she's sharing a ton about a really difficult time in a way that makes sense to her. Who cares if it all makes perfect sense to us? That would literally be impossible in this situation I think?
  
  The crafts are silly, the stories that go with them are poignant, troubled, troubling and all too human. I tore through this in one sitting. you might too.
  
  I received an advanced reader copy from NetGalley upon which to make an honest review.