Some of the book was really enjoyable! I started it as a physical book and thought it was great, and I finished it with the audiobook and liked that as well! Some of these stories were so powerful and well-written, and I was underlining them like crazy. It's such a candid and unfiltered book about the experience of mental illness, and I could relate so much to parts of this. However, in the middle of the book, Jenny starts getting really off-topic and just begins telling random funny stories. Don't get me wrong, they were enjoyable, but I was left wondering how it related to mental health or her policy of being furiously happy. Other than that, sometimes her jokes were a little bit too lame and she came off as an annoying person in her attempt to be super hilarious all the time, but her writing really reminded me of Mindy Kaling's, and I enjoyed her books as well.
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This is definitely something that will stick with me even though it wasn't perfect. It spoke true to the experience of debilitating mental illness and how recovery is possible and always something to look forward to.
Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
The title refers to Lawson's philosophy of being "furiously happy" after becoming so depressed that she eventually decided to force herself to be happy out of frustration and spite, driving herself to adventures and experiences in order to build happy memories to sustain her through bouts of depression. This propels her to do such things as travel to Australia in order to hug a koala while wearing a koala suit, to wear a fancy ballgown on ordinary occasions in order to feel beautiful, and to connect with people in the real world in spite of painful physical ability and severe social anxiety. She also related experiences of other mentally ill people who have gone on their own adventures after being inspired by her. Lawson's memoir also discusses the real challenges of mental illness, such as anxiety and depression. She fully puts these terms into perspective and the daily struggles one might face. One example of her realness is by explaining the physical and mental pain of public appearances such as book signings.
I loved it even more than her first book, which I enjoyed so much that I bought multiple copies to give away as Christmas presents.
