Jennie Goodrich: Let's pretend this never happened (a mostly true memoir) (2012, G.P. Putnam's Sons)
English language
Published Nov. 8, 2012 by G.P. Putnam's Sons.
When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father and a morbidly eccentric childhood. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame-spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.
In the irreverent Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson’s long-suffering husband and sweet daughter help her uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments—the ones we want to pretend never happened—are the very same moments that make us the people we are today. For every intellectual misfit who thought they were the only ones to think the things that Lawson dares to say out loud, this is a poignant and hysterical look at the dark, disturbing, yet wonderful moments of our lives.
This book starts with a set of vignettes from the author's childhood introduced with the phrase "most people don't" which is a surprising way to alienate people who can identify with the vignettes in addition to those who can't. Otherwise it's pretty funny but "most people don't" kind of ruined the relatability for me.
It's fun and cringe-worthy, actually very cringe-worthy. There's the German word "fremdschämen", for when you feel embarrassed for someone else completely unconnected to you. It's a bit like that. It's also a lot of "oh no, I'm the one on party's telling weird and overly detailed stories. Why has no one ever told me?" I think I have to work through some stuff now.
The narration feels a bit loose and unconnected in some places, I felt like there was a lot of stuff going on that I simply missed. It might help to actually have heard of the person you're reading a memoir of, not just choose it for the title, but that hasn't stopped me before. I do want a taxidermy boar now, though 😄
Funniest audiobook I've listened to so far.
**Re-read. I stand by my original review. Jenny, let's be best friends.
You know how you listen to someone and you think, "This is my life she is describing?" Now you have me listening to this audiobook.
Jenny Lawson is insane. And funny. And her husband is a saint. She's a great storyteller. I want to drive to Jen's house and hang out and swap stories. Her stories made me think about similar times in my marriage, and I loved it.
I laughed out loud several times and had to rewind the story to catch it all. 4 stars.
Entertaining but had a ton of filler. (saying "sorry editor" doesn't really help.) I really liked Jenny Lawson as a person. Still, there were very few guffaws (and more titters) to be had from this book.
Nothing I can say about The Blogess that hasn't been said better elsewhere.
Very funny. Any book that makes me laugh out loud gets a thumbs-up. As Gaiman's review suggests, it is crude and inappropriate humor; but I'm very OK with this style of wrong.
It won't change your life. It will make you giggle.
If you're familiar with the author's blog, this book is in the same style and you'll most likely enjoy it. If you're not familiar with The Bloggess this book may be confusing and surprising, but still very funny. The audiobook is read by the author herself, and I enjoyed hearing the stories in her own voice. There's a lot of new content, so even those who follow the blog closely will enjoy the stories, although some of the classic blog incidents (like Beyonce the giant metal chicken) are also included. Victor gets a lot more description and generally in a flattering light since his presence in the blog is mainly in the role of frustrated or confused or harried husband. In summary: I am amused by the blog and I was amused by the book, your mileage may vary. The only part I didn't like was the outtakes at the …
If you're familiar with the author's blog, this book is in the same style and you'll most likely enjoy it. If you're not familiar with The Bloggess this book may be confusing and surprising, but still very funny. The audiobook is read by the author herself, and I enjoyed hearing the stories in her own voice. There's a lot of new content, so even those who follow the blog closely will enjoy the stories, although some of the classic blog incidents (like Beyonce the giant metal chicken) are also included. Victor gets a lot more description and generally in a flattering light since his presence in the blog is mainly in the role of frustrated or confused or harried husband. In summary: I am amused by the blog and I was amused by the book, your mileage may vary. The only part I didn't like was the outtakes at the end of the audiobook which seemed a little forced.
A series of more-or-less autobiographical chronicles (I still wonder what's more and what's less), by Jenny "The Bloggess" Lawson (thebloggess.com/). And The Bloggess makes me laugh a lot, so I got her book, and her book made me laugh a lot as well. It's a big pile of insanity with stuffed animals (the taxidermist kind) in it.
Jenny Lawson is a funny lady. She's just my kind of sassy, neurotic and rude. When this book works, it's because she's writing with her own voice, the same voice you hear on her blog. When this book doesn't work -- which is, unfortunately, most of the time -- it's because someone took that same voice and tried to hit it with the literary stick. What you get is a dull hybrid that falls too flat to be any way engaging. It's a shame. Although I'd say this is almost certainly first-time jitters and her next book will be something special.
Hilarious, poignant, wonderful!!
It's not often that I laugh out loud when I'm reading. Even less often that I start crying because I'm laughing so hard. Every aspect of this book touched my funny bone. I love the flippant, self-deprecating humor and the god-awful stories of her family. Definite must read for the summer!
This might be just a four-star book, but my wife enjoyed it so much and I got so much pleasure hearing her reading it aloud and frequently losing her ability to speak through her own laughter, that this deserves full marks. Lawson is complex, not always happy, but always able to see the humor in any situation.
