kmesserl's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
I am a HUGE fan of “Furiously Happy” so I’ve had this little gem in my tbr pile for a while, and then I heard Jenny narrates it in audiobook form so I listened to it. It’s fun - if you enjoy a slice-of-life Jenny story then you will not be disappointed by this book. I didn’t laugh as much as a did with Furiously Happy, but there were some really thoughtful and poignant chapters that hit home just as hard - her letter to her insurance provider leaving one of the bigger impressions.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual content and Grief
kelly_e's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
3.25
Title: Broken (In the Best Possible Way)
Author: Jenny Lawson
Genre: Non Fiction Humour
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: April 6, 2021
T H R E E • W O R D S
Relatable • Unscripted • Vulnerable
📖 S Y N O P S I S
In Broken, Jenny brings readers along on her mental and physical health journey, offering heartbreaking and hilarious anecdotes along the way.
With people experiencing anxiety and depression now more than ever, Jenny humanizes what we all face in an all-too-real way, reassuring us that we’re not alone and making us laugh while doing it.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Broken is my first experience reading Jenny Lawson, despite this being her third book and I was left with very mixed thoughts upon finishing it.
On the one hand, I absolutely love the focus on mental illness, and some of the chapters felt so thought=provoking and validating. She definitely gets real, humanizing mental illness, and that's where the value of this book lies. She talks candidly about how difficult is it to get appropriate care and treatment, while also acknowledging her own privilege on that front. The difficulty of receiving proper care is in part where the shame and stigma stem from.
And on the other hand, her humour and oversharing just didn't work for me. As someone who also deals with anxiety and depression, I found the self-deprecating to be too much. I know it's the lived reality, but it was extremely difficult to read. Lastly, the writing definitely felt disjointed, which was maybe the intent, but the lack of flow made the whole experience less than enjoyable.
I took away some extremely validating quotes, and while some parts were 5 stars, unfortunately others were completely unnecessary. Broken is certainly a deep dive into the workings of her mind, and is a valuable addition to mental illness literature.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• people dealing with mental illness
• mental health professionals
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Forgive yourself. For being broken. For being you. For thinking those are things that you need forgiveness for."
"Nothing lasts forever. The good and the bad."
"You can't fight severe mental illness without mental health programs. Without therapy, medication, and outreach. We rely on these to keep us going - to save us from ourselves. Out families rely on them to help us and to protect the world from us. But actually getting help has been [and continues to be] the most difficult, unrewarding, shame-inducing, and unending project I have ever undertaken in my entire life.
It's hard. You give up. you give up fighting for treatment. Sometimes you give up your treatment altogether. Sometimes you give up on living.
I worked with doctors and the TMS people and submitted appeal after appeal. I fought with my insurance company. I finally submitted a letter to them. It's the one from two chapters back. And then it was approved. I'm not sure why. Maybe they just have up on fighting me. If I could have cried I would have, but I was too numb. I still had to pay a lot of it, but it helped.
And I'm lucky. I have support and insurance and a voice and money to buy the medication and treatment that isn't provided to me. What about those who don't have those things? We fail them. We fail ourselves. They are our children and our coworkers and our parents and the homeless person on the street and the boy who will marry your child and the girl who will save your life. They are the insurance clerks I speak with who tell me they deal with the same problems. They are us.
If you've dealt with this bullshit and you're still around, I salute you. It is hard and embarrassing and makes me furious. You deserve better. We all do. End rant."
"Sometimes the people you love leave you even when they don't want to and you shatter into pieces. You may not be able to find all of those pieces again because when they left they took a few with them. It hurts, but the pain eventually becomes bearable and even sacred because it's how you carry the people you've lost with you. And if you're lucky you can one day see that the hollow spots you carry are in the shape of their face or their hands or the love they gave you. Those holes ache, but they are a monument to the lost, a traveling sacred place to honor them and remind you of how to love enough to leave your own marks on others."
Author: Jenny Lawson
Genre: Non Fiction Humour
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: April 6, 2021
T H R E E • W O R D S
Relatable • Unscripted • Vulnerable
📖 S Y N O P S I S
In Broken, Jenny brings readers along on her mental and physical health journey, offering heartbreaking and hilarious anecdotes along the way.
With people experiencing anxiety and depression now more than ever, Jenny humanizes what we all face in an all-too-real way, reassuring us that we’re not alone and making us laugh while doing it.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Broken is my first experience reading Jenny Lawson, despite this being her third book and I was left with very mixed thoughts upon finishing it.
On the one hand, I absolutely love the focus on mental illness, and some of the chapters felt so thought=provoking and validating. She definitely gets real, humanizing mental illness, and that's where the value of this book lies. She talks candidly about how difficult is it to get appropriate care and treatment, while also acknowledging her own privilege on that front. The difficulty of receiving proper care is in part where the shame and stigma stem from.
And on the other hand, her humour and oversharing just didn't work for me. As someone who also deals with anxiety and depression, I found the self-deprecating to be too much. I know it's the lived reality, but it was extremely difficult to read. Lastly, the writing definitely felt disjointed, which was maybe the intent, but the lack of flow made the whole experience less than enjoyable.
I took away some extremely validating quotes, and while some parts were 5 stars, unfortunately others were completely unnecessary. Broken is certainly a deep dive into the workings of her mind, and is a valuable addition to mental illness literature.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• people dealing with mental illness
• mental health professionals
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Forgive yourself. For being broken. For being you. For thinking those are things that you need forgiveness for."
"Nothing lasts forever. The good and the bad."
"You can't fight severe mental illness without mental health programs. Without therapy, medication, and outreach. We rely on these to keep us going - to save us from ourselves. Out families rely on them to help us and to protect the world from us. But actually getting help has been [and continues to be] the most difficult, unrewarding, shame-inducing, and unending project I have ever undertaken in my entire life.
It's hard. You give up. you give up fighting for treatment. Sometimes you give up your treatment altogether. Sometimes you give up on living.
I worked with doctors and the TMS people and submitted appeal after appeal. I fought with my insurance company. I finally submitted a letter to them. It's the one from two chapters back. And then it was approved. I'm not sure why. Maybe they just have up on fighting me. If I could have cried I would have, but I was too numb. I still had to pay a lot of it, but it helped.
And I'm lucky. I have support and insurance and a voice and money to buy the medication and treatment that isn't provided to me. What about those who don't have those things? We fail them. We fail ourselves. They are our children and our coworkers and our parents and the homeless person on the street and the boy who will marry your child and the girl who will save your life. They are the insurance clerks I speak with who tell me they deal with the same problems. They are us.
If you've dealt with this bullshit and you're still around, I salute you. It is hard and embarrassing and makes me furious. You deserve better. We all do. End rant."
"Sometimes the people you love leave you even when they don't want to and you shatter into pieces. You may not be able to find all of those pieces again because when they left they took a few with them. It hurts, but the pain eventually becomes bearable and even sacred because it's how you carry the people you've lost with you. And if you're lucky you can one day see that the hollow spots you carry are in the shape of their face or their hands or the love they gave you. Those holes ache, but they are a monument to the lost, a traveling sacred place to honor them and remind you of how to love enough to leave your own marks on others."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Fatphobia, Medical content, Ableism, Excrement, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Cursing
Minor: Dementia
depression, anxietyalysereadsbooks's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
wasn’t sure what to expect but this audiobook had great reviews on audible and it did not disappoint. It was so funny and wonderfully weird. I connected with a lot of her experiences on mental health and I appreciated her being so open about her journey. She also describes well what it’s like to live with invisible disabilities and the fight for mental and general healthcare as a disabled person. It was funny and so much fun to listen to!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Medical content and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Ableism and Self harm
ladythana's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Medical content
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, and Terminal illness
Minor: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Vomit, Sexual content, and Forced institutionalization
lterrell's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
lgmelcher's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content
thebakerbookworm's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I did not know who Jenny Lawson was when I started reading this and by the end of it, I still didn't know who she was but I did enjoy her book!
She tackles discussions of mental illness with humor, honesty, and grace, through a series of essays that are really like short stories, giving us a glimpse into her everyday life with her longsuffering husband, Victor, and her young daughter. I enjoyed the audiobook, which is read by the author; I think it was funnier than I probably would have found the print version.
I will say, there's not a ton of cohesion between the stories, beyond that they talk about some aspect of mental health. I'm not sure I will remember this book by the end of the year, but it was a quick entertaining listen.
Thank you to Libro.fm, Macmillan Audio, and the author for my ALC.
She tackles discussions of mental illness with humor, honesty, and grace, through a series of essays that are really like short stories, giving us a glimpse into her everyday life with her longsuffering husband, Victor, and her young daughter. I enjoyed the audiobook, which is read by the author; I think it was funnier than I probably would have found the print version.
I will say, there's not a ton of cohesion between the stories, beyond that they talk about some aspect of mental health. I'm not sure I will remember this book by the end of the year, but it was a quick entertaining listen.
Thank you to Libro.fm, Macmillan Audio, and the author for my ALC.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
aimzthereader's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.5
Fav Essay: Six times I’ve Lost my Shoes While Wearing Them.
Sooo hilarious. I do want to also rereads it on audio. I was dying laughing at soooo many of these essays. I love how Jenny brings humor to the darkest moments as well as the most mundane activities. Every book she writes is better than the last . There were many times that I was laughing out loud as well as reading it outloud to Netty (my wife)
🌷Haiku Review 🌸
Laugh until you cry,
Jenny will have you rolling.
Dog condoms ‘nuff said 😂
Also you’ll just have to read it to believe me that dog condoms is not what you think they are .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Cursing, Sexual content, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
ghoulscoutcamp's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Dementia, Excrement, Medical content, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, and Cursing
amibo's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content