bookitalum's review against another edition
4.0
I love Jenny Lawson. Immensely. I think she is brilliant, honest, and hilarious. I’m certain we would become fast friends given the opportunity. That’s why it pains me to give this book anything less than 5 stars.
“Broken” felt more aimless and disjointed than her last two books. It didn’t necessarily feel like the emotional range was greater, but somehow the shifts from humor to pain and poignancy were faster, sharper, more unpredictable. Maybe that was her intent? It definitely felt broken or left me feeling (more) broken. Maybe it was me? Regardless, it was still a good read. I recommend it. But, if you’ve never read “Furiously Happy,” start there.
“Broken” felt more aimless and disjointed than her last two books. It didn’t necessarily feel like the emotional range was greater, but somehow the shifts from humor to pain and poignancy were faster, sharper, more unpredictable. Maybe that was her intent? It definitely felt broken or left me feeling (more) broken. Maybe it was me? Regardless, it was still a good read. I recommend it. But, if you’ve never read “Furiously Happy,” start there.
wanderaven's review against another edition
5.0
Honestly, I'm not sure I would've ever believed that Lawson could get even better.
I've followed and adored The Bloggess for so long now, and have thoroughly enjoyed and loved her previous works. It was without any hesitation that I requested this ARC from Henry Holt & Co the moment I had the opportunity.
I don't recall, from her previous books, quite the amount of depth and focus on the darker stretches of her mental illness. Don't get me wrong - her dark stretches have certainly been expressed and discussed before, but never with quite the illumination here. It can be difficult reading; she is eloquent but also realistic and brutal. So often, Lawson expresses her frustrations with a deft entwining of humor and weightiness but there are chapters/segments in Broken that are just the weight, just the dark, just the seriousness, however well written and brilliant her turns of phrase.
These chapters are skillfully balanced with the dark humor, cleverness, and wittiness we've come to expect from Lawson, and, though it can be a high tightrope, I never despaired that she would keep me safe with the balancing act.
And, once again, every single time I was reading, my partner kept saying, "Okay, tell me already, what is so damn funny?" It's always a long path Lawson guides us down; already so many pages to get to the full on uncontrollable laughter that I always shake my head and say, "You just have to read it."
There's a chapter, towards the end, where she proposes (horrible) ideas for Shark Tank that was a huge miss for me; it felt like someone else trying to write like Lawson but really missing the mark. She does explain that these ideas were generated by herself in collaboration with some friends, so perhaps that's why. I definitely could've done without this bit - it felt like a genuine outlier to the rest of the book, though, and since it was the only one, it wasn't enough to ding my rating.
Only my second or third five star for this year, so far!
I've followed and adored The Bloggess for so long now, and have thoroughly enjoyed and loved her previous works. It was without any hesitation that I requested this ARC from Henry Holt & Co the moment I had the opportunity.
I don't recall, from her previous books, quite the amount of depth and focus on the darker stretches of her mental illness. Don't get me wrong - her dark stretches have certainly been expressed and discussed before, but never with quite the illumination here. It can be difficult reading; she is eloquent but also realistic and brutal. So often, Lawson expresses her frustrations with a deft entwining of humor and weightiness but there are chapters/segments in Broken that are just the weight, just the dark, just the seriousness, however well written and brilliant her turns of phrase.
These chapters are skillfully balanced with the dark humor, cleverness, and wittiness we've come to expect from Lawson, and, though it can be a high tightrope, I never despaired that she would keep me safe with the balancing act.
And, once again, every single time I was reading, my partner kept saying, "Okay, tell me already, what is so damn funny?" It's always a long path Lawson guides us down; already so many pages to get to the full on uncontrollable laughter that I always shake my head and say, "You just have to read it."
There's a chapter, towards the end, where she proposes (horrible) ideas for Shark Tank that was a huge miss for me; it felt like someone else trying to write like Lawson but really missing the mark. She does explain that these ideas were generated by herself in collaboration with some friends, so perhaps that's why. I definitely could've done without this bit - it felt like a genuine outlier to the rest of the book, though, and since it was the only one, it wasn't enough to ding my rating.
Only my second or third five star for this year, so far!
taylorreadsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the audio book because I love hearing Jenny read, she makes me laugh as easily as an old friend. But listening to her read her letter to the insurance company just broke me.
natcommon's review against another edition
2.0
5 stars on discussion on mental health and her experiences, but docked it stars due to some random stories that didn't seem to help the narrative of what she was trying to say.
katekate_reads_'s review against another edition
4.0
Thank you Librofm for the free audiobook of Broken - this was exactly what I needed to listen to right now. If you’ve read Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess) before - this will feel like catching up with an old friend in all the best ways. And if you haven’t, it will feel like discovering a new close friend you didn’t even know you had.
There are moments in this book that had me laughing so hard tears came to my eyes. And others when I the tears came from being emotional. Jenny shares a lot about her mental health and what that looks like in her daily life. If you’re like me - you’ll find some of it super relatable and other parts that can help you understand how to be more empathetic to others.
As with most collections of essays - there were some that I really connected with more than others - but overall this was exactly the book I needed right now as I’m struggling to keep focused on books. I highly recommend listening to this one - it’s great to hear Jenny share her stories right to you and lends even more to that great “catching up with a friend” feeling.
There are moments in this book that had me laughing so hard tears came to my eyes. And others when I the tears came from being emotional. Jenny shares a lot about her mental health and what that looks like in her daily life. If you’re like me - you’ll find some of it super relatable and other parts that can help you understand how to be more empathetic to others.
As with most collections of essays - there were some that I really connected with more than others - but overall this was exactly the book I needed right now as I’m struggling to keep focused on books. I highly recommend listening to this one - it’s great to hear Jenny share her stories right to you and lends even more to that great “catching up with a friend” feeling.
zhelana's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.5
Some of this book was hilarious. But large parts of it weren't very funny at all and didn't even seem to be trying to be funny. This is another one of the "memoirs of mental illness that try to be funny" books I've been reading a lot of lately, but it's definitely the least funny of all the ones trying to be funny. It definitely had moments that had me laughing my butt off. But probably more than half the chapters didn't seem funny to me. Instead it seemed like commentary on life that belonged in a serious book. Like how we're all broken and trying to fill the holes in our lives, or stuff about her depression. It was like this book didn't know what it was trying to be, so it tried to be too many different things. Some of it was really good and some of it was not. I definitely don't think this was the best or funniest book of 2021, though. I don't know. I liked it, kind of, but it wasn't what it promised it would be. So maybe 3.5 stars?
_sarah_reads_'s review against another edition
2.0
Listening to this made my brain hurt. A bit frenetic.
snwdngo's review against another edition
4.0
I love Jenny Lawson. If you have ever want to laugh out loud while reading this is the book. Why? Because of Dog condoms, elevators that eat shoes, tiny penises in car holes and a taxidermy groundhog dressed as Daenerys Targaryen.
sabraerob's review
4.75
The way this woman thinks is amazing. Glad she did her own audiobook, and the bonus content was touching.