ladypalutena's review against another edition
5.0
I finished this entire book the first day I had it, which was the first time I'd one-shot a book since February (when I finished my incredible 60-book sprint) and then I put it down and sat back on the couch to really think about it.
I've mentioned before how much I love Jenny Lawson, and this book is no exception - it's real, it's honest, and it makes me realize that I'm not alone. However, I think there's a significant difference between this book and her previous few books: it's not nearly as funny (or maybe I was too tired to understand all the jokes?). Yes, there are absolutely parts that made me laugh out loud, but compared to Let's Pretend This Never Happened, the humor took a back seat.
And you know what? That's okay. This book doesn't have to be funny. It's a memoir of one of the darkest times of Lawson's life, when she was dealing with a nearly year-long pit of depression and decided to try out an electromagnetic therapy to help (literally strapped to a chair for more than a month with magnets banging against her skull for an hour each time), and was good enough after that treatment to actually go on a trip to Europe, something she said she'd never been able to think about doing before. While her treatment didn't last as long as she wanted, it's something that at least helped.
Mental illness is not something that's talked about in this country very often, and Lawson's chapter, An Open Letter to my Insurance Company, shows just how heartbreaking it really is to have a mental illness and how hard insurance companies actively fight against allowing you to get treatment. Lawson is lucky that she's got a support system that helped her fight the insurance company and wear them down until she was able to get most of what she wanted, but so many people don't have that luxury. As she states, there are many people who just give up when they realize that they will never be able to convince the insurance company that a mental illness is still an illness and that it requires medication. How many people have died because of our archaic and brutal health care system?
Broken is not a book for everyone, and that's okay. But I'm hoping that the people that need to read it will read it, and that it will help them realize that they aren't alone. As with all of Lawson's books, this one is a 5/5 star read, and I hope that you give it a shot.
I've mentioned before how much I love Jenny Lawson, and this book is no exception - it's real, it's honest, and it makes me realize that I'm not alone. However, I think there's a significant difference between this book and her previous few books: it's not nearly as funny (or maybe I was too tired to understand all the jokes?). Yes, there are absolutely parts that made me laugh out loud, but compared to Let's Pretend This Never Happened, the humor took a back seat.
And you know what? That's okay. This book doesn't have to be funny. It's a memoir of one of the darkest times of Lawson's life, when she was dealing with a nearly year-long pit of depression and decided to try out an electromagnetic therapy to help (literally strapped to a chair for more than a month with magnets banging against her skull for an hour each time), and was good enough after that treatment to actually go on a trip to Europe, something she said she'd never been able to think about doing before. While her treatment didn't last as long as she wanted, it's something that at least helped.
Mental illness is not something that's talked about in this country very often, and Lawson's chapter, An Open Letter to my Insurance Company, shows just how heartbreaking it really is to have a mental illness and how hard insurance companies actively fight against allowing you to get treatment. Lawson is lucky that she's got a support system that helped her fight the insurance company and wear them down until she was able to get most of what she wanted, but so many people don't have that luxury. As she states, there are many people who just give up when they realize that they will never be able to convince the insurance company that a mental illness is still an illness and that it requires medication. How many people have died because of our archaic and brutal health care system?
Broken is not a book for everyone, and that's okay. But I'm hoping that the people that need to read it will read it, and that it will help them realize that they aren't alone. As with all of Lawson's books, this one is a 5/5 star read, and I hope that you give it a shot.
miawolf's review against another edition
5.0
I love all of her books. I listened to the audio version.
jennicourn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
flowerranger's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
jcschildbach's review against another edition
5.0
I always enjoy some Jenny Lawson, whether she's laying out some hard truths about the wildly inadequate U.S. healthcare system or telling bittersweet/hilarious tales of growing up poor in rural Texas or discussing her own immediate struggles with attempting to maintain her mental health. You get all of that here, and more. Plenty of good stuff for everyone, unless you're horribly put off by TMI-level personal disclosure.
filemanager's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars - It wasn't as funny as her last book "Furiously Happy". It was kind of half funny and half thoughtful/deep essays/ramblings. Also, WAY too many mentions of danger noodles (yes my phobia is to the point where I can't even say the word)!!!
Also, apparently I didn't understand the "why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side" joke either until I read this book!!!!! Omg
Also, apparently I didn't understand the "why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side" joke either until I read this book!!!!! Omg
disastrouspenguin's review against another edition
3.0
Cute, often very ridiculous, with many laugh out loud moments. Jenny Lawson is a fantastic narrator of her own material. A little more poetic, at times a little more preachy, than I remember the first book being.
zoethydear1850's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars! I absolutely love Jenny's writing- it's not very often I have read something (definitely not entire books) that had me consistently laughing like a hysterical witch in public. I had read Let's Pretend This Never Happened during a time when I was living in a new place, with truly one friend, so needless to say, Jenny provided something for me that was like providing a new friend.
Reading this book was a much different experience in the sense that there was a much harder reality to face. It's brutal sometimes, mostly because it so perfectly illustrates what living with depression and anxiety is like. I saw my closest friend in the text, me in the anecdotes, my family in the support systems she mentioned. It was raw and emotional, a much different reading experience than my other read of her work, but incredibly important to me in a new, special way.
Reading this book was a much different experience in the sense that there was a much harder reality to face. It's brutal sometimes, mostly because it so perfectly illustrates what living with depression and anxiety is like. I saw my closest friend in the text, me in the anecdotes, my family in the support systems she mentioned. It was raw and emotional, a much different reading experience than my other read of her work, but incredibly important to me in a new, special way.