by Jenny Lawson
This book made me laugh until I cried. It was actually kind of problematic since I only read this book while I was at work. BTW NEVER READ THIS BOOK WHILE YOU'RE AT WORK! It is not appropriate.
I had never heard of Jenny Lawson before this book came out and everybody else had already bought it, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Her writing style took some getting used to. It's so over-the-top that I had my reservations about it at first, but it also kind of sucked me in. After awhile, it became part of what I looked forward to when I opened the book.
So Jenny is this super awkward, smart, funny person who had the misfortune to be raised in the middle of no where in Texas. She grew up all misunderstood and nobody in her class liked her, although I totally give her parents props for just full-on accepting her the way she was. Nothing she did seemed weird or abnormal to them (then again, considering their standards, I'm not sure that should really be so surprising). It would have been really easy for most parents to shower all of their love and affection on Jenny's pretty, popular sister, but they never seemed to do that. They tortured their daughters equally and there's a lot to be said for that.
Although this book made me laugh tears, there were also some genuine tears. One chapter she introduces as not being funny because you can't make that subject funny. At first I thought she was right, but then she managed to slip in just a little bit of dark humor and proved herself wrong. Don't mistake me here though, because that chapter was just tragic and one of the saddest things I have ever read.
My favorite part of this book is Jenny's total honesty. She holds nothing back and doesn't pull any punches. When she talks about the terror she feels in social situations, it's so easy for the reader to nod along and say, "Yep, I know exactly how you feel". Because we've all felt it, too, but nobody talks about it. Jenny talks about it and she also talks about the magic of finding people with whom you really fit in and can truly be yourself.
The only thing I have to disagree with her about is her assertion that high school is the lowest point of our lives. That was not true for me. I have since been through times that were way harder than anything I had to put up with in high school. I may be alone here, but I had a lot of fun in high school. No, I'm not still friends with all of those people, and yes we were all total self-centered drama queens, but that doesn't change the fact that I had fun. Those people and that drama was what I needed at that time in my life to grow as a person and that's what I did and I think I'm better for it now. Maybe Jenny is a better person today because she had to stick her arm up a cow's vagina.
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