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Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things Hardcover – Illustrated, Sept. 22 2015
| Jenny Lawson (Author) Find all the books, read about the author and more. See search results for this author |
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In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea.
But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.
As Jenny says:
"Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos.
"Most of my favorite people are dangerously fucked-up but you'd never guess because we've learned to bare it so honestly that it becomes the new normal. Like John Hughes wrote in The Breakfast Club, 'We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it.' Except go back and cross out the word 'hiding.'"
Furiously Happy is about "taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they're the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence. It's the difference between "surviving life" and "living life". It's the difference between "taking a shower" and "teaching your monkey butler how to shampoo your hair." It's the difference between being "sane" and being "furiously happy."
Lawson is beloved around the world for her inimitable humor and honesty, and in Furiously Happy, she is at her snort-inducing funniest. This is a book about embracing everything that makes us who we are - the beautiful and the flawed - and then using it to find joy in fantastic and outrageous ways. Because as Jenny's mom says, "Maybe 'crazy' isn't so bad after all." Sometimes crazy is just right.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherFlatiron Books
- Publication dateSept. 22 2015
- Dimensions16.66 x 2.79 x 24.36 cm
- ISBN-101250077001
- ISBN-13978-1250077004
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Review
“Jenny made me laugh so hard I feared for my safety! I think that's how she was able to get past my defenses and make me feel more okay about myself.” ―Allie Brosh, author of Hyperbole and a Half
“You'll laugh, wince, writhe in discomfort, cry, then laugh again. You might even feel the need to buy a raccoon. But the two things you'll never do is doubt Jenny's brilliance or her fearlessness when it comes to having honest discussions about mental illness, shame, and the power of human resilience. She's changing the conversation one rented sloth at a time.” ―Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW, author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Daring Greatly
“I freaked strangers out by snort-laughing on the subway and in restaurants. I can't stop talking about this book to friends. I'll shut up now and let you resume your life but buy this book. It's AMAZING.” ―Paul Fischer, author of A Kim Jong-Il Production
“The Bloggess writes stuff that actually is laugh-out-loud, but you know that really you shouldn't be laughing and probably you'll go to hell for laughing, so maybe you shouldn't read it. That would be safer and wiser.” ―Neil Gaiman
“Even when I was funny, I wasn't this funny.” ―Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors and This Is How
“Lawson's self-deprecating humor is not only gaspingly funny and wonderfully inappropriate; it allows her to speak...in a real and raw way.” ―O, The Oprah Magazine
“[Lawson] writes with a rambling irreverence that makes you wish she were your best friend.” ―Entertainment Weekly
“Take one part David Sedaris and two parts Chelsea Handler and you'll have some inkling of the cockeyed humor of Jenny Lawson...[She] flaunts the sort of fearless comedic chops that will make you spurt Diet Coke through your nose.” ―Parade
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Product details
- Publisher : Flatiron Books; Illustrated edition (Sept. 22 2015)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250077001
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250077004
- Item weight : 590 g
- Dimensions : 16.66 x 2.79 x 24.36 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: #89,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #144 in Self-Help & Psychology Humour
- #238 in Depression (Books)
- #353 in Anxiety Disorders
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Jenny Lawson is a very strange girl who has friends in spite of herself. She is perpetually one cat away from being a crazy cat lady.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from Canada
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I expected Furiously Happy to be a narrative from A to B cataloging Jenny’s life with little scatterings of comedic delivery. I quickly learned to expect the unexpected. The stories she tells range from a hilarious fight she had with her husband, to personal anecdotes on the difficulty of living with mental illness. Oh, and she goes to Australia and sees kangaroos… while dressed as a kangaroo. So suffice to say there's a lot of variety in the stories.
Jenny is frank about her struggles with mental illness, while addressing a lot of the misconceptions people may have. What I respect about the book is how honest she is about her personal experiences. She admits that sometimes she has to hide inside because of her anxiety, or that she has events of self-harm. What impresses me is that she could share these serious moments and then on the next page have you snorting with laughter. She does a great job at addressing mental illness while staying true to the comedic theme.
Even though this is likely more to protect herself than anything, Jenny also made it clear that her experience is not everyone’s experience. But sharing her own stories empowered people to say “me too” and share their own story, and so on, and so on. Rather than simply inspiring people with her life, she’s inspiring people to form a community of people to be inspired by. And that’s no easy task.
The stories varied, which you might expect would keep you from getting bored. But I still felt that there was occasionally a lull. Some stories would have me laughing out loud, and with others I sped through to get to the next one. I know people with mental illness, but I don’t have any (diagnosed) myself. This made it hard for me to relate to some of the stories that might be inspiring to other readers. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t bother reading the book if you don’t have a mental illness! I’m only acknowledging that this might make it harder to relate to some of Jenny’s experiences. But not all! I can definitely relate to embarrassing myself on a semi-regular basis...
It’s great to see a book that talks so openly about mental illness and draws attention to misconceptions people have about it. I laughed a lot during this book, but then I finished and that was it. I didn’t feel compelled to read Jenny’s other book, nor was I particularly moved. However, I don’t have a mental illness, so I couldn’t relate to a lot of the issues Jenny brought up. I suspect the experience would be different otherwise. Either way, I would recommend this book. It’s wickedly funny, Jenny Lawson's life is so worth reading about!
Read more reviews at my website Lunch-Time Librarian @ http://ltlibrarian.com
Also, if you also loved this book, treat yourself and follow the author on Twitter; she frequently engages and is just as hilarious & touching if not more in real life.
It's a Great read because it shows just how normal people with mental illnesses are, and how exceptional this particular person is. Everyone I know has experiences and/or feelings very much like those shared by the Author, (especially myself), it is a Rare and Gifted person who can share these with such honesty, insight and perspective. She not only shares the stories, she shares the emotional roller coaster ride that she lives and let's the reader sit beside her through the ups and downs. (And allows you to feel what she has felt and better understand her , because of this generosity) In a mostly humorous way she
demystifies mental illness and seemingly effortlessly makes it less scary for people who are unfamiliar with it, or who are afraid of people who have to live with it.
All in, it's a Great Funny Autobiographical book that just happens to be written by someone who suffers from mental illness.
If you have enjoyed Erma Bombeck, You will Love Jenny Lawson! (Sorry Erma, but Jenny has stuffed Racoons!!)
I recommend this book to anyone who has a sense of humor, or would like to get one. Jenny Lawson shows you exactly what a sense of humor is, and how to use it!
Her stories seemed exaggerated and/or made up for the purpose of "entertainment".
It's too bad, because I am sure a memoir about someone with mental illness could be very interesting and helpful, if she had been more honest.
Top reviews from other countries
‘Furiously Happy’ was born from one such incident, where everything in the universe seemed to be stacked against her. But instead of giving up and giving in, Jenny made the bold (and some might say foolish) decision to face it head-on by being ‘furiously happy, out of sheer spite’. Within hours #FURIOUSLYHAPPY was trending worldwide on Twitter as people chose to join Jenny and fight to take back their lives from the black dog of depression.
This is the point at which the book starts. However, if you’re expecting some kind of a self-help guide or memoir about Jenny’s life after the movement took hold, you’ll be disappointed. It’s less of a memoir and more a collection of essays, composed of disconnected occurrences and encounters which seem to have been lifted directly from Lawson’s blog and then expanded upon for the purposes of the book.
That’s not to say ‘Furiously Happy’ isn’t good, it’s just a bit… random. There’s anecdotes from Jenny’s everyday life, tales of trips she goes on despite feeling crippled by social anxiety, conversations with her husband (who is patient to a fault, incredibly understanding and VERY funny) and many, many stories involving her pets. It’s just not a memoir, at least not in the traditional sense and sometimes that makes it difficult to read, mainly because you’re never quite sure what’s coming next or what tone the next chapter should be read in.
If you’ve ever experienced crippling anxiety and/or depression, or know someone who has/is, then there are certainly chapters of this book which will resonate. The same goes with anyone suffering with a chronic physical illness. That said, there are also some parts which might leave you scratching your head in confusion and wondering whether Lawson has made them up or exaggerated for comedic effect. It’s definitely worth a read, but don’t expect to come away with any insightful revelations or self-help tips, just a smile or two along the way.
Furiously Happy helps to take away the stigma and the sting of mental health and provides a fresh perspective on mental health and how personal acceptance can be very helpful. Besides being really enlightening, Furiously Happy is just damn funny. The situations that Lawson finds herself in had me chuckling aloud and getting some funny looks because I couldn’t keep the laughter inside.
A very funny look at a very serious subject.
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson is available now.
Jenny is breathtakingly and beautifully honest about her mental health issues. She has crippling depression and anxiety, and, on top of this, also has to contend with problems with her physical health. As someone with OCD and as the mother of a (now adult) son with generalised anxiety disorder and OCD, I’ve read a lot of books about these issues, but never have I read an author as inspiring, as honest and open and as terribly, horribly funny as Jenny Lawson.
This book focuses more on mental illness than the first book, but is no less hilarious for that. Jenny writes about her struggles with disarming honesty, the effects it has had on her life, her career and her family. She clearly adores her family, but they don’t escape her unusual sense of humour. The arguments she has with husband Victor are a highlight of the book, as Jenny often goes off on a tangent that Victor finds increasingly difficult and frustrating to follow. But her love for him and his for her is touchingly shown when she tells him his life would be easier without her.
“It might be easier,” he replies. “But it wouldn’t be better.”
A brief run through of some of the chapter titles tells you most of what you need to know about this book:
‘George Washington’s Dildo’
‘LOOK AT THIS GIRAFFE’
‘Death by Swans Is Not as Glamorous as You’d Expect’
and
‘Cat Lamination’
are a few of my particular favourites.
While the book is very, very funny, it’s also very, very emotional to read, at least it was for me. Jenny’s mental health issues mean that she often can’t function, that she hides in hotel rooms when she’s supposed to be promoting her work, that she often feels like a failure because she can’t cope with the things other mothers seem to excel at, like PTA meetings. But she’s determined that when she feels fine, that when she can face life, that she will really live, that she will be ‘furiously happy’. She understands that there’s a flip side to the extreme emotions that depression brings – that she has the ability to also experience extreme joy, and she’s determined that she will have a storeroom of memories for those dark times, filled with moments
‘of tightrope walking, snorkelling in long-forgotten caves, and running barefoot through cemeteries with a red ball gown trailing behind me.’
As she says, it’s not just about saving her life, it’s about making her life.
Despite great breakthroughs in recent years, mental illness still carries a stigma. But sufferers are no more to blame for their illness than people with cancer, or MS or anything. Jenny’s writing humanises mental illness. She isn’t ashamed, and neither should anyone else be. The epilogue, ‘Deep in the Trenches’ made me cry. It’s the most touching, insightful, compassionate and beautiful piece of writing I’ve ever read about living with mental illness, or helping someone you love to live and to live fully.
And I’ll always be grateful for the very clever, but characteristically quirky, ‘spoons’ analogy. I read this part of the book at exactly the right time, and it really helped with a situation where someone I love really didn’t have enough spoons. Read it – you’ll get it, and it might help you too.
I love this book, and if I could give it more stars I would. Yes, it’s incredibly funny, but it also says something extremely important. If you have mental health issues, or care for someone who does, please, please read this.
Without giving too much away, she has a very warped sense of humour, she speaks her mind and holds nothing back. She has highs and lows, but even at her lowest ebb, she is hilarious. I laughed until I cried, then when I read parts out loud to my husband, he fell about laughing too!
Once you have read her books, you will be a loyal follower of hers on Facebook and Twitter, I can't recommend this book enough, she the funniest author of the century! I adore her!
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