Oh, I just love Jenny Lawson. She has been making me laugh for years, and also making me feel like I’m not alone in my particular brand of crazy. I loved her blog. Then came her first book, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, which was like her blog but longer. Then came Furiously Happy, which not only got me through a rough time, but also became one of my top favourite books. I thought that was a pinnacle of success for Jenny, honestly. I never really considered that she’d write another book, much less that it would surpass the last one. And then Broken came into my life, a total surprise (I didn’t even know it was coming out until it was here) and a total delight.
Jenny has this amazing knack for brilliant insight into her own issues and the human condition, but paired with this wicked sense of humour that doesn’t allow anyone to take anything too seriously. This book manages a perfect balance between funny interludes, informative sections about Lawson’s various medical and mental health episodes, hopeful moments and embarrassing interactions with people – I imagine Lawson and I are among the very few who have enjoyed not having to have as many of these over the past year!
As with her earlier books, Lawson includes lots of animals (alive and otherwise), some great interactions with her long-suffering and often exasperated husband and some really great moments where she manages to bring hilarious humiliation to both of them via the wonder of Zoom. I particularly connected to her discussion of how her various medical issues tend to work against each other treatment-wise, and how there are some issues that nothing can really help. She shared some of the treatments that did help, but also brings attention to how difficult it can be to access necessary treatment – particularly for mental health issues – in the American medical system. Canada is a bit better, but not as much as you might think (for example if you want a therapist who isn’t a psychiatrist you likely will have to pay out of pocket to the tune of 100+ dollars an hour because most psychiatrists I’ve seen don’t do any kind of therapy other than prescribing drugs, so if they don’t work for you or you can’t handle the side effects, you’re out of luck).
You probably already know that I suffer from a whole host of medical issues. Some of mine are the same as or similar to Lawson’s. I too have various autoimmune disorders because for some reason my body has decided to be its own worst enemy and keeps trying to kill me. I feel alone in this most of the time, and because most of my medical issues can’t be seen, I feel invisible in the middle of dealing with them. This book helped me feel a little less alone, and also acknowledged how much energy is consumed by chronic illness. She talks about how, when her depression is particularly bad, she has to choose how to spend what little energy she has left over. She can take a shower or wash the dishes, for example, but cannot do both. For people who have never dealt with this kind of mental health crisis, this seems absurd. Who can’t have a shower and do dishes? Well, me, for a start. I remember a time when I had to quantify what I could handle. I had to create routines for myself and couldn’t deviate from them without major repercussions. I could do one thing that took me out of the house every week, but only one. Even now, when my breathing issues are bad and my allergies have me struggling to stay awake, just doing normal life things is incredibly difficult. This isn’t laziness. It’s not lack of motivation. It’s not being inefficient with my time or needing to get up earlier in the morning. It’s a series of symptoms of illnesses that are debilitating and completely outside of my control. I’m doing the best I can to co-exist with them, but that’s all I can do. I wish more people could understand how severe the limitations are on people dealing with so many health problems, and go easier on us. We’re doing our best, even when our best means we’re still in pyjamas at dinner time because it was either get dressed or make said dinner, and we decided to feed our families.
As always, I’m so grateful to Jenny Lawson for sharing as openly, honestly and matter-of-factly as she does. She has been dealing with so many issues for so long, and yet has never lost her sense of humour about it. She has learned to be patient with herself, to forgive herself for never being as productive and energetic as “normal” people and to still see value in herself as a mother and wife. I struggle to do this – most days I feel like I’m pretty much just failing on all fronts. It’s really difficult to do what she does, and I hope that in sharing this, more people will begin to understand what it takes to be someone who is chronically ill and/or suffering from depression (and let’s face it, if you feel like your body is trying to kill you every day of your life, who the hell wouldn’t be depressed??). We need as many people who look at us and see people fighting with everything we’ve got just to be here rather than blaming us for not seeming better or being easier. We deserve medals, not criticism. Please read this. Please use it to have more compassion for people in your life who are struggling. Please use it to forgive yourself if you are struggling. Or just read it to have a laugh, because Lawson is one of the funniest people in the whole world and I have not had this much fun reading another book all year.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Furiously Happy and Let’s Pretend This Never Happened comes a deeply relatable book filled with humor and honesty about depression and anxiety.
As Jenny Lawson’s hundreds of thousands of fans know, she suffers from depression. 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. From the business ideas that she wants to pitch to Shark Tank to the reason why Jenny can never go back to the post office, Broken leaves nothing to the imagination in the most satisfying way. And of course, Jenny’s long-suffering husband Victor―the Ricky to Jenny’s Lucille Ball―is present throughout.
A treat for Jenny Lawson’s already existing fans, and destined to convert new ones, Broken is a beacon of hope and a wellspring of laughter when we all need it most. – Goodreads
Book Title: Broken
Author: Jenny Lawson
Series: No
Edition: Hardback/Audiobook
Published By: Henry Holt and Co.
Released: April 6, 2021
Genre: Memoir, Mental Health, Illness, Humour
Pages: 285
Date Read: April 11-May 7, 2021
Rating: 10/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.31/5 (7,699 ratings)