Genre: Memoir
Rating: ★★★☆☆
We read this one for book club last month/week. Thankfully it appeared on my Kindle in the nick of time so I managed to read it as we were coming home from the trip and in the few days before book club. I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about!
And... I'm still not sure what all the fuss was about. Sure, it's a funny. But in a weird way. Most people at book club found it hilariously funny, but I found it only mildly funny. I've learned my kind of funny usually doesn't seem to match everyone else's kind. It's a weird thing. I've learned to deal.
I thought the book would be more about the author's journey with anxiety, depression and other such things. But, while she mentions these things, most of the book was more just snippets of the strange little moments in her life and strange little thoughts that go on in her head. It was like reading someone's Twitter. Where you have a bit more than 140 characters to use.
And I enjoyed some of them. Most of them I thought were just sort of silly and dumb. And but there were moments that made me smile. (Not sure I ever LOLed like everyone else said they did. Maybe at the kangaroo in the dark in Australia. Maybe a little at the stupid people on the plane. Probably because I was fresh from traveling too?)
So, I felt like, wait, where's all the funny things about dealing with anxiety? I don't know. I guess this is how she deals, thinking up these random things. It did get a little more serious and had some profound-ish thoughts about mental illness toward the end. So, I guess it did address the issues after all.
You know all the random thought blog posts I've done? This book was just that... random thoughts that really didn't have anything to do with each other. Who knew you could do a random thought book? I mean... I might have to look into that!
I think I missed your thoughts at book club. I didn't know you didn't find it that funny. So what do you find funny? Now I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteI'm like Jenny. I didn't really know you felt this way about the book. There were a lot of people talking, so maybe you just didn't a chance to speak. Or, maybe, you were okay just listening to everyone else. And, like Jenny, what is your kind of funny?
ReplyDeleteJenni and Jenny: I don't find potty humor or body parts stories or excessive cursing funny. I think those are all handicaps for someone TRYING to be funny. I do find real life situations funny which is why the travel stuff was more funny to me. I sometimes find the weird random thoughts she has funny, but those were hit and miss. I'm trying to think of something that truly makes me laugh...I've always said the humor in Pushing Daisies is my kind of funny say, more than How I Met Your Mother or Big Bang kind of humor...(though it's been a long time since I've seen that so I wonder if it holds true today.) Siwon on She Was Pretty is my kind of funny...Park Hyung Sik on Strong Woman is my kind of funny (though the side kick stories in that drama were NOT my kind of funny.) The humor on Mash is my kind of funny, if I remember right. Radar from that show, my kind of funny. Let's see...I cant really think of books right now except for Diary of a Wimpy Kid... the first few. I found those to be real life funny. Anyway, does this give you some idea? Jae's tweets are funny. :) (He's from a kpop group called Day 6 and he is very funny to me. https://twitter.com/Jae_Day6) RapMon has literally made me fall on the floor in laughter, laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. So yeah. I find him funny. Very very funny. LOL... this answer isn't helping is it...
ReplyDeleteI think it helps. I watched MASH and thought it was funny as well, so I can see why it's funny to you. I can also see why Siwon in She Was Pretty is funny to you. He was very funny. So, I think that stuff is funny too, but I also like the potty humor and cursing doesn't really bother me anymore (probably because I've been married to Corey for nearly 20 years). I get it, though. I still haven't read Furiously Happy, so we'll see what I think.
DeleteThe cursing doesn't bother me, much, but I don't find it funny.. know what I mean? Whereas I think she uses it because most people somehow do think it funny.. or something. I don't know.
DeleteI have to admit, I've judged this one on the basis of the cover and decided it doesn't seem like my type of humor either! I could be wrong, but I don't think I'll end up picking it up.
ReplyDelete