Staff review by Ms. B
It started with towels.
"This morning I had a fight with Victor about towels," writes Lawson, in a chapter entitled, And That's Why You Should Learn to Pick Your Battles. "I can't tell you the details because it wasn't interesting enough to document at the time, but it was basically me telling Victor I needed to buy new bath towels, and Victor insisting that I NOT buy towels because I 'just bought new towels.' Then I pointed out that the last towels I'd bought were hot pink beach towels, and he was all 'EXACTLY' and then I hit my head against the wall for an hour."
What she found at the shop (instead of towels) has to be read to be believed. But the rest of the story, which Lawson originally posted on her ten-year-old blog, rang hilariously true to her readers. So true, and so hilarious, that the blog posting went viral -- and a year later, Lawson's "mostly-true" memoir was published and appearing on the New York Times Best Seller List.
Having discovered Lawson (who writes under the handle of "the Bloggess" on her personal website) from that famous -- or perhaps infamous -- essay, I was eager to read the new book being touted by reviewers as the funniest book they'd read in a long time. What I wasn't prepared for was what this book really is, however: not, in my opinion, a humor book (although it certainly is funny), but rather the memoir of a woman who has spent much of her life wrestling with an anxiety disorder.
Detailing her wacky and wild childhood in rural Texas, Lawson writes with tongue-and-cheek humor -- and obvious affection -- for her parents and younger sister, Laura. She writes about her high school experiences; meeting her eventual husband, Victor, while the two were in college; her wedding; the birth of her daughter, Hailey. And much of her story is laugh-out-loud funny, whether she's detailing her afternoon on a class field trip to the local stockyard (there's a cow involved) or recounting her experiences as an employee of a company's HR department.
An artistic rendition of the Bloggess, from her website
But woven through the day-to-day hilariousness, there is the story of a person struggling through a life-long anxiety disorder, coupled with social anxiety and bouts of PTSD. Most of her stories are hilarious, but some of them are heartbreaking -- as Lawson describes leaving home for the last time or dealing with a series of painful miscarriages. To call it a humor book is midleading to me: it's not so much a book of humor essays as it is the story of her life.
And yet, Lawson is a skilled enough writer that, more often than not, the two subjects are one and the same. At no point is this more obvious than when Lawson writes about attending a costumed Halloween party held by her husband's co-workers. Lawson, whose social anxiety makes dinner parties highly stressful, was handling herself quite well -- until the conversation turned political, and she was put on the spot by a pointed jibe thrown in her direction.
"And that's when everything started to get all fuzzy, because I was explicitly warned not to talk politics, and so I froze in panic and searched my mind for any appropriate response that would change the subject. Then, after a moment of painful silence that seemed to hush everyone around us, I blurted out what was likely the most improbable sentence ever uttered at a dinner party:
'One time I got stabbed in the face by a serial killer.'"
The way Lawson writes, she has you wincing in sympathy and laughing out loud at the same time. It's the story of her life, told in hilarious and unexpected anecdotes, but as hard as you laugh (and believe me, you'll laugh) -- you're also rooting for her, because you understand how awkward, nervous, and uncertain we all sometimes feel. Lawson pulls off that most magical of authorial tricks: she makes the reader feel a connection.
Lawson, at a reading of her memoir
If you're expecting a book that's all laughs and no heart, this isn't the memoir for you. But if you'd like to read a particularly hilarious account of one person's trials, tribulations, and triumphs through day-to-day life, give this book a try. Just don't read it in public if you don't want to be caught laughing out loud.
(By the way: if you'd like to hear the end of the tale of the towels, you can check out Lawson's original post on the subject on her blog. Be warned: Lawson is a down-to-earth sort, and her writing contains some strong language.)
Request a copy of Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Request the audiobook version of Let's Pretend This Never Happened, read by the author
-- Post by Ms. B
