Title: Furiously Happy
Author: Jenny Lawson
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: 2015
Page count: 346

Rating:

I don’t read a huge amount of non-fiction anymore, but my husband bought me Furiously Happy for Christmas and I was thrilled. I’d read this book a few years ago and really enjoyed it and my second read through was just as fun.

Jenny Lawson writes about really serious, often difficult mental health issues in a refreshingly funny way, and she somehow manages to do so without undercutting the severity of issues and conditions. The concept of being “furiously happy” itself was born out of a dark and devastating depression where she wasn’t sure that she’d ever feel happy again. In lieu of giving in, she responded with a determination to approach her life in a way that aggressively pursued happiness no matter how weird and ridiculous the method. The result is a series of essays and experiences that are both absurdly entertaining and also just absurd.

The actual writing in the book can be a little erratic, and Lawson jumps from point to point very quickly, but that’s one of the things I love about her writing. She writes in the same way that her brain works, and the result is a train of thought that I almost always find enjoyable. She’s unique and interesting and at times, thoroughly relatable, particularly if you’ve ever dealt with a significant mental health issue. Other memoirs and biographies I’ve read that focus on this subject matter tend to feel really heavy and emotionally exhausting, but at the end of Lawson’s book, I was smiling and laughing and feeling heard without feeling devastated. It’s a really refreshing take on mental illness.

I imagine that this book wouldn’t be for everyone—Lawson is truly unique and her writing reflects that, but the book was great for me, and my enjoyment of a book is what I base my ratings on. For that reason alone, Furiously Happy is a solid 4-stars for me, and one that I’ll likely go back to again in the future.