Furiously Happy (Lawson)

Furiously Happy:  A Funny Book About Horrible Things
Jenny Lawson, 2015
Flatiron Books
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250077004


Summary
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. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1973
• Where—Wall, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., Angelo State University
• Currently—lives in Texas Hill Country


Jennifer Lawson is an American journalist and blogger from Wall, Texas. She is a graduate of Angelo State University. She is the author of The Bloggess and Ill Advised blogs, co-author of Good Mom/Bad Mom on the Houston Chronicle and a columnist for SexIs magazine.

Lawson is best known for her irreverent writing style. She also used to write an advice column named "Ask The Bloggess" for The Personal News Network (PNN.com) until she quit because they stopped paying her. She suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, OCD, depression and an anxiety disorder.

She was recognized by the Nielsen ratings as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Mom Bloggers and Forbes listed thebloggess.com as one of their Top 100 Websites for Women. She was a finalist in the 2010 Weblog awards for Best Writing and Most Humorous Writer, and a finalist in the 2011 Weblog awards for Best Writing, Most Humorous Writer and Weblog of the Year.

In 2011 The Huffington Post named Lawson the "Greatest Person of the Day" for her work in raising money for struggling families in December 2010. She was also interviewed on CBC News Network's Connect with Mark Kelley during the fundraising campaign.

Lawson's autobiography, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, was released on April 17, 2012, and by May 6th, reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. She published her second book, Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things, in 2015. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews
Lawson's self-deprecating humor is not only gaspingly funny and wonderfully inappropriate; it allows her to speak...in a real and raw way.
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


Though mostly comedic, the text also addresses such serious issues as self-injury and why mental illness is misunderstood. Lawson insightfully explores the ways in which dark moments serve to make the lighter times all the brighter.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Lawson returns with another autobiographical work, this one focused on her experiences living with mental illness.... Vedict: The stigma surrounding mental illness can only be lifted if people affected are willing to talk about their experiences and everyone else is willing to listen. This book is a profane, hilarious, touching, and essential part of that conversation.  —Stephanie Klose
Library Journal


Rather than hiding the facts, [Lawson] openly divulges, in a darkly humorous way, how she copes with rheumatoid arthritis, depression, panic attacks, anxiety.... She does a solid job exposing the hidden nature of mental illness.... Her amusing essays open up a not-so-funny topic: mental illness in its many guises.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Furiously Happy:

1. Jenny Lawson is open about her struggle with mental illness. Has this book altered your view of those who face mental issues or given you greater insight of their plight?

2. Cancer patients, Lawson tells us, are not blamed for their failure to respond to treatment, but the same cannot always be said for those who suffer from mental illness. Why is that?

3. Do you personally know people—friends or family members—who suffer from any of the illnesses that Jenny Lawson discusses? If so, how do they cope, and how do the people close to them, perhaps yourself included, deal with their illnesses?

4. Talk about the use of humor in Furiously Happy. How does it affect your reading of this book? Why might Lawson treat such a serious, often tragic, subject with laughter?

5. What is the significance of the title, "Furiously Happy"?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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