Review: Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Pretend

  • Author: Jenny Lawson
  • ISBN: 9780399159015
  • Pages: 318
  • Genre: Memoir/Humour

The above ISBN is for the hardcover edition, but I listened to the audiobook I purchased.

For fans of Tina Fey and David Sedaris—Internet star Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, makes her literary debut.
Jenny Lawson realized that the most mortifying moments of our lives—the ones we’d like to pretend never happened—are in fact the ones that define us. In the #1 New York Times bestseller, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson takes readers on a hilarious journey recalling her bizarre upbringing in rural Texas, her devastatingly awkward high school years, and her relationship with her long-suffering husband, Victor. Chapters include: “Stanley the Magical, Talking Squirrel”; “A Series of Angry Post-It Notes to My Husband”; “My Vagina Is Fine. Thanks for Asking”; “And Then I Snuck a Dead Cuban Alligator on an Airplane.”  – Goodreads

I’ve been a fan of The Bloggess for a very short time, having only come across Jenny Lawson’s blog a little less than a year ago.  Not long after reading a few of her posts, I wanted to read her books.  I especially wanted to read Furiously Happy, but being the crazy type of person that has to read things in order, I chose Let’s Pretend This Never Happened first.  I also decided to go with the audiobook instead of the paperback because Jenny narrates it herself.
I love audiobooks narrated by the author.  While sometimes that’s the last person who should be narrating a book, most of the time, they’re the best option because, hello, they wrote the book.  The author knows all their own natural pauses and cadence, and so you find out how the book should sound.  Also, there’s no way I’m listening to a humorous memoir by a Texan narrated by someone who isn’t a Texan.  Had Jenny Lawson not narrated her own audiobook, I probably would have just waited to buy the paperback next year when, and if, I was no longer participating in the Shelf Love Challenge.  Instead, I used my Audible credit like it was about to expire or the audiobook was going to be removed or something.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is for everyone who has had a crazy life or thinks they’ve had a crazy life.  It’s also for everyone who suffers or has suffered from Depression, PTSD, anxiety, or rare diseases for which there is no cure.  For you, get ready to meet a person who understands just what you’re going through and will make you laugh until you’re rolling on the floor, crying, and probably peeing your pants.  I don’t know how I was able to drive to and from work for the week it took me to get through this book, but I didn’t have any road rage while I did it.  I was too busy laughing.
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