4 stars

As Lawson clearly states in the beginning of this book, if you don’t like funny books about mental illness, do not read this book. Pretty simple. If you are looking for a serious discussion on mental health and how to “fix” yourself, look elsewhere. This is not that book.

Now onto what this book actually is. This book is hilarious. Everything about it is so absurd and ridiculous. It is extremely funny and very entertaining. From arguments with her husband to weird childhood stories, Lawson takes the reader on a side-slitting journey to learn how she became furiously happy (and you can too!).

Mixed into the hilarity are real discussions about her own mental health and serious talks about feeling alone, self harm, thoughts of suicide, and other dark times. But Lawson does something amazing with this. She makes people feel less alone. It’s nice to see that other people feel that way too and, though her work, Lawson has created a sort of community of those struggling with mental illness. It’s a fun sort of group that makes the world a little brighter. So even though this book is funny, she does get serious about certain things and makes the reader feel welcome, flaws and all.

Lawson’s humor is pretty intelligent. She starts off with something true, then twists the logic and semantics around in such a ridiculous way to end up with a crazy conclusion that actually makes a weird sort of deluded sense. It is highly entertaining and actually pretty impressive. Each chapter has a super weird title and it’s almost like a scavenger hunt or a Where’s Waldo page figuring out what the title refers to. When you get to the part in the chapter where the title comes from, you’re like, “Aha! That makes a weird sort of sense.” It makes for a very fun reading experience.

I didn’t read Lawson’s first book, but after reading this one, I’d like to go back and read it at some point.

While I didn’t necessarily agree with everything Lawson says and there are some offensive statements and jokes in the text, it is overall a funny story that is all about being true to yourself, saying “yes” to trying new things, and being furiously happy.