Saturday, October 26, 2013

Book Review: "Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir" - Jenna Lawson

Jenna Lawson is a popular blogger who has turned her lifetime of awkwardness and somewhat horrifying life situations into an amusing, though sometimes repetitive book. (Doesn't this book review dovetail nicely with last Saturday's "Self Inflicted Wounds" review? That's not on accident).

Jenna talks about her childhood growing up in the tiny town of Wall, Texas. Her Dad is an amateur taxidermist which makes for some of the greatest stories in the book (most of them have to do with dead animals in inappropriate situations and places). She meets her husband, gets married and gets out of Wall as fast as she can. She works in HR for a long time and then starts her popular blog.

Jenna is up front with the medical conditions that plays a part in most of her stories: she has OCD, an anxiety disorder, and depression.She also had some miscarriages due to a blood disorder. When you learn about these conditions it makes her stories make more sense. She gets into several awkward situation because she feels like people are staring at her, so she blurts out inappropriate things and then hides in the bathroom. My favorite stories in the book all had to do with the critters in their lives.Some alive, some definitely dead, and some reanimated after death by the taxidermy Dad (Stanley the Magic Squirrel!)




                      (This isn't the magic squirrel. This is just a squirrel.)

I gave this book a 2.5 stars out of 5.The book was funny, especially the beginning with her crazy childhood but it does wear a little bit.But then it starts to get repetitive and wear a little thin. At some points you want to just shake her and be like "you don't have to always be in these situations! I know you don't like the robot voice bossing you around on your GPS but then you won't get lost all the time!" Maybe (for me) I'd enjoy the blog format a little bit better than the whole book. But if you're looking for a funny book (with cuss words, if that matters to you) that makes you feel good that you can go to the grocery store without getting lost, this is a book for you.

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