Book Review: Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

I’m not sure where and how to review this book. If you have read Jenny Lawson’s previous books, you know they are hilariously funny stories about her life. Stories that seem unreal because who the heck has lived the life she had (she has.) Broken is a bit different. She addresses her mental health issues in this book and what kind of toll they have taken on her health and life, adding on what they and her other illnesses mean to her family. Don’t get me wrong. There are funny stories included. It is still her life and her mind.

What she tells in her book is important. She is the “lucky” one who can seek treatment and pay for them despite her insurance provider being a dick. But there are those who are not as lucky as she is to have such a supportive network (loving husband and daughter, plus all her weird friends who know life is full of embarrassing stories), who struggle to provide the basic treatment they need. It takes a lot from a person with, say like, depression to fight for their rights and fight to be taken seriously. So what Jenny Lawson is doing here is amazing. Maybe it opens up someone’s eyes, and perhaps someone will get the help they deserve because she can speak what it is like to live in her body and gone through her life.

I loved the book. Then there were times when I wished I wasn’t listening to it now. I’m currently taking an ACE (Adverse childhood experiences) and Trauma-Informed class as part of getting my Occupational Therapist license, and the echoes of it were so fully present in Lawson’s work with things like an autoimmune disorder, which you are more likely to have if you have had several adverse childhood experiences. The thing is, I don’t want to be thinking about statistics or theories when I hear someone’s life story told by their own voice. I want to be fully present and not jump to conclusions as doing such a thing is terrible in so many ways (putting someone in a box is one of them). So, I have to get back to this book, when I can listen to it and hear Lawson’s voice telling about her weird, wonderful life with all the joy and sadness in it. 

(The word weird is positive to me, it always has been. If someone or something is weird, I’m like yeah, that’s the way to be.)

Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful day ❤