Furiously Happy

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book about Horrible Things, by Jenny Lawson, 329 pages

Jenny Lawson writes Furiously Happy… for “all who walk the dark path, and to those who walk in the sunshine but hold out a hand in the darkness to travel beside us…” (p. 323) In other words, for the 1 in 5 Americans who suffer from a mental illness (NAMI ), but especially depression and anxiety. 

Sounds… funny?  Surprisingly… yes- at times.  Lawson manages to write about depression and anxiety in a way that is upfront and unapologetic,  heartbreaking and hilarious.

Some of the book is inexplicable and laugh-out-loud funny, like when she tries to get her cats to allow a taxidermied raccoon to ride on their backs long enough for photos.  (Check out her blog to see if her humor is for you.) Other parts are refreshing simply for her candor regarding how other people treat those who suffer from depression.  Long excerpt, but I just have to include this part that really resonated with me, about when people tell her to "just cheer up":

“It’s pretty much the equivalent of telling someone who just had their legs amputated to ‘just walk it off.’ Some people don’t understand that for a lot of us, mental illness is a severe chemical imbalance rather than just having ‘a case of the Mondays.’ Those same well-meaning people will tell me that I’m keeping myself from recovering because I really ‘just need to cheer up and smile.’ That’s when I consider chopping off their arms and then blaming them for not picking up their severed arms so they can take them to the hospital to get reattached… ‘Honestly it’s like you don’t even want to have arms.’ (p. 134)

Her writing style may not be for everyone, but I think that if you have depression and/or anxiety or want to better understand someone you know or love who does, it’s worth a read. Also, come on- the cover is the cutest one to pass through the library in awhile.