The #1 New York Times bestselling (mostly true) memoir from the hilarious author of Furiously Happy.“Gaspingly funny and wonderfully inappropriate.”—O, The Oprah MagazineWhen Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father and a morbidly eccentric childhood. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the … open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame-spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.
In the irreverent Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson’s long-suffering husband and sweet daughter help her uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments—the ones we want to pretend never happened—are the very same moments that make us the people we are today. For every intellectual misfit who thought they were the only ones to think the things that Lawson dares to say out loud, this is a poignant and hysterical look at the dark, disturbing, yet wonderful moments of our lives.
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Very funny! This was a really enjoyable read, highly recommend.
I laughed out loud so much, I think it is time for a second read
Jenny Made me see things in her life that have resembled things in mine. This book made me laugh so much. Was a very fun read.
At first I enjoyed it. It is unusual and takes a little time to adjust to it but, a little over half way through I decided I really didn’t care and lost my desire to finish it.
Jenny has a fabulously quirky sense of humour. The book is packed with plenty of wildlife, alive, taxidermied, and otherwise.
The book starts off with a bang in the author’s childhood, with her ending up inside a dead deer carcass. Other adventures of her youth included catching armadillos for her dad to race and inseminating a cow.
If gross is a problem for you, this book might not be the best choice. I’m all for grossness, though, and fully agree with her variation on the five-second rule – if it’s dry toast it’s extended to a week and a half. At least, right?
Her quirkiness shines in a disclaimer for a chapter where she mentioned using drugs, as she warns young readers that “drugs will kill you and make your boobies fall off.” The book also presents a lot of hilarious dialogue between her and her more logical-minded husband.
Thrown in along with the humorous bits are mentions of her experiences with mental illness, including anorexia, PTSD, and generalized anxiety disorder. She didn’t go into much detail, and she could easily have left those bits out, but I thought it was a good way of showing that someone can be funny and still face mental illness. She also shared the difficulties she faced trying to get pregnant.
The book follows her life somewhat chronologically, and moves in and out of various adventures like acid-washed vests, a sex concussion, finger cancer, a dead squirrel in the wall, and the beginning of her taxidermy collection with a wild boar’s head from an estate sale. There are assorted joking threats between her and her husband, including post-it notes she left him saying, “If you leave wet towels on the ground again I will stab you.”
There are photos interspersed throughout the book, and I couldn’t stop laughing at a picture of a very large metal chicken standing outside the front door to her house with the caption “knock knock, motherfucker.” Needless to say, her husband was not impressed.
The final chapter is an add-on written at the end of her book tour. She writes: “Will you sign my chicken?” I have officially been asked this 364 times. It never gets old.”
If quirky makes you laugh, this book is definitely for you. If you’re worried that you’re not “normal” enough, this book will set your mind at ease, because Jenny’s got you beat.
Jenny Lawson is able to tell the story of her growing up with humor and heart. I have read this book 5 times already and when I need to laugh this is my go to book.
Good book, light reading!! Funny!!!
This book had me laughing out loud, reading parts out loud to my husband. It does contain a lot of language that could be offensive if the reader is sensitive to that.
Clearly written by a crazy person, and probably pretty factual and serious for the most part, it is also laugh out loud, snort milk through your nose and tears running down cheeks funny. A genuine and unique talent, her stories will give you a deeper appreciation of some of life’s difficulties one may have to deal with, while remaining light-hearted and human. A bit coarse, crude or obscene at points; not for the easily offended. But hugely enjoyable and a quick, easy read.
I loved this book! The characters and events are real, from the author’s personal life and experiences, originally shared on her blog. She has a great way of telling a story, and I felt like I was reading it with her voice. There’s a lot of chaos, a bit of craziness, and a ton of laugh out loud funny! I have a friend who listened to the book (vs. reading it) and she didn’t care for it as much. As for me, I wish I could turn the crazy in my life into hysterically funny retells like Jenny has done. Also, I will never look at one of those 6 ft. tall painted metal roosters again without thinking, “Knock, knock, #%*}%#*!” (Read the book to see what I mean!)
Did not find book funny stopped readin after 60 pages
Nearly all the words you’ve given to choose from to describe this story are applicable. This really shouldn’t be possible but the story is so outlandishly probably true that nearly all the words “fit”. I was not fond of the socially unacceptable language, but had to overlook it because it was so real and the story was so vividly told. I absolutely loved this book (minus a few words) and am looking forward to reading more of this author’s work.
Pee your pants funny!!! I want Jenny as a best friend!
My favorite!!!
One of my absolute favorite books. It’s too funny to read in public – I giggle uncontrollably at some of the stories.
I won an ARC of this book and had never previously heard of The Bloggess.
This book was hilarious! There were many laugh out loud moments, some where I actually teared up. And there were others I had to reread or mark the pages so that I can go back and reread them when I need a good laugh. Some of my favorite stories were in chapters entitled: Stanley, the Magical Talking Squirrel, A Series of Helpful Post-it Notes I Left Around the House for My Husband This Week, and The Psychopath on the Other Side of the Bathroom Door. And my new favorite line to use during a fight came from Thanks for the Zombies, Jesus. “You know what? I f-ing dare you to make less sense.” I’m gonna use that one!
Nice short chapters, that were easy to read and kind of rambly and all over the place, but that worked out well for me. Most of the photos were hard to see, but I’m assuming that is because I had a proof copy. It would have been awesome to see those photos.
Great book, and I now follow the blog!
I LOVED this book. Can’t wait until she writes another one!
I want to click all the “What did you like about this book?” buttons. “Let’s Pretend…” is witty, funny, realistic, action-packed, scary, original, informative, entertaining, unpredictable (perhaps I should have put that one in caps), romantic, whimsical, tragic, twisted, inspirational, and haunting. It is at times a tear-jerker; at times steamy (though probably because Jenny left the water running in the shower), and all the time filled with wonderful characters. “Great world building” – I don’t even know what that means, but I have no doubt she has achieved it. The only button I couldn’t in good conscience click was “Easy to read,” because for most of my time reading this book my eyes were blurry with tears from laughing so hard. I humbly suggest a larger font to remedy this unfortunate situation.
I’m not often bossy with strangers, but by golly, READ THIS BOOK.
I love this book! There were a few times where I had uncontrollable laughter and earned odd looks from non-readers. A very entertaining read.
The Bloggess and I are very much alike. She has better stories, however.
I listened to the audiobook version of this one. Highly recommended, y’all.