#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The funny, sad, super-honest, all-true story of Chelsea Handler’s year of self-discovery—featuring a nerdily brilliant psychiatrist, a shaman, four Chow Chows, some well-placed security cameras, various family members (living and departed), friends, assistants, and a lot of ediblesA SKIMM READS PICK • “This will be one of your favorite books of all time.”—Amy Schumer books of all time.”—Amy Schumer
In a haze of vape smoke on a rare windy night in L.A. in the fall of 2016, Chelsea Handler daydreams about what life will be like with a woman in the White House. And then Donald Trump happens. In a torpor of despair, she decides that she’s had enough of the privileged bubble she’s lived in—a bubble within a bubble—and that it’s time to make some changes, both in her personal life and in the world at large.
At home, she embarks on a year of self-sufficiency—learning how to work the remote, how to pick up dog shit, where to find the toaster. She meets her match in an earnest, brainy psychiatrist and enters into therapy, prepared to do the heavy lifting required to look within and make sense of a childhood marked by love and loss and to figure out why people are afraid of her. She becomes politically active—finding her voice as an advocate for change, having difficult conversations, and energizing her base. In the process, she develops a healthy fixation on Special Counsel Robert Mueller and, through unflinching self-reflection and psychological excavation, unearths some glittering truths that light up the road ahead.
Thrillingly honest, insightful, and deeply, darkly funny, Chelsea Handler’s memoir keeps readers laughing, even as it inspires us to look within and ask ourselves what really matters in our own lives.
Praise for Life Will Be the Death of Me
“You thought you knew Chelsea Handler—and she thought she knew herself—but in her new book, she discovers that true progress lies in the direction we haven’t been.”—Gloria Steinem
“I always wondered what it would be like to watch Chelsea Handler in session with her therapist. Now I know.”—Ellen DeGeneres
“I love this book not just because it made me laugh or because I learned that I feel the same way about certain people in politics as Chelsea does. I love this book because I feel like I finally really got to know Chelsea Handler after all these years. Thank you for sharing, Chelsea!”—Tiffany Haddish
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Laugh-out-loud funny! Riveting. Emotional. Insightful. Addictive. Complex. Handler at her best… and worst. This book brings it ALL! Truly a MUST for your TBR list!
This is, of course, a roller coaster ride, since it’s a Chelsea Handler book, but it’s a thoughtful roller coaster ride, including not only dog poop and hallucinogenics, but a tour-de-force loop-the-loop through formative trauma and questions of how to be a grown-up and what it means to go deeper into your own life, and I’m sure I mentioned funny bits.
More than a feel good comedy schtick, this is real life, with real problems and real professional mentoring to bring real insight and change. I will read this book again to cement the aha moments that occurred for myself.
Amazing and inthralingtruely inspired…. voracious
I finished this audiobook in about a days time, but it has taken me over two weeks to process and really sit down and write this review. The information in the book isn’t overly complex, but I couldn’t decide if I liked the book or not. With that said, I would give the book 3 out of 5 stars.
I should preface my review by saying that I have been a big fan of Chelsea Handler for the longest time…probably since the early days of Chelsea Lately. I have read two of her other books: Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea and My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands. This book is nothing like those.
Approximately the first half of the book detailed Chelsea essentially having a “midlife crisis,” if you can call it that. She goes into detail about how Donald Trump running and later becoming President really shook her to her core and was the key contributing factor in her reevaluating her life. She delves into the death of her brother, non-traditional upbringing in several aspects some of which include her mother being from Germany, and her detailed description of her father essentially being a poor version of Donald Trump.
I was impressed with how detailed she was in regards to her feelings of rejection and how she believed it really started when she was 9 years old after her brother passed away. And how it just continued with her relationship with her parents, specifically, her father in regards to how she could never rely on him. A majority of these revelations are brought to light when she starts seeing a new therapist who really seems to help Chelsea understand things that she previously didn’t even consider.
This book delves into privilege, race, politics, etc, all the while including some funny tidbits about her Cho Cho’s.
Overall, I felt the story was well written, and the fact I listened to the audiobook, having Chelsea herself narrate the book was perfect! That said, this is definitely a more serious book which isn’t exactly what I was expecting. If you are a fan of Chelsea Handler, I would recommend this book. If you are looking for a funny, light-hearted, summer read, I would steer you towards My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands.