I am a huge fan of Jenny Lawson! I follow her on IG and I've recommended her book "Furiously Happy" to so many friends who also loved it! In "Broken", Jenny once again shows her vulnerability due to illnesses while being that quirky, fun character that we have all come to love. There were moments where I wanted to be her friend and take her for a margarita to tell her to get it together. But most of the time, like while reading her letter to the health insurance industry, I wanted to stand up and give her an Academy Award.

Ms. Lawson is once again the best at being Broken... in the best possible way.

While I'm a fan of the Bloggess (Blogess?), I'm not a regular reader so I don't know if these essays were previously published on her blog. They felt quite a lot like a compilation of random blog posts, though, and many of them really didn't seem to have to do with the supposed topic, Lawson's lifelong battles with mental illness. Some were funny, some were serious. There was always a bit of funny with the serious and vice versa. I enjoyed some chapters much more than others. One chapter was composed of very NSFW product suggestions for Shark Tank or something like that, and those were kinda terrible even for me. I really enjoyed her sections that dealt with her anxiety and depression, but so much of the book felt like filler of just random silly stuff.

I read in the blurb or the intro about the experimental procedures she's been going though and expected a lot more about that, but she just kind of describes it in one chapter and says that it seems to have helped a bit and she acknowledges that since insurance doesn't cover it and it's expensive, she knows how lucky she is to have been able to do it (and it may need to be repeated). I've read her first book and also have purchased two of her adult coloring books (one for me and one for my oldest child), and I enjoy everything she puts out. I certainly love her as a person and relate to many of her struggles. A few parts of this book did have me really laughing out loud, and a few were really touching and relatable. A lot of other parts just felt like skimming through old blog posts, some of which were more successful than others. This was a 3 star book for me -- liked it. I can't say I loved it but I love her and do recommend the book.

I read a digital ARC of this book via Net Galley.

I appreciate netgalley giving me this book for a fair and honest review.
I give this book a scant 4 stars. I enjoy the perspective of Jenny as she relates herself to us and I’ll try not to compare them. This one deserves to be observed on its own. There is as much light as there is dark here. Mental illness and chronic pain and family life. It could be one of those progressive TV dramas where you get amazed that both happy and sad can endure in the same character. In the end, this is about family and how we can get there together.
There was one chapter on Shark Tank that I could have done without almost entirely, but that’s entirely a sense of humor thing.

There are two things you can count on with a Jenny Lawson book: deeply relatable stories about mental health, and at least three stories that make you cackle fucking laughing. This is all of these, with a fun new addition: dealing with the fucking hellscape that is the American healthcare system. She appears to have found a more extreme form of therapy (electroshock therapy, but actually backed with science and not just some fucking misogynist ass shooting electricity into your brain for being socially nonconforming) that works well for her more extreme comorbidities. But that means looking at what happens when your brain actually cooperates with you for more than five hours and big things like “what if my mental health issues were all that were keeping my marriage together and I don’t need my husband?” She does really well at pacing these deeper, harder chapters with lighter, funnier chapters, and is just an excellent storyteller, period. Definitely pick this up when you have the chance.

I really enjoyed Broken by Jenny Lawson. In the book she shares stories that are entertaining, heart-warming, and genuine. She strikes a great balance between the humorous and serious.

I, unfortunately, did not finish this one. I loved Furiously Happy, but this one just fell a little flat for me. It felt like Jenny as trying too hard to be funny, and I found myself skimming trying to push past "bits" that just weren't working.

This is a wonderful collection that makes you feel the feels of anxiety but also genuinely makes you laugh out loud. We all need a lot of Jenny in our world.

Jenny Lawson has done it again. She has written a book for people who need a voice, people suffering from mental illness and those who love them. She is open and honest and hilarious. She lets you know how she has been broken and what she is doing to pick up her own pieces. I will always recommend her books to just about anyone, and they are one of the first books I choose to buy for friends.

Free copy received through NetGalley for my honest review.

Jenny Lawson has a gift for balancing humor and rawness in a way I've never seen done outside of her books. Broken (In the Best Possible Way) is a series of extremely readable chapters ranging from post-office catastrophes to transcranial magnetic stimulation.

I want to be Jenny's friend, I want to tell her what she says makes a difference, and thank her for sharing her stories. I laughed out loud so many times. I thought to myself, yep, I feel that so many times too. I learned some new things too This is more than a humor book, a self help book, a memoir, and I'm already looking forward to whatever she writes next.

If you loved her other books, you'll love this. If you're looking to read something that'll make you laugh and give you hope, you'll love this too. If you've ever done or said something embarrassing, you'll definitely love and relate to this book!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. One word- HILARIOUS!! I think this may be her best book yet. She is so funny, but also lays out her real-world problems too. She is so real and raw and each chapter is great. Must read!

I was so excited to see this book available for review. I’ve loved Jenny Lawson’s writing for a while, and have read some of her previous books. I may also follow her on Twitter. This newest book Broken (In the Best Possible Way) made me laugh in the right places, feel all the feels, and made me feel that someone somewhere relates to the struggles so many people suffer through in silence.

Approximately one chapter in, I was already mentally listing who I was pre-ordering this book for (from a local independent book store of course). Lawson ties in difficult subject matter with humor in the best possible ways. It can be really hard to talk about mental health without feeling drained and hopeless, but Lawson manages to bring hope and light to counterbalance the seesaw of emotions. I can’t imagine how difficult it was to write this book with the issues the author struggles through, and the fact that it captures the reader and is so immersive is incredible. This book makes me want to sit down and talk with the author because she put so much into words that I don’t think many people even have the tools to express (but I mean… I know how difficult it can be for someone to go out and interact with people and this book discusses that, so totally not asking).

There were a few moments that I was mildly in a discomfort zone (definitely pre-screen for your kids if you don’t want to be answering some awkward questions), but Lawson always brought me back around. When I read this book, I was mentally noting – I want to share this, because it is so important to help people understand silent mental and chronic illnesses. For those that don’t have mental or chronic illness, living with or having relationships with people who do can be a whole new world to navigate. Lawson acknowledges this and in shedding light on her own health, she helps others navigate and learn to understand what it’s like to have these struggles. She also always seems to find hope, and hope is so important. Lawson acknowledges how difficult the struggle can be, but shares her own coping mechanisms that in the pit of the despair, there will be brighter days. Maybe not perfectly blissful days, but there will be better days. With being in the midst of a pandemic, in which so many are struggling, I feel like Lawson is adding to an important body of work in how to get through the fogs and sadness and depression and anxiety. I really recommend this book, and can’t wait until it’s released so that I can share it with friends and family. Maybe I’ll do some pre-orders from a certain Nowhere Bookshop.

Please be advised that I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jenny Lawson does it again! I love how she speaks of her life experiences and struggles with mental health and general health with such humor and honesty. I saw myself in so much of this book - I laughed, I cried, I nodded in agreement, and overall, I loved every word.

Thanks Jenny, for being such a bright light.

Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am always impressed with how I go from laughing to being sad within the same paragraph in Jenny Lawson’s writing. I love how honest she is about her physical and mental health. Everyone, especially all health insurance employees, should read her “An Open Letter to My Insurance Company” chapter.

I was banished from my family room as my giggling annoyed the football watchers and I finished reading in a safe laugh out loud zone upstairs.

Within five minutes of starting this book, I had laughed myself into crying. And five minutes later, I had cried myself into crying even more. Feeling every feeling, one right after the other, continued for the rest of the book.

Jenny Lawson has captured living with chronic illness and mental health issues with exquisite winsomeness and accuracy in Broken, and I couldn't be more grateful that she continues to share her story with the world. Just make sure you are either (1) reading this by yourself or (2) prepared to explain your mood swings by reading long excerpts aloud to those around you. Highly recommended.

I really struggle with Jenny Lawson. I have read all of her books (I don't follow her blog though) because there is something engaging and charismatic about her. I admire how unapologetically different she is: she knows who she is and she is not ashamed! As someone who struggles with anxiety and mental health, I feel a kinship with her and appreciate her openness to write about these struggles.

Yet, some of her stories come off as a little... much. Yes, she is silly--- often charmingly so--- but I just can't help but think how exhausting she comes off at times.... and I feel so guilty for admitting that! Her silly stories didn't resonate with me this time, but her longer essay about her TMS treatment was lovely.

I don't think this book will disappoint any Lawson fans! Thank you to Henry Holt and Netgalley for the ARC!

I have read all of Lawson's previous books, so I went into this knowing largely what to expect. I really enjoy the way she writes about mental illness and I feel that those essays were the strongest in the book and in some ways some of the lighter, more humorous essays took away from them a little but maybe that comes from years of reading the (always-entertaining) Jenny/Victor dynamic. One can kind of predict the direction those essays might take after three books and countless blog posts. Overall, this was an extremely entertaining read and I hope for many more years of stories about weird taxidermy and animal encounters.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I love The Bloggess and I frequently read her blog posts. I read and loved her previous books, and I loved this one too. She writes so beautifully and accurately about depression, like no one else I’ve ever read before. Extremely relatable and also hilarious, of course. The chapter full of tweets about awkward moments made me wheeze-laugh so hard I was honestly a little worried for my lungs. 4.5 stars.

I am a fan of Jenny Lawson love her books.Jenny is so open so revealing sharing her depression.,her memory loss her other issues.At the same time she’s hilarious her conversations with her husband have me laughing out loud. Another really human revealing no secrets kept by the terrific bloggess #netgalley #henryholt

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the published for this ARC. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Jenny Lawson has a way of writing personal essays that are both comedic, and very touching. I believe I enjoyed this book more so than her previous ones, and there were so many beautiful moments that stood out to me. There were also some parts that were incredibly funny to the point where I was laughing out loud. Fortunately, I was by myself, so nobody cared. The essays were arranged in an order so that some of the ones which felt a little emotionally heavier (such as the one in which she talks about how she's thought about suicide or the ones in which she talks about her own struggles with feeling worthy) are cushioned neatly in between lighter, more comedic stories (like the one about the bag of small cheerful phalluses that exploded inside her car when really she'd been expecting a taxidermied prairie dog dressed like Danerys.) Therefore, I never felt like it was too heavy for me to continue reading.

A few of the stories did seem to drag on a bit longer than they needed to, but I think that also comes with the territory of a good ol' fashioned Jenny Lawson ramble.

The final piece in the book, about souls and shards, was beautiful, and I had a little happy weep over it. So, thanks for that.

I feel like her book has helped me understand some of the struggles that my friends with mental health issues are facing, and it has made me only love them more for being willing to carry on, even when it's really hard to.

Overall, it was a solid read, and I am very pleased that I got to do it early.

Full disclosure: I adore #JennyLawson. I follow her on social media in addition to having read all of her books. So I was very excited to be able to read this ARC of #BrokenInTheBestPossibleWay. For those familiar with Lawson, this book will be exact as you hope: many stories she has shared in real time on Twitter or on her blog are made available here in more refined, equally amusing or heartbreaking storytelling as only she can do. She is candid about her life with mental and physical health concerns, family loss, and more. Even in moments of sadness, she can turn a tale into a life lesson or a silver lining. There are also certainly those laugh-out-loud moments where I realized I shouldn't be reading this book in public because I was making a scene. The photographs were a nice touch to many of the stories. For those not familiar with Lawson, this may not be the book I'd recommend to you first. While you certainly will be able to pick up on who her family is or some of her back story, it may feel a bit like jumping into the middle of some inside jokes. I would recommend either of her other books and then moving on to this one. Thanks to the publisher and #NetGalley for this ARC!