I'm a huge fan of Jenny Lawson's books. They are always consistently good. Though they touch on depression there is also the enormous humor she has. And the information on depression can help those who have it.

If you want a good laugh, if you want to make friends with a wonderful person, go buy her books and go to her website. You will never ever be disappointed.

I am a big fan of Jenny Lawson's books. I can always relate so well to them.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is very relatable for me, she talks a lot about her depression in this book, but it is sprinkled in with funny and relatable stories. I was laughing pretty hard in some places.

Even though I enjoyed this book a lot, this was not my favorite of her books. I jump at the chance to read any of her books as I think she is an incredibly talented writer. I certainly recommend this book!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

This was my first Jenny Lawson book and I wasn't disappointed. She has a way of taking a subject and making you laugh.

I have loved Jenny Lawson and her books for years. I feel a kinship with her. In her latest book Jenny is open and honest and takes on mental health in a manner that I think will help so many others. I've long suffered from anxeity and depression, but haven't undergone the treatment she did. She makes me laugh, think, tear up and want to be her friend. Jenny Lawson, thank you. Thank you to Henry Holt and NetGallery (so very thankful) for an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

I am a longtime fan of Jenny Lawson and her most recent book, Broken (in the best possible way) is everything I have come to expect of the author. She writes honestly and openly about her mental health challenges and experimental transcranial magnetic stimulation to treat anxiety and depression when medication failed to make much of a difference, yet still is one of the most absurdly hilarious writers I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I connected deeply in "An Open Letter to My Health Insurance Company". I laughed so hard, that I ended up asthmatic and sobbing (feelings are weird) when reading "And Then I Bought Condoms for My Dog" and related 100% to "Introverts Unite! (But Sweet Baby Jesus, Not in Real Life)". She is a gifted essayist, and I recommend this book!

Advanced copy provided courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I love Jenny Lawson. I love her fierce honesty in describing her childhood, her adulthood, her troubles, and her triumphs. I love that she can make me laugh and cry on the same page. This book was no different. Except that it was. It was deeper. The writing was more poetic. She said she had just come from a deep depression and had slipped back into it some while writing this book. I don’t know if that made her more vulnerable or if she is just becoming better at her craft, but this book was beautiful

Many thanks to Henry Holt & Co. for the opportunity to receive and review an advance reader copy.

I will quite literally read anything Jenny Lawson slaps her name on because I can guarantee I’m going to laugh out loud. As fans of Lawson will know, she suffers from a variety of mental and physical chronic conditions that she has faced head on in her books with an overwhelming sense of self-compassion and empathy. “Broken (in the best possible way)” is a celebration of life that’s a bit wild and wacky and heartbreaking and heartwarming. Lawson artfully balances humor, brutal honesty, and raw emotion with her fantastic stream of consciousness style writing. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to scream into the proverbial void right along with Lawson. Particularly, the chapters on her struggles with the U.S. health care system, patient treatment, her grandmother’s dementia, and her own anxieties and depression were painfully relatable. “Broken” is refreshing, authentic, unique, and compassionate. I cannot recommend it enough.

“Broken” hits U.S. shelves April 6, 2021.

I found Jenny on Twitter some years ago and then spent two days reading through her blog. Finding out she had published a few books was the icing on the cake. So when she announced a new book was forthcoming, I stalked NetGalley, waiting for it to arrive, in hopes I could get lucky enough to get it ahead of time.

There is something special about a woman brave enough to put herself out there. Jenny is honest and raw about her struggles with anxiety and depression. It feels good to have someone to relate to on so many things. My anxiety doesn’t let me comment on her blog posts too often or tweet at her how much something she has written has moved me, but I would like to think she knows.

It’s rare to find a book that can have you swing from emotional to laughing and then give you the feels not only in one chapter but throughout the entire book. From her passion for books to her love of her family, it shines through on every page. I often refer to her as my spirit animal because her voice often guides me when I need it most. This book is incredibly hopeful and is a book you don’t want to miss out on. Thank you, Henry Holt and Co, for sending this along.

Broken, by Jenny Lawson is sure to be a enjoyable read for many. Lighthearted yet relatable for many I’m sure. Full of wit and humor.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

Broken left me broken, my face covered in tears. From laughing, of course! Jenny Lawson is back with a new book that is equal parts hilarious, serious, irreverent, and insightful. You will not be sorry you pick this title up.

I would describe “Broken” as the depression to “Furiously Happy”‘s mania, but just as in life, that creates a much needed balance.

Reading this book, I would be on the verge of crying, or anxious, or blindly angry at insurance companies, only to see Jenny ask “How do dogs know they have penises?” And while that stylistically fits with the essays from “Furiously Happy” and “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened,” bookmarked between such serious essays in “Broken,” I found myself asking “How can something silly be here amidst all this pain?” It’s like a funky shaped puzzle piece you’re frantically trying to place until you realize it’s part of an entirely different puzzle all together.

And then I realized..maybe that’s how it’s supposed to feel. Jenny has always done a wonderful job of describing her emotions in a relatable way, and I’m sure these oddities don’t just happen in times of stability or mania. You can be deeply depressed and then whiplashed by a moment of odd curiosity or amusing self awareness. In fact, that’s even more relatable.

I agree with some other reviews that the book could probably do without a few overtly lighthearted essays (listing people’s embarrassing tweets, an “are you an introvert” quiz, etc.) But overall, her essays are a wonderful reflection on what it’s like not only to live with chronic illnesses, but also how to make peace with it.

I think I absolutely agree with Jenny’s husband, Victor, in saying she does not let her pain go to waste.

*Note: This review is based on an advanced reader’s edition of this book which is subject to change*

The Bloggess is back, and the scattered (as is to be expected) topics of her essays are as poignant/funny/painful as ever. Jenny Lawson isn't scared to address any personal issue, and she's wide open about her numerous and ever-increasing health problems. What makes Broken (In the Best Possible Way) great, however, is that she pulls together the dysfunction and hilarity of Let's Pretend This Never Happened with the hardcore issues presented in Furiously Happy. Broken is a bit choppy and distracted--but it's also touching and distracting, which are the two most powerful weapons in Lawon's arsenal.

Just like Jenny Lawson's previous books, this book is honest and real, with some humor mixed in. She has a great way of talking about her daily struggles while keeping the tone semi-light.

Okay, for reals, if you haven't read Jenny Lawson yet you need to do it NOW! Start with Let's Pretend This Never Happened and then read Furiously Happy. You'll be very glad that you did. Once you've finished those you'll be ready for Broken (in the best possible way). With her first book, Jenny mostly tells hilarious stories that very well may make you wet yourself. With her second book, she gets a little more frank about her mental illness, but in a way that still makes you laugh.

With this most recent offering, Jenny, still funny, still mentally ill, pulls the curtain back even further. We witness her struggles with the health insurance companies that deny her the treatments that could make her life better or very possibly save it. It is heartbreaking, but Jenny makes it very clear that she has a much easier time of it than so many others. She has the ability to pay for the medications that her doctor says she needs and her insurance company says she doesn't. And really, who's to say which of those two entities really knows better. (It's the doctor. The doctor is the one who is better at deciding what she needs. That shouldn't even be a question, should it?)

She also gives a wonderful list of possible things that can help when one is in the grips of mental illness. It is a chapter entitled The Things We Do to Quiet the Monsters and it is wonderful. And I don't just say that because number nine on her list is Watch Doctor Who. I can't even remember how many times I've watched through that gift of a series, but it always makes me feel better. Life is stressful and Doctor Who makes it a little better. There are sad parts, but it is full of light and the darkness never wins, not in the end. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it, but I digress...

There are so many remarkable moments in this book, but the chapter called Awkwarding Brings Us Together was possibly my favorite. I laughed until literal tears were streaming down my face. It took me seven solid minutes to read one tiny paragraph to my husband because I could not get it out without cracking up. Jenny ends the chapter with this, which was just so accurate it was scary:

If you have managed to read these wonderful confessions without doing that thing where you're giggling so much people are staring and so you try to explain to them what's so funny but you're cry-laughing so hard that you can't get it out and they just stare at you like you're insane and that somehow makes it worse and so you laugh harder and then you get mad that they aren't appreciating how fantastically wonderful it all is, then we can't be friends, and honestly, I'm a little embarrassed for you.

Jenny Lawson is the most raw and real, honest and genuine writer I've ever read. There are others who try to imitate her special magic, but none come even close, though I am grateful for the way she has inspired others to share their truth. I love Jenny Lawson and I hope you do, too. If you haven't read her books yet, I really wish you would. And I also highly recommend her audiobooks. She reads them and her own voice makes the stories that much better. I can't wait to hear Broken.

Many thanks to Henry Holt & Co. and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy.

This had me sad sobbing and laugh crying. I went into this thinking, ok excellent another Jenny Lawson humor book but it was so much more. There was so much depth and raw exploration of mental health issues. Some stories almost felt too real as I also struggle from crippling anxiety. What was funny, was so funny the tears were streaming down my face. No seriously, I started reading this in the waiting room at my eye doctor and two people asked me if I was ok. And I had two masks on so that’s how prevalent my tears were. My favorite chapters included Lost Shows, Truthisms, I’m not going outside anymore, and Awkwarding. Excellent read.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Co., and Jenny Lawson for an ARC of this book!**

You ever had that friend that who not only can make you laugh, not only can make you cry, but can make you laugh from crying AND cry from laughing?

Jenny Lawson is JUST that wizard.

This is Jenny's third book, and those familiar with her humor realize she will be discussing everything from some 'interesting' (and not G rated) product pitches for Shark Tank to embarrassing and ridiculous anecdotes from some of her blog and Twitter followers that will have you have you snickering, if not full-out belly laughing. Jenny loves taxidermy and tangents, and her frick-and-frack banter with husband Victor is always a treat. What I love most about her comedic essays (and this is just in their written form) is that they are the weirdest stories where the beginning of the chapter can leave you saying 'huh'? How exactly is she going to circle back to receiving a bag of dicks at the post office? But lo and behold. She always does, and once you've actually heard the story, you think "Well of course. Why WOULDN'T she have received a bag of dicks? Perfectly logical."

The juxtaposition to the wild and wacky, however, is Jenny's discussion of her mental health struggles, which are heartbreaking in a sense, but also so relatable at times she takes my breath away. The essays in this book were particular poignant and interesting, since Jenny also discusses her experience with TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) therapy, which I had only heard of prior to reading this book. Other than Matt Haig, there is nobody who discusses depression and anxiety with such acuity as Jenny Lawson. The few essays on these topics alone provide enough advice (including a top ten list of what techniques work best for Jenny), empathy, and insight to put her alongside some of the best self-help writers I've read, like Brene Brown. There are so many passages I wanted to go back and highlight in this book, and as an avid fan of her blog and all other social media, I can say some of the email newsletters she sends are just the right words you need to hear on a particularly bad day.

I am so proud to call myself a Jenny Lawson fan, because she is one of the most unflinchingly authentic, unique, intelligent, and real bloggers I've ever come across, and her essay about being Broken is one of the best of the bunch here. If you need a cry-laugh, a laugh-cry (and let's face it, you could probably use at least one of those!), PLEASE pick up this fantastic book! She is quirky, gifted, funny, and empathetic...in all the best possible ways! 4.5 stars

I've been a huge fan of Jenny Lawson for a long time and was excited to hear that she had a new book coming out. This book did not disappoint and reading it was like catching-up with an old friend. There were several places in the book that I laughed out loud while reading! I think this book is perfect for anyone trying to find some joy in this crazy, crazy, world.

I will never look at a shoe lost in the wild the same way again. Jenny Lawson’s Broken is Heartbreaking and hysterical. Her stories remind us we’re not alone in this time of pandemic anxiety and address everyday physical and mental challenges with grace and laugh out loud humor.

disclaimer: i received a copy of this book via Henry Holt & Company in return for an honest review.

i'm a huge fan of jenny lawson's books. 'let's pretend this never happened' is one of my touchstones and i listen to it when life becomes overwhelming. now comes 'broken (in the best possible way)' and it fits perfectly into life - not just mine but the millions of readers who found lawson through her blog and stayed because they had finally found their people.

in ' broken', lawson feels more settled and comfortable with who she is and who she wants to be. she's once again turned her attention to the core of herself and found a calmness and is nurturing it in the belief that it will grow.

it's not all about mental health and growth, though. this is, after all, jenny lawson (a.k.a the bloggess) and she is completely honest about everything she writes about - good, bad, hilarious, or terrifying. she opens the doors and invites us in (watch out for the vacuum). she throws caution away and says this is who i am and this is my life (complete with tms* and a letter to her insurance company). lawson is scrupulously honest and tells us 'this is what i know and what i've experienced'. and we, as her readers and friends, say "oh my god, that totally happened to me once, too!"

jenny lawson has been writing about her life for our collective amusement, joy, and sadness for over a decade. 'broken' shows not only how far lawson has come as an author but, once again, how much she's willing to share with millions of people she's never even met.

*transcranial magnetic stimulation, a treatment for depression

four out of five stars

I have read her other two books and loved them, and this one was no different. It's funny and relatable and real. There were some chapters that I could not stop laughing. Some of the chapters were very sobering, but I like that she's so open about all her physical and mental illnesses.