Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Every great once in a while, there comes a time when one finds something that makes them burst into an uncontrollable fit of giggling laughter that is accompanied with tears. If you’re one of those people who, once started down the path of uncontrollable laughter, cannot stop laughing, this book may not be for you. Or, at least, you might not want to read it in public.

Jenny Lawson is unique and her “mostly true memoir” is equally so. Her rambling tales of childhood adventures and catastrophes give a whole new meaning to the phrase “traumatizing childhood”.

Lawson goes from outright hilarious shenanigans from Shakespearian mice to moments of enlightenment for “every intellectual misfit who thought they were the ones”. Her memoir teaches how to make the best out of a no-win, very bad scenario, and how to skate by relatively unscathed from social catastrophes.

To put in in perspective, she can go from “A friend is someone who knows where all your bodies are buried. Because they’re the ones who helped you put them there” and hop right to “because you are defined not by life’s imperfect moments, but by your reaction to them. And because there is joy in embracing – rather than running from – the utter absurdity of life” in a few seconds flat.

Her memoir is a welcomed break from more serious literature that makes everyone want to cry and/or fall in love with fictional characters. Make no mistake, if you read this novel, you will cry and fall in love. However, you will be crying from laughter and you’ll fall in love with her unique, unfiltered view of life. If you’ve got the time and need for some good old fashioned laughter, read Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir).