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Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)
Word of warning: if you have insomnia do not read this book - it will be of no help what-so-ever. It was about 3 am, and I was trying to read a few pages to get myself to sleep and all of a sudden "Chalupa!" and I was laughing uncontrollably! On more than one occasion I just burst out into giggles. A lot of occasions actually.
Warning number 2: After you read this book you will start to say, "F@ck," "Y'all," and "I'm feeling stabby." Not necessarily all at the same time, but those words will definitely become part of your inner monologue… because let's face it not many of us could pull off saying those things out loud. Yet Jenny does. Which is another reason to really enjoy this book.
The book actually seems to be a an interesting inner look at someone who grew up with, well let's just say "issues" yet we get to watch her start to embrace herself, laugh at herself and take us along for the journey. With TONS of laughs yet much to discuss this is a great book pick for book clubs.
DISCLAIMER: This review may or may not accurately reflect the genuine quality of this book. Honestly, I was pretty tired while I was reading it and my iguana was being really needy. I adore Jenny Lawson’s blogs. She is clever, outspoken, and enjoyably strange. At first LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED was everything I expected based on Lawson’s blogging. Smart and snarky (“Call me Ishmael. I won’t answer to it, because it’s not my name . . .”). Funny (“I grew up a poor black girl in New York. Except replace ‘black’ with ‘white’ and ‘New York’ with ‘rural Texas.’”). Really, really weird (“Most people have never stood inside a dead animal.”). Not too far along, though, I found myself engaged in this debate: Me: The play-formatted dialogue, along with all the bullet points, lists, and footnotes seem overdone and just plain lazy writing. Me: Is it lazy or just the natural evolution of writing? Haven’t you ever read a blog? Me: But this is a book, not a blog. If this is the evolution of writing, what’s next? Text messaged books? Me: Snob. Me: And BTW sometimes I feel like Lawson relies too much on her (admittedly spectacular) sense of humor and (sometimes clever, but a touch annoying) tangents, asides, and footnotes to distract us from the fact that this is some pretty tragic, emotional stuff she is writing about. I’m all for relying on humor to get through hard times, but what reads as wonderfully light and delightfully absurd in a short blog seems more like a dance around the truth – and just a bit brittle – at full book length. Me: Whatever. I LMFAO. EPILOGUE: I just reread this review. I love how it presents different viewpoints and let’s you, the reader, decide whether this book is for you. This is America. This is a democracy. This is how it should be. Happy Independence Day. ERRATA: The editors of BookBundlz have implored me to give you, the reader, an "actual point of view" about this book. Fine. You should read this book. You will laugh and you will learn the secret word.
The Gentleman By Forrest Leo
