As book choices go, this was an easy one as I adore Lawson's blog (http://thebloggess.com/) and find her humour really endearing. I also sympathise with her tendency to panic and behave oddly in social situations, so my reading here was always going to be from the perspective of a fan...
And I'll be honest with you straight away, I loved this book, without question. I finished it and then read it though a second time. It made me laugh, but the serious bits hit home too. The impression I got is that I was reading a memoir by a profoundly honest person. Disregarding embellished stories along the lines of 'And Then I Got Stabbed in the Face by a Serial Killer', I mean 'honest' in the sense that she writes as herself, not as a façade constructed to impress people. She admits to the flaws and quirks that make her who she is (The Bloggess we have come to know and love) and relates chapters from her life in all the gory detail (occasionally literally gory as her father was a taxidermist).
One thing that's really striking about The Bloggess is that within moments she can veer from the bizarre to the truly heartfelt. In her memoir she talks about the sense of visiting your home town after you've grown up and moved away, and how changes mean it doesn't seem to be your town any more, so you become homesick for a home that is no longer there, or perhaps never was. Her writing is a beautiful study in the nostalgia of growing up. Then she writes about a series of increasingly odd/threatening/partially fictional post-it notes to her husband. Later she introduces Beyonce, the giant metal chicken.
Insanity aside, there are a lot of things in Let's Pretend This Never Happened that resonate with me. I'm prone towards anxiety-related symptoms, so when she talks about anxiety, depression, social awkwardness, issues with fitting in, and overreacting, I am right there with her.
It's a hard thing to understand if you've never had a brush with mental illness - at some level you kind of assume that if the sufferer were a little bit stronger they might be able to put their symptoms behind them. That was my attitude until I had my first panic attack, seemingly out of nowhere. It feels like something else has taken over your body. So, when Lawson writes about the impact anxiety and depression have had on her as a person I have a lot of sympathy for her. At the same time I find her story empowering as I can see that she is a survivor, someone who will find humour in her situation, rather than someone who sees herself as victim.
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The one thing I would say is that if you're very easily offended this probably isn't for you. However, if you have a sense of humour, I'd strongly recommend it.
I'd also recommend it if you suffer from anxiety or depression, as it's the story of someone who copes with the spectra of problems that arise from ill-mental health, and has made a success of herself in the process. It is nice to be reminded, when depression or anxiety raise their ugly heads, that you are not alone in it, and that you can cope, and that there will be good days.
All the best,
Alison.
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