Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Let's Pretend This Never Happened is a memoir by blogger and author Jenny Lawson that chronicles her unconventional life experiences from childhood through adulthood. The book follows Lawson's upbringing in rural Texas with her taxidermist father and her later life as a wife and mother. Through a series of autobiographical essays, Lawson recounts incidents involving dead animals, social anxiety, and misadventures in both personal and professional settings. Her encounters with wildlife, family dynamics, and workplace scenarios form the core narrative threads of the book. The stories range from her father's habit of using roadkill for puppet shows to her own struggles with mental health and autoimmune disorders. Each chapter presents a standalone episode while contributing to the larger narrative of Lawson's life journey. This memoir explores themes of belonging, self-acceptance, and finding humor in life's difficulties. The work demonstrates how personal challenges and apparent misfortunes can become sources of strength and connection with others.

Readers describe this memoir as laugh-out-loud funny, with many saying they had to stop reading in public due to uncontrollable laughter. The book resonates with people who struggle with anxiety and mental health issues, with readers appreciating Lawson's honest portrayal of these challenges through humor. What readers liked: - Raw honesty about mental illness - Relatable stories about family dynamics - Absurd situations told with self-deprecating humor - Photos that complement the stories What readers disliked: - Random tangents and digressions - Excessive use of caps and exclamation points - Some found the humor forced or trying too hard - Several readers noted the taxidermy stories were disturbing Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (157,000+ ratings) Amazon: 4.4/5 (3,000+ reviews) LibraryThing: 3.8/5 (500+ ratings) One frequent comment from negative reviews: "The humor feels like someone trying to be the weird kid in class."

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🌟 The author worked as a human resources director before becoming a writer and uses the pen name "The Bloggess" for her highly successful blog, which receives millions of monthly readers. 🦌 Many stories in the book revolve around Jenny's rural Texas childhood, including an infamous tale about her taxidermist father bringing home a dead deer and using it as a hand puppet to wake her up. 🎭 Despite dealing with serious topics like anxiety disorders and depression, the memoir became a #1 New York Times bestseller, proving that humor can be found even in life's darkest moments. 🏆 The audio version of the book, narrated by Lawson herself, won an Audie Award for humor, though she had to record it multiple times due to anxiety attacks during the sessions. 📝 The book's original subtitle was going to be "A Mostly True Memoir" but was changed to "(A Mostly True Memoir)" with parentheses after lengthy discussions with the publisher about accuracy in marketing.