Let's Pretend This Never Happened

A Mostly True Memoir

By: Jenny Lawson

Narrated by: Jenny Lawson

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Humor, 2013

For fans of Tina Fey and David Sedaris - Internet star Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, makes her literary debut.

Jenny Lawson realized that the most mortifying moments of our lives - the ones we'd like to pretend never happened - are in fact the ones that define us. In Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson takes listeners on a hilarious journey recalling her bizarre upbringing in rural Texas, her devastatingly awkward high school years, and her relationship with her long-suffering husband, Victor.

Chapters include: "Stanley the Magical, Talking Squirrel", "A Series of Angry Post-It Notes to My Husband", "My Vagina Is Fine. Thanks for Asking", and "And Then I Snuck a Dead Cuban Alligator on an Airplane".

©2012 Jenny Lawson (P)2012 Penguin

Actually, not for fans of Sedaris and Fey

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I *really* wanted to like this book. Maybe diehard devotees of Jenny Lawson's blog might like it more than I. I thought some of her essays were great, but couldn't stand an entire book of her. It was just... too forced.

Has Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) turned you off from other books in this genre?

No.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jenny Lawson’s performances?

Probably not.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)?

I would have trimmed a lot from the book as a whole. Jenny is witty and touching, but her sarcasm and schtick wore thin on me after the first half of the book. Her journey of self-awareness feels contrived and forced--- as if her editor told her that she had to summarize what she learned and how she grew from each anecdote. Her essay about miscarriage and living with chronic illness was really powerful and moving. Her father is fascinating, as is her upbringing. I would have liked to hear more about her parents.

And whoever told her to SING the chapter titles should be fired. That was just cringe-inducing.

Like Mother Teresa, but better!

If you could sum up Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) in three words, what would they be?

Unicorn Success Club

What was one of the most memorable moments of Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)?

I can recite the whole thing from memory.

Which character – as performed by Jenny Lawson – was your favorite?

I'm gonna have to go with her performance of Jenny Lawson, aka "the Bloggess." She nailed it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I'm actually legally dead, having died of laughter. In lieu of flowers, buy this book.

Any additional comments?

This book is funnier than the Bible.

How the Bloggess almost made me crash my car!

Any additional comments?

Oh, I do so adore The Bloggess! She has the most amazingly twisted and wonderful way of looking at the world that I’ve ever encountered. And since the audiobook is narrated by the woman herself, it makes the book that much better. She swears! She screams! She has silly asides! And to cap it all off, she has out-takes at the end! My only problem listening to this book is that I listen while I’m driving (I should have known better, probably), and there were several times I feared for my life, driving down the road with tears streaming, face contorted in laughter, afraid I’d crash the car at any moment. She’s just that damned funny. BUY THIS AUDIOBOOK!

Brand new fan

Super fun, bright and refreshing. Jenny Lawson is like your best friend/alter ego with no filter, ADHD and a blogging problem who says the things that you are embarrassed to even think about. I loved every minute of it.

I gave it as much as I could....

I saw all the high reviews this book received and I believe it was on Oprah's list so I was convinced this was going to be a great book.

There was some humor that I enjoyed but I kept waiting for it to get better but it didn't. I even downloaded another book and came back to this one thinking it was just me but it still wasn't catching my attention as I had hoped, then... As she is describing her fears during her pregnancy and mentions in a negative tone "what if my baby is born a republican", I just couldn't stomach it any longer. Regardless of political views, it's all we hear anymore and the country is already so divided and this just solidified my feeling that this book just isn't for me.

Cute story, light entertainment.

Jenny's no Sarah Vowell or Tina Fey but the story is an enjoyable romp through her life. Not a rib splitter but rather a light, easy story with some fun and humorous interludes. This is one of those books that I can't imagine being read by other than the author and Jenny does a fine job of narration. I'd give it a 3.5 overall if that were allowed.

SO FREAKIN' AWESOME !!

I am only halfway through this book but I don't need to listen to the rest to say it's the funniest damn thing I've listened to in my entire life. I'm a big fan of Jenny Lawson's blog (The Bloggess) so I knew what to expect and was looking forward to this book for months. I am so glad I chose audio rather than the print version because hearing her read it is the epitome of awesome. I'm saving the second half to listen to at work tomorrow and then I'm going to be so sad because it will be over. Her humor is really twisted and may not be appropriate for those with tender ears or sensitive f-bomb detectors - so if you are uptight or too "mature" to enjoy anecdotal hilarity peppered with foul language then steer clear of this one.

Very Annoying to Listen To -- Skip It!

Would you try another book from Jenny Lawson and/or Jenny Lawson?

Maybe, but only in printed format.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Some of the material would have been humorous in print (or if read by another narrator), but the author's reading just grated on me, to the point where I had to stop listening after 1 (very painful) hour. The F bombs didn't bother me at all, but she speaks like a teenager, in terms of her vocal inflection. For example, she ends many statements as if they were questions, which I found highly irritating. And it just sounds like she is trying way way too hard to be funny and clever. She is NO David Sedaris by any means.

Every Negative Reviewer is Just Jealous!

Would you listen to Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) again? Why?

Yes, her stories are so funny and self absorbed you get sucked into her reality. I would read it again just to see if I could be objective.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hello? Jenny of course, though Victor must be a saint.

What does Jenny Lawson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She lived it, or imagined it, not sure.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Pretty much the whole thing made me laugh.

Any additional comments?

I'm pretty sure there is no Jenny Lawson; she is a character created by Christopher Moore.

I Was Totally Charmed By This Wacky Memoir

Jenny Lawson had me from the moment she started in on her rural Texas childhood with a demented taxidermist father and a mysterious "pet" called Stanley the Magical Squirrel. Anyone who's spent any time around a dysfunctional family will appreciate Jenny's harrowing tales of Thanksgiving disasters, rattlesnakes, bickering with her husband about zombies, and fending off vultures with a machete. I loved this on audio quite a bit more than in print; I was totally charmed by her wacky singing of chapter headings and her ad libbed demands for "more cowbell! This recording needs more cowbell!"