Monika Phelps answers “Is this book going to get better? I'm on...”

Dawn asked this question about Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things:

Is this book going to get better? I'm on page 27, and so far I'd say it's about 25% funny and 75% pretty stupid. Or do I just not "get" this author?

Monika Phelps As somebody who has suffered deeply from mental illness, I can agree with Dawn above, and I think it's unfair to discredit her opinion based on some j…moreAs somebody who has suffered deeply from mental illness, I can agree with Dawn above, and I think it's unfair to discredit her opinion based on some judgement that she doesn't understand mental illness. This isn't a book written entirely about mental illness, actually more of the book is about taxidermied animals than her illnesses, so the comment below is just completely ridiculous.

The pieces I like about this book are the way she illustrates the common misunderstandings about mental illness, but her manic'y chatter and exaggerated "look at me, i'm so weird and quirky" attitude feels like unnecessary filler to me. I feel like this book suffered from a big editing fail as (in my opinion) a solid 60 pages could have been cut with better reception. I do very much enjoy her comparisons of mental illness to cancer, which are comparisons i've made numerous times, but there is too much zaney without relief for me to give it a very high review.(less)

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