Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

Lawson—aka “the Bloggess”—delivers a captivating roller-coaster ride of a performance that elicits wickedly uproarious laughter and heartfelt emotional catharsis. In this collection of personal issues, Lawson mixes her lifelong struggle with mental and physical illnesses and her quirky brand of humor, connecting those two threads together with the notion that those who suffer the deepest lows should embrace a form of happiness that allows for the wild and uninhibited side of life. Lawson possesses a distinct vocal pitch and tangential style of delivery that matches the unapologetically scattershot nature of her narrative. Her renderings of the daily banter of her marriage to a supportive husband with a diametrically opposite temperament ring with authenticity. As a quirky animal lover who also loves taxidermy, Lawson doesn’t miss a beat in giving voice to the rich characterizations she has created for the critters in her life, both living and dead. Her language is not for the faint of heart, but the appeal of Lawson’s sheer humanity cannot be denied. A Flatiron hardcover. (Sept.)