Amanda Rosenberg

Award-winning Asian British comedy writer Amanda Rosenberg presents an intimate memoir of confessional essays about the hilarious, inappropriate, and often difficult side to being mentally ill.

The Sad, Annoying and Hilarious Things That Drive Me Crazy about Being Mentally Ill

That's Mental

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Review can be found here at Booked J. 


  Standard disclaimer: A copy of this book was provided by the publisher and my friends atBookSparks in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.


As someone who struggles with her mental health at various, inconvenient times (mental health really do, as the kids say, be like that) I knew straightaway I had to get my hands on That's Mental. Amanda Rosenberg seems not unlike myself--a millennial with a bag of mental health issues and a killer sense of humor--and when it comes to non-fiction, this is one of the best traits to have. 

So, yes. My connection to it started a bit prematurely, sure. By the time I read the epigraph, with its Carrie Fisher quote, and the first quarter of it, I was hooked. Not only is That's Mental a beautifully penned look into mental health, it had me laughing in the very painfully funny manner we were promised. Rosenberg is blunt and upfront about the good, the bad and the painfully funny. 

Her voice comes across strong and witty. That's Mental utilizes its many traits, giving us an honest portrayal of mental illness. Better yet, a lot of dry humor sprinkled in for good measure. If you struggle with mental health, you know the ride it puts you on nearly every waking minute of every day: when it goes low, it buries you beneath it, and when you have your high points it's like you're soaring. 

What makes Rosenberg's work so poignant, just as easily thought-provoking as it is brilliantly hilarious, is in the way she lays out the facts and never makes her readers feel as though she is breaking us into a watered down version of mental illness and the course it sets us down. Every page of That's Mental is well used and cuts to the core of her experiences and how the world views mental health. 

That's Mental is one of those books I wish I had in my late teens and early twenties. It's sure to be remembered in the future and I cannot wait to hear more of Rosenberg's prose. Simply put? I cannot say enough good things about this book and found it to be one of the most essential reads of 2019.

That's Mental The Sad, Annoying and Hilarious Things That Drive Me Crazy about Being Mentally Ill

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