Blogging The Bloggess

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened - a book by Jenny Lawson, aka "The Blogess" to blog readers - documents in a mocking style her economically challenged Texas upbringing.

Her father, a taxidermist, naturally allowed for a colorful backstory. Childhood pets included a raccoon named Rambo who could self bathe in the kitchen sink and wild bobcats,  who were kept as house pets. And of course there is the picture painted of Jenny learning to clean a deer, a quite unclean process to begin with, and Jenny somehow getting herself stuck inside half of the dead deer. This all happening  while being chased during tag by her sister.

While the first few chapters of Jenny’s book mock her childhood with telling tales of her taxidermist father, the heart of the book reveals a more real rendition of Jenny’s current life such as battling illnesses, tough pregnancies and an OCD/Social Anxiety Disorder.

Truthfully, I did not think that I would even make it through reading theb ook.  I am all for an author teasing the reader with shocking examples and then laughing at their audience for believing said author’s shocking statements, but there is an entire chapter she claims to have inserted despite her editor’s disapproval.  Toward the end of the book, you realize that this is all a gimmick and part of her non-traditional, "blogess" writing style – a style which also includes more crass words than I have even managed to think in my current lifetime.

I wonder if Jenny Lawson’s writing style is an example of how classic rock musicians felt about punk rock bands, lashing out loud and obnoxious sounds, not following any traditional beat or musical format.

I have to admit, once I was able to get past her raw literary style, I was able to sit back and laugh along with Jenny at her humorous telling tales of rural Texas. I even began to appreciate the graphic imagery and admire the bold notes of sarcasm and foul language.

In one chapter, Jenny describes an early gross but funny childhood memory of how her hand was caught inside of a cow’s vagina…along with a turkey baster filled with sperm. In fact, vaginas seem to be a favorite subject of the author, with the word or reference to the word, making many appearances.

In the book, she reveals that she sometimes chooses not to wear her underwear out and about in public. And during a CNN interview about the Hilary Rosen/Ann Romney controversy, she somehow deterred the conversation to her female anatomy which for the refined ears of the CNN audience she referred to as her “lady garden.” Vaginas and turkey basters aside, I will give Jenny credit for collecting memorable stories and throwing her own personal perspective on her experiences…no hold bar…blurting it all out there…blogess style.

While her stories serve to amuse, what this book really left me with was the future state of contemporary writing. Has writing evolved to the point where carefully crafting one’s vision is an old fashioned art form? The ladies in my book group were mixed in their reactions to the summer read. We had chosen Lawson’s book based on its humor and we wanted a lighter, read for the summer.

However, most of us did not know much about Jenny, her blog or her current publication. Prior to our discussion, we were emailed a clip of Jenny being “interviewed” on CNN. I am not sure why CNN felt that Jenny Lawson would be a notable figure to comment on any political issue, but she did make a few references to the “Mommy Wars” tying it in with her opinion of a post-apocalyptic world that was invaded by zombies. Huh? Isn’t this the kind of thing that should be aired on a more fitting venue, such as Chelsey Lately? Nevertheless, it was a plug for her and her book and blog - site maybe my reaction is a product of the pre-MTV generation.

I can, however, appreciate content and a good story and so, hats off to Jenny Lawson, for airing out her dirty laundry (sans underwear) and giving us something fresh (no pun intended…well, ok, maybe!) to consider. For Let’s Pretend made for a surprisingly lively book discussion about writing, storytelling, blogs and health issues.

Finally, it seems apropos to blog my response to Jenny Lawson’s blogess book. On the one hand, I kind of want to pretend that reading this book “never happened,” but, then on the other hand, reading this book did force me to rethink literature and storytelling - and that’s something worth writing about.