Hard Laughter : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Honest, funny and on the mark
Review: This book handles some difficult territory as only Anne Lamott could. She can be brutally honest and hilarious all at the same time. That she could bring that quality to the nightmarish experience of watching a loved one battle cancer -- something all too many of us know about firsthand -- sets this book apart. One of the previous reviewers found this book "distasteful." Well, there is nothing tasteful about cancer and the way it shatters one's way of life. I know of no other book that touches on the confusion and the anguish and the humanity of that experience like this one does. This is very worthwhile reading.

Rating:
Summary: A terrific introduction to the fiction of my favorite writer
Review: This book is heart-breaking and hilarious at the same time. I gave copies to all of my friends, and underlined whole paragraphs at a time. I remain convinced that no other writer can capture the lunacies of our lives the way Anne Lamott can. She says all the things I mean to say, but can't articulate.

Rating:
Summary: I want more Anne Lamott
Review: This is the third Lamott book I have read, and I can't get enough. I laughed and cried and really related to her family even though my family members are non-drinkers. This book made me understand the struggle with drugs she was going through in "Instructions." I think she is one of the funniest writers I know, and I can't wait to read the next Lamott book on my list.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing but still worth reading
Review: This novel is blatantly autobiographical, there isn't much of a story, it sometimes reads like a series of sketches or short stories, there is no real ending, it is sometimes annoying, it is full of "funny" drugs and alcohol which is not terribly funny if you know Lamott had a serious alcohol problem, etc. And yet! Yet I enjoyed reading it for its liveliness, humour, good lines, etc. I wasn't even tempted not to finish it. But Bird by Bird is superb so I recommend any reader start with that.

Rating:
Summary: Good first novel
Review: This, Anne Lamott's first novel, is the poignant story the narrator's father's battle with brain cancer and how the whole family copes with his condition. Largely autobiographical fiction, as most of Lamott's work is, the story rings true to life--and, after all, isn't it when faced with death or the death of a loved one that we tend to see life differently? A huge Anne Lamott fan, I reluctantly give this book four stars because I hold Lamott to such high standards. The story does meander once or twice into tangents not related to story or characters, and her style is not as clean as in her later books (but who can blame the author for that--it was her first book after all). However, Lamott's humor, as always, helps bring the book together, showing the ups and downs of dealing with her father's illness. I especially recommend the book to those who have a loved one suffering from cancer or similar illness.

Rating:
Summary: Good first novel
Review: This, Anne Lamott's first novel, is the poignant story the narrator's father's battle with brain cancer and how the whole family copes with his condition. Largely autobiographical fiction, as most of Lamott's work is, the story rings true to life--and, after all, isn't it when faced with death or the death of a loved one that we tend to see life differently? A huge Anne Lamott fan, I reluctantly give this book four stars because I hold Lamott to such high standards. The story does meander once or twice into tangents not related to story or characters, and her style is not as clean as in her later books (but who can blame the author for that--it was her first book after all). However, Lamott's humor, as always, helps bring the book together, showing the ups and downs of dealing with her father's illness. I especially recommend the book to those who have a loved one suffering from cancer or similar illness.

Rating:
Summary: laughter to match the times
Review: With a father recently diagnosed with a brain tumor, a significant other who is hardly significant, and a neurotic dream consultant for a best friend, it seems hard to believe that Jennifer, the main character of Anne Lamott's book, could find anything to laugh about. And yet, as the title suggests, she not only finds some hard laughter in the situation, but also realizes that laughter is, in fact, one of the things that makes life worth the struggle. Whether or not you're of a mind to appreciate Lamott's neurotic humor, that realization--the preciousness and beauty of laughter in the face of the darkest times--alone makes this book worth reading. True to the terrible mundacity of tragic life events, Lamott's book subtly and deftly captures the experience of a family's brush with a potentially devastating situation--the waiting, the disappointment, the embarassment--the laughter in hard times and the good hard laughter in spite of those times that carries you through.