My Mess Is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety

Product Information

I wasn’t familiar with the name of Georgia Pritchett, but unwittingly I was already familiar with some of comedic writing work from the satirical programmes and the recent amazing ‘Succession’, so this really was purchased on the basis of cover and enticing title and a great choice of narrator. Some of Pritchett's descriptions of her lowest moments were deeply moving and some of the most realistic descriptions of depression that I have ever read. As Pritchett becomes older and immersed in her career, the reader is treated to some lovely anecdotes about celebrities and working on high-profile comedy programmes.

to an awkward adolescence and then on to adulthood and all the anxiety-ridden problems that brings, it is both poignant and funny.

Some of Pritchett’s experiences are heartbreaking, yet there is a matter-of-fact presentation of them and an ability to see humour in the darkest of situations. my toast popped out of the toaster and, simultaneously, a flaming mouse was catapulted out of the other side. News from Nowhere will not obtain personal information from other organisations, and will not share, pass on or sell personal information that we hold about individuals to anyone else. While she achieves professional success her personal life still throws her more curveballs - miscarriages, eventually having two sons (nicknamed 'The Speck' and 'The Scrap') who are diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum, and then her life partner experiencing a potentially fatal health development. The book also features what is possibly the most unexpectedly heartwarming segment that I've read this year, featuring the author taking her eldest son (who is undemonstrative by nature and does not like loud noises or crowds) to a large wedding reception for one of his beloved teachers.

Home to William Golding, Sylvia Plath, Kazuo Ishiguro, Sally Rooney, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Max Porter, Ingrid Persaud, Anna Burns and Rachel Cusk, among many others, Faber is proud to publish some of the greatest novelists from the early twentieth century to today. Overall I am glad I read this and feel like it helped to see anxiety so clearly understood by someone else, as it helped me feel less alone in my anxiety. Pritchett perfectly skewers thoughts and people and events with such precision that it is just so relatable. Soul-baring yet lighthearted, poignant yet written with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, My Mess Is a Bit of a Life is a tour through the carnival funhouse of Georgia’s life, from her anxiety-ridden early childhood where disaster loomed around every corner (When I was little I used to think that sheep were clouds that had fallen to earth.

I’m always on the lookout for books that make me laugh and – as it made me giggle to myself in Waterstones – this one hit the spot in seconds. That’s how Pritchett makes us see her beyond the glitter and glamour of celebrities she met or the awards she won. I highly recommend the audiobook version because the narration was so natural, it was like Georgia Pritchett was having a conversation with you (even though it was narrated by someone else). This was at times funny and relatable, I can definitely see the comparison to Jenny Lawson, and the description that drew me in felt delivered on.