Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

"TW: Addiction. You truly never know what kinds of demons people struggle with. What a devastating account of his struggle with addiction. I audibly gasped multiple times hearing what he was doing to himself. The brutal honesty of his fear, his anxiety, his selfishness, his insecurity, his lack of ability to control himself had me in tears. There were times it was difficult to follow the timeline as he jumped around chronologically. Heartbreaking listening to the audiobook, hearing his voice from the beyond. <br/>I hope he has found peace."

"Sadly I never knew this boom existed until after he died. What a horrible and very very sad life this man lived and nobody TRULY knew about the amount of suffering he endured. Still. He was a fighter. He never gave up. After all he went thru. Bless your heart Matthew Perry. R.I.P. I'm so very glad you're suffering is finally over and you can FINALLY be happy. Lord knows you're the happiest thing I remember from my childhood. "

"Very raw, personal, laced with some dark humor throughout. Learned a lot about Matthew Perry, whom I only knew from my love of Friends. Born in Ottawa Canada, son of Suzanne Perry, secretary to Pierre Trudeau. Matthew talks about his childhood trauma; wanting the constant love and attention from his mother after his father leaves them. He also fears being alone and recalls this was heightened by having traveled all alone on a plane without his mother. Alcohol and drugs were a constant escape for him. This book is great, and reading into what seemed like repetitive cycles of a hell only imagined, and I also got to hear it narrated by Matthew himself via audible. Very Eerie! Sad to hear him describe all the pain and loneliness that never seemed to go away unless he numbed himself. There were even apologizes to other people, celebraties he recognized he did wrong by at times he found himself at rock bottom. It is so difficult to hear him talk about what he hoped for in his future, his aspirations, wanting a family of his own, finding love again someday."

"The story is interesting. But I didn't enjoy the layout or his writing style. "

"Daaaaaaamn. I stopped reading this. God, he was so sad. #unaccompanied"

"Interesting to learn what he was going through for so long. Depressing though."

"I heard someone say a little bit ago that some people write memoirs for the person reading, and some write memoirs for themselves. Although at times this seems like a book written for the reader, I think it was mostly written as a way of coping with the turmoil that Perry went through over the course of his life. It has his trademark wit and humor, and covers his struggle with addiction while not making the book seem overly heavy. But it also includes details that are unnecessary to the plot. (making it feel more like he was getting his thoughts on the page then telling a story)<br/>I can overlook a lot of it because it was interesting to listen to (I recommend the audiobook) but I was also very confused about the timeline. In the beginning of the book he sets a theme of having chapters set in chronological order as he ages, and interspersing "interludes" set more in the present time (although I don't remember it ever being discussed when). As the book goes on, his returns to various rehabs becoming more frequent, and the interludes getting closer to his chronological past, it started to get very confusing, very fast, as to when and where everything was taking place. As much as I can recall, he doesn't include the date or time of when events took place very often, instead relying on an understanding of the relation to previous events, and where it took place in the Friends timeline (for example, he would talk about doing something while also filming season 6). In the interludes, I could never be sure when it was taking place. Dates were never mentioned, and his rehab and detox visits got frequent enough that I couldn't remember when each of them happened in relation to other events in his life. (To be fair, once Covid hit, it was very easy to know what year we were talking about, but considering 2020 is pretty far into his life, that doesn't account for the majority of the book.)<br/>All in all, I ended with a better understanding of Matthew Perry's life, and certainly of the scope of his addiction, but not of the timeline in which his life progressed (outside of him filming Friends)."

"It was very interesting to learn what he was going through all that time. He is a fighter. "

"This book was heartbreaking down to your core. Especially if you or a loved one have suffered from addiction. <br/><br/>I did the audiobook so it was great to hear his voice and banter in the book. But so heartbreaking knowing what we know now. <br/><br/>RIP Chandler Bing."

"I can relate to so much of this story and it touched my heart ❤️ "