Title: Friends, Lovers, and the Big, Terrible Thing
Author: Matthew Perry
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 259
Rating: 3.5/5
Listen, I’m about as much of a Friends fan as your average millennial, and I’ve always found Matthew Perry to be an interesting guy because he was public about his struggles with alcoholism and substance abuse and I always hope that addicts will manage to get clean.
That’s why I picked up this book when I saw it going free at a book exchange.
For me, it was a mixed bag, although I guess I liked it more than my buddy Al from Big Hard Books and Classics, who said that he no longer considers himself a Perry fan. There are pros and cons to it, with the biggest pros being that it’s an interesting enough memoir from a guy who lived an unusual life and it’s written with a decent amount of sardonic humour.
The biggest downside is that Perry comes across as a little whiney. As Alan Johnson from Peep Show would say, it was all, “Poor me. Poor me. Pour me another drink.” It often felt like Perry was trying to invent excuses for his addictions, blaming hardships that are no worse than those faced by anyone else. But maybe that was just me.
Anyways, it was still an interesting enough read, and one that I’d recommend picking up if the concept intrigues you. You’ll probably find something there that you like, so yeah. There’s that.
Learn more about Friends, Lovers, and the Big, Terrible Thing.
