Review - We’ll Laugh About This (Someday) by Anna Lind Thomas
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This is a book I found while looking for new Christian releases of the nonfiction variety. It’s published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher. While I do offer affiliate links to the book, I wasn’t given the book for free and I haven’t had any contact with the author or publisher.
Looking back at the description page I remember why I chose it. It had a reviewer that was surprised it had religious content in some of the essays. I’m the type who always looks at negative reviews first and when I find a book being persecuted for being Christian I know I’ve found the book for me.
I decided to rest my eyes a bit and listen to the audiobook version because it was narrated by the author herself and because I’ve always had these unrealistic images of myself doing all kinds of house work while listening to a book at the same time. (Sorry to say, no extra work got done over the few days I listened to this book.) It was 4 hours 39 minutes or if you’d rather the print version, 240 pages.
The book’s description:
A hilarious argument in favor of taking life a smidge less seriously
Popular humor writer Anna Lind Thomas had an epiphany after her essay about a humiliating fart went mega-viral: Everything’s funny . . .eventually. You’ll cry-laugh your way through the many grave offenses she’s endured, like
not getting credit for Lady Gaga’s career,
an epic financial crisis,
and exercising while her children dole out biting critiques about her dimpled thighs.
Anna’s wit, charm, and painful relatability will encourage you to remember that your most humiliating moment may be the best thing to ever happen to you—or at the very least, it’ll make for a really good story.
About the Author:
Anna Lind Thomas is a humor writer and popular online personality who founded the funny site HaHas for HooHas. She spends her time writing for various media outlets and hosting her podcast, It's Not That Serious, which is consistently ranked in the Top 25 of the iTunes Family section. She holds a bachelors in advertising and a masters in communication studies and spent many years copywriting and creating campaigns in ad departments before having children. Her story about a fart went viral and catapulted her to fame (or infamy). Anna and her husband, Rob, live in Nebraska with their two young daughters, Lucy and Poppy, and an English Bulldog named Bruno. You can learn more at AnnaLindThomas.com or listen to her podcast at https://annalindthomas.com/category/podcast/
What I expected the book to be about:
After reading the description, viewing the cover, and making note of the Christian publisher, I expected the book to be funny accounts of real life that lead people back to God. I thought the focus of the book would be how not to take ourselves too seriously, something I could use some help with.
What the book was really about:
This was a collection of essays, I imagine written over the course of many years, about a woman’s life from being an overweight child, to meeting her husband, to raising her young children. It was about a woman who takes herself way too seriously, not someone who has it all together who can teach us how not to take ourselves too seriously.
I closely identified with a lot of things mentioned in the book. The author and I had many of the same experiences and insecurities but that familiarity didn’t help me grow in the way I thought I would when I found the book.
Was it funny?
Yes. Not all the way through, but it was very funny in places and the fart story that went viral is probably worth the price of admission. But it was also kind of sad in places, like how she was bullied as a kid, or how she went through miscarriages before finally having her daughters.
Get ready for intense realism. It was full of instances where I was nodding my head in agreement because as a crunchy mom, writer, and blogger myself, I’d been there, done that.
Things you might want to know before purchasing:
The author seems to be obsessed with “boobs,” “tampons,” and starting her period unexpectedly. She says things like “damn,” “hell,” and “pissed,” in the audiobook version anyway. There was an occasion or two where she said “to Hell with,” or that someone could “go to Hell.” There were also a few instances of the slang word, “Jeez.”
Most people wouldn’t think anything of using that word but I don’t like it. I can take “damn,” “hell,” and other light cursing, but honestly, “Jeez” does offend me because it’s slang for Jesus and it’s a misuse of God’s name. Saying someone can “go to Hell” is something flippant that non-Christians say, but the redeemed of this world can feel the weight of eternity and know what it really means.
My Thoughts:
I understand being realistic and gritty as a humor writer, but sometimes I was sad for the author that she didn’t behave more like a Christian should because she had come so far to gain an audience, like when she left the motorists stranded at the side of the road and didn’t look back. At times she came off much too petty and vain.
These are traits we probably all have to some degree, and I figure hers were only magnified because of the intense honesty she was using in the name of humor, but most of the book (the first three out of four and a half hours) were horribly unbalanced. I kept waiting for her to say something redemptive but it didn’t happen.
I would have walked away at that point, but I’d already invested hours of my time and I wanted to do a review so I listened further. It was at that point she included an essay or two that sounded like a person who loved God and allowed Him to lead her life.
I didn’t expect to have to wait on the author to grow during her essays and had it not been for this review I wouldn’t have been patient enough to get that far in the book. I think she’s a talented enough writer that she could have used more of her later articles, the assumption here being that the later ones were written after she’d matured in Christ and wasn’t afraid to talk about it. Many of the early essays belonged in a secular book.
This doesn’t mean she’s a bad writer, or not funny. (Her ultimate goal, it seemed, was to be funny.) Just that either the author or the publisher didn’t understand the intended audience.
You have to understand that I’m reviewing the book strictly as it was marketed to me as a Christian book. Had it been a secular book I would have said good job. But as readers we expect certain things from a Christian book. We expect not to be offended with the language, for starters, and that there will be a certain light that the author’s words bring into a dark world. Not just in a paragraph or two at the end, but as a subtle thread that runs through the whole book, even if the subject matter isn’t overly religious in nature.
Overall thoughts:
If you’re not easily offended and enjoy a realistic slice of life mixed with humor then you’ll probably enjoy this book. It’s not something I recommend to Christians looking for something to strengthen their walk with the Lord. I think the author would agree that that wasn’t the book’s intent. I think this book will entertain you and help you pass time, but if you’re looking for more than that in your reading, keep looking.
Where to find this book:
We’ll Laugh About This (Someday) Essays on Taking Life a Smidge Too Seriously by Anna Lind Thomas can be purchased in paper, ebook, or audiobook at the following retailers:
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