Like a lot of people on the planet, I was introduced to Matthew Perry via the TV show Friends, where he played the funny and loveable character of Chandler Bing. And like a lot of the world, I was devastated when he passed away. He had written a memoir just a year before his untimely passing called Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. My mom got it when it was first released and she recently lent it to me so I could read it too.
While the book I read before (The Scarlet Letter) took me a good few months to read, this one only took me a week to read through. It was more engaging for me, also I was camping with very spotty cell service, so there wasn’t much to do besides read. I’ve read the odd celebrity memoir here and there, but Matthew Perry’s was definitely an eye-opener. I never realized how much he was struggling, not just when he got famous but literally his entire life. It’s a brash, no-holds-barred, honest look at his life struggling with alcoholism, drug-addiction and everything in between.
I know he got a bit of flack for a line he included in the original printing of the book (the version I read). Basically he wondered why actors like Heath Ledger and River Phoenix passed while the actor Keanu Reeves was still around. I, for one, love Keanu Reeves and think he’s phenomenal in everything he does, but I understand the intention of the line. I think he meant it more along the lines of actors who struggled with substances whereas Keanu Reeves doesn’t have that same problem. It was just a bit poorly phrased.
All in all, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing is definitely a read that any Friends fan should give a read. You will definitely learn something new. For instance I never knew that Matthew Perry was Canadian. Not only Canadian, but his mom actually worked for the Prime Minister at the time Pierre Trudeau. It’s true and you can read about it in Perry’s book.
There’s not really trailers for books, but if you are an audiobook listener Matthew Perry actually narrates the book himself.
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