Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Pub Date: 11/1/2022

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

GoodReads Synopsis: In an extraordinary story that only he could tell, Matthew Perry takes readers onto the soundstage of the most successful sitcom of all time while opening up about his private struggles with addiction. Candid, self-aware, and told with his trademark humor, Perry vividly details his lifelong battle with the disease and what fueled it despite seemingly having it all.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that shares the most intimate details of the love Perry lost, his darkest days, and his greatest friends.

Unflinchingly honest, moving, and hilarious: this is the book fans have been waiting for.

Review: I had such mixed feelings about this book and was struggling to rate this. I loved that Matthew went into detail about his struggles with addiction, loneliness, and discussed about his childhood. I was surprised he didn’t blame his parents on any of it and was forgiving of them. I also loved the tidbits he shared about Friends and how he became casted as Chandler. I ended up listening to the audiobook which I highly recommend because even though his voice has changed due to age, drugs, smoking, etc, you can hear the vulnerability and the raw emotion in his voice. I applaud him for sharing his struggles in memoir as there is a stigma in men’s health not to discuss or share anything with loved ones and to suffer alone. November is men’s health awareness so I felt that was a very timely read. There were also some parts that didn’t work for me and made me lose a bit of respect for him. I know there were times he was just trying to joke around or be sarcastic about the way he was talking about other celebrities, but it just came off as mean or so unnecessarily desperate so he was trying to name drop. The way he spoke and treated women was no surprise to me. There times in the book where he seemed very arrogant as well which was a bit annoying. The last part that frustrated me was the writing style. He is an incredible writer and I was able to binge this in a matter of days, but it kept hopping all over the place which was difficult to follow and needed some more structure. If you’re a Friends fan and/or a fan of Matthew Perry’s work, I would recommend picking this one up.