"How to Murder Your Life" Book Review

It’s all I talked about to my roommate and boyfriend. 

I first heard about this book when it was mentioned in a magazine page suggesting books to read (I think it was Glamour but the fact-checkers have not confirmed this yet).  Now, I think it’s a bit ironic that Cat’s career began and ended in magazines and then her tell-all, drug-infused memoir is promoted inside the pages of a magazine. 

I loved the book. I laughed out loud a few times and was both inspired and disgusted by her life. I burst out laughing when she described getting into a car with a guy who immediately shot up some drugs into his arm and she sarcastically said how turned on this made her. She admitted it was gross but that was her life at the time. I couldn’t help but be impressed by how she landed multiple positions at Conde Nast, by how much she partied and how little she slept. She’s an impressive woman but I wouldn’t recommend this book to any middle schoolers, that’s for sure. 

I enjoyed reading about the highs and lows of her life, that she so openly shared. She explained how she couldn’t focus in class in high school and so her psychiatrist dad then prescribed Adderall and how that changed her life. She was hooked. From then on, she needed the pills in order to function and was too energized to sleep so she needed to start taking sleeping pills, and you get the idea. The frenzied sentences, the repetition of phrases and self-loathing scenes seemed to capture what addiction feels like.  

The writing felt so fresh to me and like I was reading a friend’s blog. So casual and revealing. 

While reading the book, I had never heard of Cat Marnell and didn’t know that she looked like a real-life Barbie doll (No seriously, Google her.) 

Ultimately, I loved her writing. It was raw, relevant and real. I usually only read memoirs by comedians and so this was a refreshing memoir from someone who is glamorous, funny yet also very addicted to Adderall (even in the Afterword she acknowledged that she hasn’t stopped doing drugs.) She’s had a fascinating life and I can’t wait to see what she will do next. This is the best book I’ve read in a while.