How to Avoid a Happy Life (Julia Lawrinson, Fremantle)

How to Avoid a Happy Life is a lively memoir by Julia Lawrinson (Losing It), the author of over 15 books for young people. This memoir takes readers through a lifetime of sad and unusual experiences that inspired Lawrinson’s books, such as Bye, Beautiful and Skating the Edge. She details her childhood and school years, time spent in mental health inpatient services, travels, young love, study, work and motherhood. The book is more of an autobiography than a memoir as Lawrinson describes a chaotic childhood growing up in the suburbs of Perth, before going on to cover experiences with mental health issues during a time when this was highly stigmatised, shaving her head and falling in love with the Women’s Officer at her student union, then raising a daughter while surviving life with an abusive husband. It’s almost too much to take in. The book’s pacing feels uneven, with a detailed beginning before rushing through significant life events, only for things to slow down again when reaching the most recent incident: when her partner is publicly fired from Parliament. To this reader, the book seemed mainly a personal reckoning, with the Parliament incident too recent to come at with any air of objectivity—I felt it was too detailed and defensive. How to Avoid a Happy Life is a book for already-established fans of Julia Lawrinson. It flexes her skills as a raconteur and is the very definition of truth being stranger than fiction.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Danielle Bagnato is a book reviewer and marketing and communications professional. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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