Book Review: Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: November 1, 2022
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The One Where I Was Disappointed
I love Friends. It might be my all-time favorite TV show. I was counting down the days until Matthew Perry’s book came out – he’s the first one of the six friends to write a book. Well, boo on me. I don’t know if I’ve ever been as disappointed in a book!
I knew he had a drug problem but I had no idea how bad it was. He’s basically been using drugs his entire adult life with only brief stints of sobriety. That’s not what turned me off though. It’s that he takes almost no personal responsibility for his addictions and blames everyone else. He repeatedly refers to having abandonment issues because he flew on an airplane once as an unaccompanied minor. Come on!
At one point he was taking up to 55 painkillers a day. If you’ve ever taken even a normal amount of them then you know they can make you a little constipated. So imagine what 55 a day will do to you! He ended up needing major bowel surgery and had to have a temporary colostomy. As an ostomate myself, I was really angry that he said his bag broke all the time and that doctors should be able to make a f**king bag that works. I have never had one break – they do work if you’re not a whiney baby who doesn’t learn how to take care of yourself properly. He said that the reason he finally quit drugs was that his therapist told him if he didn’t, he might have to have a permanent colostomy. It’s good that he quit but there are worse fates in life than having a colostomy. And that’s the end of my rant about that!
The timeline was confusing, jumping all around. There was some dirt and behind-the-scenes info, which I always appreciate. He kept saying that he wrote the book to help people but I got the impression that he’s very newly sober and his track record is not good. If I were an addict, I think his book would make me feel worse, not hopeful! I think die-hard fans of him or Friends will get something out of reading it but keep your expectations low.
