Customer Reviews

Everything Sucks: Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest for Cool

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Everything Sucks is a brutally funny and honest look of the prep school career of Hannah Friedman, who is attending the tony school as a scholarship student. There are seventeen chapters of "things that suck," including family, mean girls, friends, high school, diets, love, sex, education, home college, drugs, and well, everything, including epilogues!

Some of the funniest parts of Hannah's memoir are those about her family. Amelia, a monkey is Hannah's oldest "sister" and was adopted by Hannah's mom, who trained monkeys to assist paraplegics. Hannah's dad is a talented singer-songwriter proficient in a variety of musical instruments. During one chapter, Hannah's family (plus her brother Sam, minus Amelia) and her father's entire band jam into a small van/bus for a concert tour in England. The tour inflicts a variety of humiliations on Hannah including home schooling, tight quarters, dwindling audience interest, a nearly catastrophic accident followed by an equally mortifying and hysterical experience in a convenience store.

The chapters about Hannah's experience at Danforth Academy are an insider's view of teen-age popularity, casual cruelty, and the stress of achieving academic success in the midst of experiencing her first love, drugs, sex, and death of a friend. Anyone who attended high school in the US will be able to relate to Hannah's clear depiction of peer pressure, the desire to belong, and clueless adults.

Reading Everything Sucks is like talking with an older sister about high school and having her share her swings between cool and uncool, lost and found. Hopefully is the first of many books by a talented new writer.

I read "Everything Sucks" until the sun came up this morning.
When I started reading it, I'd put it down to throw laundry in, or eat dinner, but I'd find myself glancing over at it . . . in wonderment. I was desperate to find out what was going on with her. Was she going to fall in love? Was she going to finally let Cashmere have it? Was she gonna blaze with the hippies? Was she going to come to terms with things? I was so drawn into her world. It certainly brought me back to when I was 14/15/16 years old. And somehow my past was soothed by this memoir.
This book, nay, this woman is brilliant. She has gracefully splattered herself across these pages, holding nothing back. I could ask for nothing more from a writer. Bottom line: this is a story that everyone can relate to, and everything else will just blow your mind! I laughed, I cried, I felt her emotions.


I found out about Hannah Friedman when one of the people that I follow on youtube sent a link to her channel (www.youtube.com/WritingHannah). I watched every single video. I was blown away by her mind, her heart, her creativity, her TALENT! I couldn't get enough. Then I watched the trailer for this book. My mind soared! I logged on here and bought the book (thank you Amazon.com for getting it to me so quickly!). Just recently I bought 2 more copies for my best friend and my boyfriend.
This is a must have in anyone's collection. Do yourself a favor: buy it, and love it with me.

Length:: 2:00 Mins

I recorded this video immediately upon finishing Everything Sucks, so please forgive my bedraggled appearance. THis video, was orignially posted in response to a video on the author's youtube channel [...].

This past semester I took a course in Adolescent Literature and one of the points we focused on was the authenticity of the narrator's voice in a given work. Did it sound like an adolescent or like an adult trying to sound adolescent to connect with their target audience? Some were better than others, but I have to say, of any "adolescent literature" I've read recently, Everything Sucks definitely has it nailed. Honestly, it was refreshing how on point Hannah's voice was, because I'm not sure there is anything more off-putting to me than didacticism veiled in the voice of a 15 year old.

In all of my 27 years I have never found a book that touches so well on the trials and tribulations of being an emotional teenage wreck of a girl while also noting the silly, psychotic, irrational, hysterical experience of it all too.

I couldn't put this book down! Hannah's story is so unique but there are so many things that I find myself relating to. This books entices you to read faster to see what will happen next. I actually found myself laughing out loud, which NEVER happens.

I am in love with this book. I have already recommended it to all of my friends. I've even had people come up to me because they hear me laughing and reading by the pool and want to know what the book is about!

I can't wait for more!

Hannah's memoir is fantastic!!! It's a quick read full of her own special brand of acerbic wit. I think everyone could find something to relate to in this book. For me, it was Hannah's fear of sleepovers. When I was young, I also suffered from slumber party anxiety. I don't know why, but I was always so nervous about spending the night at a friends house. As soon as everyone around me fell asleep, I had to fight the urge to call my mom and beg her to pick me up.

There are many things in this book that you will find yourself nodding your head to in that "been there" way. Nothing is off limits and at times I found myself gasping in shock, while simultaneously laughing out loud or fighting back tears.

I'm not usually a big non-fiction fan, but I really loved this book. It's a wonderful look inside the mind of a teenager who, although her life may be different than mine, many of her experiences are the same. It was refreshing to read such an honest and open memoir from such a talented writer.

Hannah speaks to every girl I know from the very first pages of her memoir titled `Everything Sucks.' From beginning to end, the book speaks loudly to adolescent girls with a wit that only a Yale graduate (later to become a blogger extraordinaire) could achieve.

That Hannah's writing is extremely catchy, funny and smart is an understatement. The book highlights familiar childhood and teen years that are equally applicable to today's generation. She begins her story alluding to the fact that "You see, I am the firstborn human, but Amelia is the firstborn." Meaning that Hannah is her mother's firstborn child, but Amelia, her mother's monkey, is the actual firstborn of her family.

Of course, competition started at home for Hannah. "No matter how many cute shenanigans I pull, I am forever outshined by a family member who garners wild applause simply by serving herself spaghetti with her own foot."

Throughout the book Hannah describes the trials and tribulations she encountered. "The first diet failed, the second diet failed, the third diet failed, but this time I will be strong. I sit in math class and feel my stomach growl." She goes on to speak candidly about being "a cutter", experimenting with drugs in college, relations with her boyfriend Adam, her parents, and success in school. The path that Hannah takes is frightening from the beginning to end. At age 22, Hannah is a recent graduate of Yale University, an award- winning writer, blogger, and playwright.In the end, through sharing her story, Hannah has been able to give a gift to help young woman overcome many of the same "crazy obstacles" that she had. - Tara Benson

Hannah Friedman, is hilariously witty and isn't afraid to admit her embarrassing moments growing up. Her life is definitely eccentric, she grew up in a home with her parents, her brother Sam and Amelia, which is a monkey. Yes, I did say monkey. Is that even legal? She always felt like an outcast in high school, however she did eventually find some people to click with. It's a fast paced book and I sometimes forgot that it was a memoir, I connected with all the characters and understood their personalities. Most of the time the writing was funny and sarcastic, but around the last 60 pages or so, the mood shifted. When Hannah starts using drugs you experience a more serious tone compared to the other chapters. I felt her pain and wanted Hannah to overcome her issues, which she eventually did. I truly enjoyed reading it, it was lighthearted and kept me smiling. I recommend it if you want to read something funny and definitely relatable with the whole high school scene....especially students who feel the pressure about getting into a prestige college.

You don't have to be a teen or a young adult to absolutely love "Everything Sucks" by Hannah Friedman. I'm old - there, I said it - and I found the book to be hilarious, brutally honest, touching and extremely entertaining. Hannah's unique writing style and grasp of the English language transforms a great story into a literary delight. This is NOT a book that will tempt you to skip pages.
As an added note, if you are a struggling writer, the "Postscript: Writing Sucks" has some excellent tips by the author that are worth laminating and keeping by your side.
I wish Ms Friedman the best of success and look forward to her next endeavor!

Length:: 3:29 Mins

A comprehensive review of "Everything Sucks" by Hannah Friedman. Included is a summary (no spoilers), audience recommendations (content warning for children), and my personal relationship to the story. I also talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the storytelling. Enjoy!

This book is definitely a fast read. I found myself pretty much hooked from the first page, laughing along with this true story of a girl raised in a house with a more popular monkey. That's just the beginning though...life is quite a crazy ride for Hannah as she leaves the tour bus, changes schools, and begins high school. I know my own experiences in high school weren't always so great, but I was definitely lucky enough to have the few close friends that I did and I made it through. Hannah makes it through too, of course, as she's now written this interesting, amusing, heartbreaking, and lovely tale of a girl simply trying to find who she really is...but the road there isn't quite as kind to her.

She becomes popular, but that's not always the best way to raise your self-esteem and she finds herself worrying way too much about food, weight, and the perfect outfit. And when love shines down on her in the form of a boyfriend...well, that doesn't always turn out like a fairy tale either. After all, this is real life we're talking about.

Hannah might have a monkey in her house and a singing dad, but beyond that, she's still a regular girl and I think this book will be relatable and interesting for a lot of people out there...especially if you are a girl going through your teen years now or can vividly remember those days. After all, what's better than comparing yourself to others? Sharing your life, the good and bad, with others...because as cliche as it might sound, nobody is truly alone in their experiences.

I'm very glad I got a chance to read this book and I would recommend it.