hailey‘s review of MD. she made me look really smart she was basically forced to cos i mailed her a free copy cos she won my copy my blog posts contest that ONLY THREE FUCKING PEOPLE bothered to do.

Marketable Depression by Lauren White

I find this book difficult to comment on, as I feel that I am playing into the stigma of those that she has written about in the last of these 79 pages. I care about what she will think, of what I think, as much as she cares what others think, of her, and her book, and the innermost thoughts she has written therein.

Marketable Depression is charming and heartbreaking, sometimes aggravating, but ultimately sad and uplifting at the same time. The book as a whole is a paradox, much like she who has written it.

I drink for my art I say, because nobody wants to read a book written by a healthy stable boring girl who wears pretty dresses and hangs out at the library

Those who follow Miss Lauren’s blog (Raymi The Minx Dot Blogspot Dot Com) will note this book is as much an insight into the circumstances that have helped shape Raymi into who she is, as it is a validation of the reader’s own experience, hardship, and depression. It is impossible not to identify with Lauren on one level or another.

After all, misery enjoys company, does it not? Regardless of how happy one may be, sadness is mankind’s ultimate common denominator.

We want time to just go away and we use booze to make that happen and what’s great is there’s always another like you at the bar and if you’re lucky that somebody is worse off and then you are allowed to feel relief because that dude has been up shit creek several times and you, well, you’ve only just now rented the boat.

There’s something brilliant about Raymi; Perhaps it’s because her blogs are so full of confidence. Even when she is speaking of experiences at her most self-conscious, one can’t help but be enthralled, entertained, and even a little intimidated.

Marketable Depression, although written in the same manner, strips Raymi away from the girl beneath, revealing her underlying thought processes, exposing Lauren at her most vulnerable.

As I neared the end, I tried unsuccessfully to fathom how it would wrap up. Reaching the last page, soaking up the final sentences, a familiar sensation rose within me. The way you feel after hearing a song with an enchanting string of notes in the last minute; After you’ve watched a movie that leaves you feeling completely satisfied. You want to rewind; You want to hit play again; You want to re-read; to experience that pleasantly full, utterly relaxed, “giant sigh” feeling again.

While Raymitheminx readers may be able to draw more on the author as a whole after reading this book, you needn’t be familiar with Raymi to pick it up and be entertained. You may even take something positive from it.

I certainly did.