Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love, and Loss

I finished this book a few days ago, and it still hasn't left me. I've been rolling potential reviews around in my brain to try to come up with something that would be a true testament to how beautiful this book truly is. I still don't know if I have landed on something that will truly suffice, but wanted to write something while the book is still sitting with me. I have never mourned a loss of a "celebrity" more than I did Harris. He truly wrote all of my favorite jokes and really helped shape my taste in comedy. Even if I had no idea who Harris was, this book would still have had an immense impact on me. Every time I try describe this book, all I can think is "beautiful". The way Stephanie let us in to the inside world of Harris and his relationship with his family is truly poetic. I never thought I would be counting down the minutes until I could pick up a book that makes me bawl my eyes out, but I finished this book in 2 days. I couldn't stop consuming it. Thank you Stephanie for letting us in to your world. I am so sorry that you and your beautiful family have experienced such deep loss.

I loved this book. I'm a big fan of Harris' work and felt like I didn't have closure with his passing. Listening to podcasts and seeing him perform, I just felt like there were gaps in my understanding of what happened leading up to his death and it's so hard to get a sense of closure when you have so many questions. This book answered those questions and Stephanie has given his fans this gift, which fills in those gaps and gave me closure.Stephanie also gives fans a second gift. This book is so well written and includes so many Harris quotes and vivid stories that he came alive again in my mind as I read. When you can imagine him saying these things and can picture him so clearly as you read, it feels like he's still alive and what a gift that is. When someone passes away you wish for just a little more time with them, and this book gave me that.This book also feels like a mystery in that Stephanie tackles what most people question with an unexpected death: how did this happen, what could I have done differently and how did he spend his last hours on earth? The way she jumps from past to present to past again to help gain perspective and give insight into solving these questions is an excellent structure. The honesty in the way she describes her anger and sadness and even unpleasant moments with dealing with a relative who's an addict, is really refreshing. She doesn't sugarcoat the struggles and the grief.This book is gut wrenching and wonderful. I'm so grateful to Stephanie for sharing this with us and for keeping Harris alive through her stories.Buy this book, you will cry and laugh and hug your family harder the next time you see them.

It's hard to review the book without describing how I feel about Harris Witels. Harris is the first and only celebrity death that actually made me feel truly sad in 30 years of life. The guy was so honest (other than some of the addict behavior mentioned in the book). He was completely different than other people in Hollywood, even when compared to the others in the "alt-comedy" scene. I loved him so much on comedy bang bang, Analyze Phish, and Twitter. I connected with the way his brain worked. He made some dull and depressing moments in life better. His "foam corner" helped me change how I think when I am alone. Instead of hating myself and thinking of negative things, I was inspired to train myself to put interesting spins on whatever I perceived to be happening around me. I learned to see everything as an opportunity to find something that someone could eventually could laugh about. I still can't believe he is gone :( He was too young and to enjoyable to have gone like this.The book was beautifully written. I loved the way it was organized. I am a man but still an easy crier, so I shed some tears. Bless all his family and friends who loved him and tried to help him.

Wachs oscillates between the time leading up to her brother’s death and the time after his death. Both parts feel like they were written during horrendous grief, and as a reader, you can’t help but feel every raw emotion right in your gut. But you won’t just cry; you’ll laugh just as much. Wachs captures that feeling of overwhelming grief - the kind of grief that has you so destroyed that humor is sometimes your only respite. Also, Wachs can write. I don’t know how she achieved such beautiful and exact language while going through the worst thing that can happen to a person.Harris is gone and that fact still makes no sense. I guarantee that even if you’ve never heard of him, you’ve definitely heard a Harris joke. And you laughed and perhaps thought, “Whoever wrote that joke is working on a whole other level than anyone else in comedy.” But he’s gone now. And it’s the worst.But I’m so glad this book exists. Buy it, read it, pass it along.Thank you, Stephanie, for writing it.

Shows the turmoil within a tight knit family. Even fame can not erase the draw of addiction. Success on the outside, pain on the inside.