I'm Just Happy to Be Here: A Memoir of Renegade Mothering

by Janelle Hanchett Narrated by Janelle Hanchett

Overview

"A refreshingly raw, contrasting perspective on the foolproof idea of motherhood." -- POPSUGAR

"By turns painful and funny... A searingly candid memoir." -- Kirkus

"Far from your cookie-cutter story of addiction . . . [I'm Just Happy to Be Here] describes Hanchett's journey to recovery and sobriety in imperfect and unconventional ways." -- Bustle

In this unflinching and wickedly funny memoir, Janelle Hanchett tells the story of finding her way home. And then, actually staying there. Drawing us into the wild, heartbreaking mind of the addict, Hanchett carries us from motherhood at 21 with a man she'd known three months to cubicles and whiskey-laden domesticity, from judging meth addicts in rehab to therapists who "seem to pull diagnoses out of large, expensive hats." With warmth, wit, and searing B.S. detectors turned mostly toward herself, Hanchett invites us to laugh when we probably shouldn't and to rejoice at the unconventional redemption she finds in desperation and in a misfit mentor who forces her to see the truth of herself.

A story of ego and forced humility, of fierce honesty and jagged love, of the kind of failure that forces us to re-create our lives, Hanchett writes with rare candor, scorching the "sanctity of motherhood," and leaving beauty in the ashes.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

01/08/2018
Renegade Mothering blog creator Hanchett offers a startling account of her struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in this raw and riveting memoir. Pregnant at 21, Hanchett married the father of her child, a 19-year-old slaughterhouse worker, and the two settled into his parents’ ranch outside Davis, Calif. Hanchett, raised (for a time) as a Mormon, didn’t do well with the church’s rules and regulations; she was bored with life as a stay-at-home mother and suffered from postpartum depression. She couldn’t shake her alcohol problem, despite seeking help, and she and her husband eventually became addicted to cocaine. Hanchett intersperses her account of these dark times with humor, calling out “Type II” moms who drink kale smoothies out of mason jars, or “Type III” PTA moms, around whom she can’t “drop the F-bomb.”After settling her kids with her divorced mother, the author briefly left her partner and moved into a trailer with another addict, eventually winding up in the hospital following a near-fatal overdose. Relentlessly battling her addiction, the author called on her love of family, as well as the sage advice of an “ex–gutter drunk” she serendipitously encountered outside a meeting hall. Readers will cheer Hanchett toward her triumphant recovery. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. (May)

From the Publisher

Amazon, "Best Books of the Year So Far (2018)"
Bustle, "14 Debut Books By Women Coming Out In 2018 That You Need In Your TBR Pile"
Brit + Co, "3 Inspiring Books About How to Cope with Life's Challenges"
TheFix.com, "8 Essential Books on Addiction and Recovery"

"Far from your cookie-cutter story of addiction and recovery, I'm Just Happy to Be Here: A Memoir of Renegade Mothering describes Hanchett's journey to recovery and sobriety in imperfect and unconventional ways."—Bustle

"By turns painful and funny, [I'm Just Happy to Be Here] explores the pressures of modern motherhood while chronicling one woman's journey toward acceptance of her own limitations and imperfections. A searingly candid memoir."—Kirkus Reviews

"[Hanchett's] memoir is a refreshingly raw, contrasting perspective on the foolproof idea of motherhood. She proves that the right support system can pull you out of even the darkest places."—POPSUGAR

"Janelle Hanchett...counters the popular idea that children are the solution to all of life's problems and that motherhood is picture-perfect all the time.... Candid [and] self-deprecating."—Brit + Co

"Janelle Hanchett presents motherhood as we seldom see it: with irreverent humor, brazen honesty, deep love and loss. Her story is about finding peace right in the mess of motherhood, and that's what makes it wonderful."—Jill Smokler, NewYork Times bestselling author of Confessions of a Scary Mommy

"Fiercely talented word-warrior Janelle Hanchett grabs your guts with her frank, brutally funny, and moving memoir of modern motherhood and addiction. You won't want to let go of this book."—Ann Imig, editor of Listento Your Mother: What She Said Then, What We're Saying Now

"Relatable to any outside-the-box parent."—BUST

"Whilst we are all fighting some sort of inner battle, few of us have the honesty, humor, and heart to describe our struggle like Janelle Hanchett. Her memoir, I'm Just Happy to Be Here, is not just for those touched by addiction, but for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, which is everyone. I could not put this book down."—Firoozeh Dumas, NewYork Times bestselling author of Funny in Farsi and LaughingWithout an Accent

"Hanchett offers a startling account of her struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in this raw and riveting memoir.... Readers will cheer Hanchett toward her triumphant recovery."—Publishers Weekly

"Witty, heartbreaking, and enlightening, Hanchett's memoir will resonate with parents and nonparents alike."—Booklist

"An inspiring message about recovery that resonates through its emphasis on the imperfect progress of life."—Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

2018-02-06
A popular blogger's tragicomic account of how early motherhood and marriage propelled her into a cycle of drug and alcohol addiction from which she narrowly escaped.Hanchett, the creator of the Renegade Mothering blog, was a senior in college when she discovered that she was pregnant by Mac, a 19-year-old rancher's son she had been dating for three months. Feeling she had let down a family that believed she would "do something impressive in life," the author gave birth to a baby girl, married Mac, and settled into uneasy domesticity, which she made more manageable by "remain[ing] drunk about 40 percent of my waking hours." Eventually diagnosed with postpartum depression, she tried to ease the tedium and isolation of stay-at-home life by taking a job as a receptionist. Instead, she found herself drinking more heavily and fighting with Mac, who drank in codependent solidarity with her. She left Mac and then returned and became pregnant again, vowing to make her family life work. Instead, she and Mac continued drinking and doing drugs together. After a psychiatrist diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder, Hanchett began what would become an ongoing search for a "rehab that would cure me." But she found no relief. Her clinic stays became islands of temporary sobriety in a life that seemed to become increasingly dedicated to self-destruction. Her body and marriage on the verge of irrevocable collapse, the author unexpectedly found salvation in the counsel of a fellow recovering alcoholic she named "Good News Jack." His brutal honesty forced Hanchett to realize that in order to rebuild her life, she had to let go of reason and put her faith in "the pulse holding the stars…[and] the thing that makes me alive beyond breath." By turns painful and funny, the book explores the pressures of modern motherhood while chronicling one woman's journey toward acceptance of her own limitations and imperfections.A searingly candid memoir.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170089093
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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