I'm Just Happy to Be Here: A Memoir of Renegade Mothering
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Narrated by:
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Janelle Hanchett
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By:
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Janelle Hanchett
About this listen
"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.
©2018 Janelle Hanchett (P)2018 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"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)
"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)
"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, New York Times best-selling author of Confessions of a Scary Mommy)
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Story
Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
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The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
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I'm the One That I Want
- By: Margaret Cho
- Narrated by: Margaret Cho
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
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I'm the One That I Want, based on her show of the same name, is filled with dead-on insights about the experience of being a woman with attitude, of flowing with the highs and lows of life, and of creating one's own identity and acceptance. It is every bit as hilarious, shocking, and irreverent as she is.
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Hilarious and deeply engrossing
- By Ling on 04-10-03
By: Margaret Cho
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True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness
- A Feminist Coming of Age
- By: Christine Lahti
- Narrated by: Christine Lahti
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades, actress and director Christine Lahti has captivated the hearts and minds of her audience through iconic roles in Chicago Hope, Running on Empty, Housekeeping, And Justice for All, Swing Shift, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, God of Carnage, and The Blacklist. Now, in True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness, this acclaimed performer channels her creativity inward to share her own story for the first time.
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Christine Lahti, Actress, Activist and A+ Author!
- By L. Cat Schultz on 10-26-18
By: Christine Lahti
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God-Shaped Hole
- A Novel
- By: Tiffanie DeBartolo
- Narrated by: Rachael Warren
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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When Beatrice Trixie Jordan replies to a personal ad, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming, effervescent 30-something free-spirit writer passionately seeking life. He possesses his own turns of phrase and ways of thinking and feeling that dissonantly harmonize with Trixie's off-center vision. As they rollercoaster through the joys and furies of their wrenching romance, they try to come to terms with the hurt brought about by both of their distant fathers who, in different ways, forsook them.
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To see a fortune teller or not to see one...
- By Renee on 08-08-18
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Lit
- A Memoir
- By: Mary Karr
- Narrated by: Mary Karr
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Lit follows Mary Karr's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness - and her astonishing resurrection. Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott" awakens her to the possibility of joy, and leads her to an unlikely faith.
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Finally! One for the "Win" column
- By Kim on 03-22-10
By: Mary Karr
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I Can Barely Take Care of Myself
- Tales from a Happy Life Without Kids
- By: Jen Kirkman
- Narrated by: Jen Kirkman
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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"You'll change your mind." That's what everyone says to Jen Kirkman - and countless women like her - when she confesses she doesn't plan to have children. But you know what? It's hard enough to be an adult. You have to dress yourself and pay bills and remember to buy birthday gifts. You have to drive and get annual physicals and tip for good service. Some adults take on the added burden of caring for a tiny human being with no language skills or bladder control.
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Funny. Not fall down laughing funny, but funny
- By david on 05-22-13
By: Jen Kirkman
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Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See
- By: Juliann Garey
- Narrated by: Dan Butler
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In her tour-de-force first novel, Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul of Greyson Todd, a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years.
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Psychosis or Syphilis?
- By Vira on 04-02-13
By: Juliann Garey
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The Boy Kings of Texas
- A Memoir
- By: Domingo Martinez
- Narrated by: Emilio Delgado
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A lyrical and authentic book that recounts the story of a border-town family in Brownsville, Texas in the 1980s, as each member of the family desperately tries to assimilate and escape life on the border to become "real" Americans, even at the expense of their shared family history. This is really un-mined territory in the memoir genre that gives in-depth insight into a previously unexplored corner of America.
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It was Okay
- By DebKoo on 05-17-13
By: Domingo Martinez
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Kissing Games of the World
- By: Sandi Kahn Shelton
- Narrated by: Myra Platt
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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What if the one person you can't bear to be with is also the one person you can't bear to be without? Jamie McClintock is a free-spirited artist and single mother who has at last found peace and freedom sharing a farmhouse with an elderly man and his young grandson. But when the old man dies suddenly her idyllic country life comes to a halt as the old man's estranged son, Nate, returns to claim the house and his child.
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Great Writer, Great Narrator ! Loved it!
- By Ms. Critic on 05-30-09
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If I am Missing or Dead
- A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation
- By: Janine Latus
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In April 2002, Janine Latus' youngest sister, Amy, wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. "Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved", it read, "but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me...."
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All About Janine
- By Ellen on 07-02-07
By: Janine Latus
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Hope and Other Luxuries
- A Mother’s Journey Through a Daughter’s Anorexia
- By: Clare B. Dunkle
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Clare Dunkle seemed to have an ideal life - two beautiful, high-achieving teenage daughters, a loving husband, and a satisfying and successful career as a children's book novelist. But it's when you let down your guard that the ax falls. Just after one daughter successfully conquered her depression, another daughter developed a life-threatening eating disorder.
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Potent and Real
- By Susie on 09-17-15
By: Clare B. Dunkle
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After the Eclipse
- A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Search
- By: Sarah Perry
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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A fierce memoir of a mother's murder, a daughter's coming-of-age in the wake of immense loss, and her ultimate mission to know the woman who gave her life.
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True crime memoir
- By Julie on 11-03-17
By: Sarah Perry
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Disgruntled
- By: Asali Solomon
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Kenya Curtis is only eight years old, but she knows that she's different, even if she can't put her finger on how or why. It's not because she's black - most of the other students in the fourth-grade class at her West Philadelphia elementary school are, too. Maybe it's because she calls her father - a housepainter-slash-philosopher - "Baba" or because her parents' friends gather to pour out libations "from the Creator, for the Martyrs" and discuss "the community".
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Loved It!!!
- By ayodele higgs on 05-20-15
By: Asali Solomon
What listeners say about I'm Just Happy to Be Here: A Memoir of Renegade Mothering
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Daniel Wager
- 09-19-18
dark yet playful
this book hits hard. it is dark yet playful. at it’s best it lives in that place that can only be reached by a lifetime of experience and bad decisions and hard work and luck and whatever else it is that brings someone back from there alive.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-31-18
Real and relatable
This book had me crying through so much, if I couldn’t relate on one level, I could relate to something else. Real, raw, and beautiful
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- Sarah
- 12-22-18
Thank You for this book I couldn't stop.
beautiful. heartbreaking. relatable in the deepest parts of me. I am sad it is over. more like This, please. more real books that make me understand human suffering and the hell we create on earth for ourselves. it is all different, and all exactly the same and makes me love every human on the planet because we are all just trying our best and failing and trying again.
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- HoyaHo
- 05-10-18
Beautiful
Beautiful and sad and funny and real!
I read this in 3 days! It’s beautiful.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-06-19
Beautifully written
Where do I even begin I absolutely loved this book because addiction isn’t all rainbows and unicorns and I loved the truth in the words that Janelle wrote what an amazing book you will not be disappointed it’s a must read especially for anyone who has been touched by alcoholism or addiction whether it’s a family member or themselves
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- Jasmine Mauldin
- 07-20-18
Holy wow!
I’m not much of a reader at all. I’m 36 and the last book I read was in high school. I’ve attempted to read here and there but never more than a couple chapters. I read this book in one day. Only putting it down to tend to my kids and the occasional pee. The story is gut wrenching in both the best and worst ways. Janelle’s style and use of language brings the story to life as if you were there too. As if you too were in the story. Like the fly on the wall that you always wished you could be for these kids of stories. As a mother, this book changed me. Well done Janelle. Thank you for sharing.
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- Mary
- 12-11-19
Many times, this book took my breath away.
Many times, this book took my breath away and left me in tears.
This book started out, a little difficult for me to get into but I am extremely happy I didn't give up on it. Being an ACOA myself and having a family with multiple siblings that struggle with addiction I found this book to be very therapeutic. Amazingly written!!! I am soo proud of Janelle and I love her truth, her words, her thoughts!!! Janelle you are amazing!!!
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- RnC
- 08-06-18
Not what I thought It would be about but loved it
This book was not what I thought it would be about. It's about addiction and recovery and how one can f up your life and blame everyone in the world never once looking in the mirror. I went out of my way to listen to this book almost every day so I could finish the book. the story was so compelling and I just always wanted to know what happened next. My husband who normally doesn't like the books I like was forced to listen to part of it on a long drive and a few days later he was like 'did you finish that book? I'm wondering what happened to that lady.?" So that speaks a lot to the compelling nature of the story.
It's well told. It's funny. It not for one minute allow you to think you are a better person that she is or that she is a better person than you. In the end, she was just happy to STILL be here because none of us is guaranteed another day whether we are complete f ups or the holiest of the holy. I'm glad she shared this memoir. And her husband is a SAINT!
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- Wendy Cobb
- 02-05-22
Real and tragic and messy and beautiful
As a woman who has lived through the hell of addiction and suffering and tragic loss, I can attest that no one judges us more harshly about our motherhood than we do ourselves. I've read other great memoirs written by sober women, and I've heard many women in the rooms tell their stories, but it is tragically rare that anyone includes the really ugly details. It's not that they didn't happen, it's that society praises those with 'high bottoms' who have made it to recovery without somehow being a total depraved embarrassment. Most of us who could not manage that tend to keep quiet so we don't have to relive our shame, and those of us who do share our tragic tales are often lauded as brave and inspiring by the same women who act like we're too abnormal to actually befriend. It was very satisfying to hear the honest story of a woman with a low bottom who was an utter disappointment to herself but never gave up hope of being a good mother. I certainly don't understand or relate to everything she did or didn't do, but I totally understand why she shares it and why it's so damn important that we all do. There were many times in which I felt worthless as a mother, but I was able to heal and grow and somehow become admired by and best friends with my now adult sons. May other readers come away with compassion and hope for themselves or compassion and hope for those who are still lost and suffering.
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- Laura
- 06-16-19
beautiful sad and strong
this book was heart wrenching, insightful, and wonderful. thank you Janelle. your story really resonates with me.
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