02/05/2024
In these animated essays, Mother Mother podcaster Farris (Casserole Crazy) reflects on living with ADHD. “How We Got Here” recounts how Farris—struggling to juggle the responsibilities of motherhood and her job as a social media manager while keeping up with everyday chores—saw her troubles reflected in an article about women with ADHD, leading her to get diagnosed with the condition at age 35. The humorous entries offer insight into what it’s like to have ADHD. For instance, “Re: New Thread” presents increasingly harried emails from Farris to a client as a two-hour copywriting gig turns into a two-day project that comes to include retooling the client’s website, illustrating how people with ADHD “often underestimate how long it will take to get something done” and get distracted by unrelated tasks. Farris is frank about the challenges of the condition (she reports that fights with her husband often start because her poor impulse control leads her to make significant purchases the couple can’t afford), but the essays are mostly lighthearted and comical, as when she details her sensory processing issues around rubbing fabric, writing that “the mere experience of watching someone rub their hand on their jeans will send me running into the other room.” The result is a buoyant exploration of neurodivergence. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Feb.)
These essays feel like catching up with an old friend that I actually like listening to. If you enjoy my flavor of OCD you will have just as much fun at Emily’s ADHD party."—Samantha Irby, New York Times bestselling author of Quietly Hostile and self-described idiot jokester
“Funny, cringey, and oh, so relatable.”—Jenny Lawson, New York Times Bestselling author of Broken and Furiously Happy
"Not only is this memoir witty, laugh-out-loud funny, enlightening, and brave, it also perfectly fits a reader who has ADHD. Short chapters, pithy sentences, fresh insights, nothing boring. Aimed at the largest undiagnosed group—adult women with ADHD—Farris tells her story in such an engagingly personal way that it appeals to everyone. It instructs by pleasing. Bravo Emily Farris!"—Edward Hallowell, M.D., author most recently of ADHD 2.0
"I picked up I'll Just Be Five More Minutes intending to peek at the first few lines. Four hours later, I was still on the couch, intermittently laughing and nodding my head in recognition. This is an ignore-your-family, cancel-your-plans, stay-up-past-your-bedtime tale that reminds me of Samantha Irby, David Sedaris, and so many other favorite essayists. It's laugh-out-loud funny and strikingly smart, and Farris offers brilliant insight into the ADHD brain."—Joanna Rakoff, bestselling author of My Salinger Year
"Emily Farris’s debut hits all the big topics: life, love, and yes, even lipstick. And yet these eminently readable essays go down smoother than the sweet pink wine cooler that young Emily might have thrown back before embarking on an ill-fated but hilarious adventure. I’ll Just Be Five More Minutes is an unputdownable book that offers a frank, funny look at the highs and lows of life with a neurodivergent brain."—Amy Shearn, award-winning author of Unseen City, The Mermaid of Brooklyn, and other novels
"Emily Farris has written a book that will stay with me forever: hilarious, insightful, and with a voice reminiscent of Davids Rakoff and Sedaris, Farris takes on what it means to have a neurodivergent brain in a neurotypical world, and how her discovery at age thirty-five that she had ADHD resulted in the pieces of her life suddenly clicking into place like the glass in a kaleidoscope. Completely relatable, wise, warm, and very funny. I loved it."—Elissa Altman, author of Motherland
“I am a lifelong flailer and noted scatterbrain, and Emily Farris’s warm, wise, and very funny book not only makes me feel seen, but makes me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t have sought help long ago. No matter how your brain works, this book will make you want to be her best friend.”—Emily Flake, The New Yorker cartoonist
"[A] buoyant exploration of neurodivergence."—Publisher's Weekly
"[A] poignant, funny collection of essays" —The New York Post
"A smart and charming collection from an endearingly spiky new voice...which toggles between humor and poignancy á la Samantha Irby." —Kirkus
"[Farris's] sarcastic wit, good-natured self-deprecation, and honest introspection make for a fun and insightful read."—Library Journal
★ 02/15/2024
In her memoir, Farris (host of the podcast Mother Mother; contributor to the anthology Women on Food) says she is the type of person who constantly loses things, consistently makes questionable financial decisions, changes jobs and side hustles on a regular basis, and forgets to reply to texts. She conveys stories about her life, mishaps, and what she assumed were character flaws through a series of refreshing and humorous essays. She says it took a long journey to make her realize at age 35 that she has Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). While the public has heard about ADHD since the mid-1980s, more and more research is being done to understand its nuances in individuals. She discusses the specific studies, for example, about how it presents in women who successfully hide their symptoms. Her candid memoir takes readers along discursive adventures during common tasks. Her sarcastic wit, good-natured self-deprecation, and honest introspection make for a fun and insightful read. VERDICT A must for collections.—Katy Duperry
Now a senior writer and a wife and mother with a mortgage, Emily Farris had a prior life that was affected by ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) that was not diagnosed until she was 35. This roller coaster of a memoir takes us through the pervasive screwups and self-recrimination that plague ADHD sufferers. In Farris's case, these started with her family of origin and early school experiences and continued on to relationship and career mishaps. Her aim to entertain and comfort people with this neurological disorder is served well by her spontaneous, fast-paced, and empathetic performance. Her lighthearted approach makes her funny stories funnier and helps ensure that her message is absorbed by people in turmoil because of their ADHD symptoms. T.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
2024-01-25
Humorous essays about a woman trying to reconcile herself with her own mind.
As she recounts in her first essay collection, which toggles between humor and poignancy à la Samantha Irby, Farris was in her mid-30s when she was diagnosed with ADHD, which “makes so much sense. I was a kid with a quick temper and a serious lack of impulse control. I interrupted sentences (my own included) with new ideas (brilliant ones, of course!), and I’d often get late-night bursts of inspiration that kept me up doing crafty projects way past my bedtime.” As an adult, these issues persist. In between digging herself out from under mountains of dirty laundry and catching up on last year’s tax forms, Farris offers trenchant thoughts on what it means to be neurodivergent and how she came to see her condition as a strength. “On our first anniversary, after a few too many Old Fashioneds,” she writes, “I asked my husband if he regretted marrying me. ‘I wouldn’t exactly call it regret,’ he said. He spent the next twenty minutes trying to explain his answer, but I didn’t hear any of it.” Farris describes a childhood among distracted adults, a hectic period as a young woman trying to finish college and earn a living in New York, awkward attempts to find love, and her current incarnation as a wife and mother. Decidedly nonlinear, the essays hop around both in time and subject matter. Though the author isn’t always quite as funny as she thinks she is—her humor strains at times—and all the hopping about inevitably results in occasional repetition, these are mild complaints for a book that is engaging and appealing even when it falls short of captivating.
A smart and charming collection from an endearingly spiky new voice.
