I wanted to find out what would happen if I really did follow the7 Habits of Highly Effective People? Really felt The Power of Now? Could life be transformed? Could I get rich? Skinny? Find love? Be more productive and fulfilled? Because I really did want all the things these books promised.
For years Journalist Marianne Power lined her bookshelves with dog-eared copies of definitive guides on how to live your best life, dipping in and out of self-help books when she needed them most. Then, one day, she woke up to find that the life she hoped for and the life she was living were worlds apart—and she set out to make some big changes.
Marianne decided to finally find out if her elusive “perfect existence”—the one without debt, anxiety, or hangover Netflix marathons, the one where she healthily bounced around town and met the cashmere-sweater-wearing man of her dreams—really did lie in the pages of our best known and acclaimed self help books. She vowed to test a book a month for one year, following its advice to the letter, taking what she hoped would be the surest path to a flawless new her. But as the months passed and Marianne’s reality was turned upside down, she found herself confronted with a different question: Self-help can change your life, but is it for the better?
With humor, audacity, disarming candor and unassuming wisdom, in Help Me Marianne Power plumbs the trials and tests of being a modern woman in a “have it all” culture, and what it really means to be our very best selves.
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Review
*Praise for Help Me! *
“London-based journalist Power chronicles the harrowing, often side-splitting adventures she embarked on while pursuing happiness and inner peace… Throughout this consistently entertaining book, she writes with unflinching honesty—and bald hilarity, especially as she encountered deadpan reality checks from her mother, sisters, and skeptical friends—about the throes of facing her fears, tackling money issues, living in the present, opening herself up to rejection, and getting over her hang-ups with men…A winner. Bridget Jones meets Buddha in this plucky, heartwarming, comical debut memoir.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Some of her plights are hilarious; others are almost unbearably poignant. Self-help seekers will be moved and entertained by Power’s over-the-top exploits.” – Booklist (starred review)
“In this frank, funny, and occasionally heartbreaking debut, journalist Power ably lays bare her yearlong quest to live by the tenets of a different self-help book every month… Already a bestseller in Power’s native England, the book will surely find a welcoming American readership. Power’s total honesty and openness will make readers realize that, at heart, everyone has similar secret fears and insecurities.” – Publishers Weekly
“A sweet sharp read, and the last chapter made me cry. As someone a bit dubious of self-help books, it’s perfect: Power spends a year trying to live a month per book. It’s quite a fun journey through the ups and downs of negotiating ourselves through life, but underneath that is a serious, generous message, and it really does feel like you’ve learned something by the end of it.”—*Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist *
“Couldn't put this book down – Marianne's honesty and wit shone through. There's something everyone can relate to, whether or not you like self-help – just a hugely enjoyable, fantastic read.”—*Poorna Bell, author of Chase the Rainbow *
“Sublime and ridiculous, in equal measure. I tore though it hungrily. One minute I was having an existential epiphany, the next I was honking with laughter. Britain’s answer to Sarah Knight, with Amy Schumer’s naked hilarity and Matt Haig’s soul-deep profundity chucked in.”—*Catherine Gray, author of The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober *
“Marianne’s writing makes me smile and has moved me to tears more than once. She combines a journalist’s no-nonsense investigative skills with a tenderness and honesty that sets her apart... Her writing has been a starting point for so many conversations that brought me closer to friends I thought I knew intimately...In helping herself, it turned out that Marianne was helping all of us.”—**Erin Kelly, author of He Said / She Said **
“A laugh-out-loud funny book that also manages to be thought-provoking, perceptive and devastatingly honest. I loved it.”—*Lucy Diamond, author of Summer at Shell Cottage *
“Sparkling . . . a laugh-out-loud odyssey, with embarrassing incidents and downright disasters aplenty. But the real triumph of the book is the way it transcends its "Bridget Jones gazes at her navel" premise to ask searching questions both about the purported effectiveness of self-help in the light of a multi-million dollar personal development industry; and about how we can really best find contentment. If you've ever worried that self-help might be a euphemism for self-obsession, then this is a book for you.”—** Bookseller**
“Power is such an engaging writer, it’s hard not to empathise with what she’s saying . . . Plus, she’s very funny . . . Marianne Power is a delightful companion and one who (putting all natural misanthropy aside) acts a powerful reminder that the traditional ways of denigrating or demanding too much of ourselves ain’t going to get us anywhere . . . excellent.”—** Emerald Street
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“Funny and fearless, I loved Help Me! almost as much as I loved Marianne’s mum who was always on hand with some no-nonsense advice and really needs to write her own self-help book.”—** Red Magazine**
About the Author
Marianne Power is a writer and journalist who lives in London. She has written for The Daily Mail, The Irish Independent, Good Housekeeping, and Glamour, among others. Help Me! is her first book.