Review of Don't Mind Me, I'm Just Having a Bad Life

Beata hoff · Post by **Beata hoff** » 26 Aug 2021, 12:19

[Following is a volunteer review of "Don't Mind Me, I'm Just Having a Bad Life" by Lewis Kempfer.]

4 out of 4 stars

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I don’t know what I was expecting but this amazing, hard-hitting amusement park ride wasn’t it. Just like with the best rides (some of which Lewis Kempfer designed!) this memoir has agonizingly slow upward treks followed by impossibly fast falls as the author takes you from his Colorado childhood in the seventies up into his stint in Phoenix as a dinner entertainer and PR manager. Then through his life in Nashville as a country singer, theatre actor, director and producer. Until finally going down into Los Angeles where he was an Imagineer at Disney. Lewis Kempfer has lead an interesting life doing a range of things I think most of us only dream of doing which makes for an interesting read. What really kept my interest was the way he describes his descent into addiction in such a matter of fact way that you feel you are there with him.

Lewis Kempfer has an amazing talent in that he can retell the most terrifying parts of his life with such frankness and humor that you find yourself laughing at otherwise horrific scenarios. Don’t mind me I’m just having a bad life hits you in the heart and then keeps on hitting. At times gritty and bleak, you will appreciate the candor and sarcastic hindsight that he brings to the telling. I don’t think I’ve laughed and cried this much over an autobiography since I read Let’s pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson.

My heart broke for the boy Lewis used to be and for his mother doing the best she could with what she had — for the reality of abuse that far too many face each day. I found adult Lewis infinitely relatable, endearing, and funny in his struggle with self-doubt, addiction, and depression. His is a story of trying to find ‘fairytale’ true love while struggling to love himself.

The world makes it hard to be good when faced with so much temptation. The struggle to find and ‘keep’ God amid a cacophony of religion and belief is woven through this memoir like the thinnest golden thread, but it is nevertheless an underpinning theme.

Don’t mind me I’m just having a bad life deserves four out of four stars for its gritty but poignant storyline and for the witty way in which Lewis Kempfer tells it. This book is not for the young or squeamish as it has adult content of a sexual and abusive nature as well as content that could be considered triggering for those suffering from depression or addiction.

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Don't Mind Me, I'm Just Having a Bad Life
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