Guts
The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster
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5.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
The New York Times bestseller—a harrowing and hysterical memoir by the two-time Emmy Award-winning actress from the hit television show 3rd Rock from the Sun.
“It felt like I was speeding on the Autobahn toward hell, trapped inside a DeLorean with no brakes. And even if I could somehow stop, I’d still be screwed, because there’s no way I’d ever be able to figure out how to open those insane, cocaine-designed doors.”
Actress Kristen Johnston has written her first book, a surprisingly raw and triumphant memoir that is outrageous, moving, sweet, tragic, and heartbreakingly honest. Guts is a true achievement—a memoir that manages to be as frank and revealing as Augusten Burroughs, yet as hilarious and witty as David Sedaris. Johnston takes us on a journey so truthful and relatable, so remarkably fresh, it promises to stay with you for a long, long time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A stage actress whose most famous role was as Sally Solomon in TV's 3rd Rock from the Sun, Johnston offers a brash, loud, expletive-peppered, unapologetic account of her manic drug-and-alcohol-infused career. Hailing from a wealthy suburb of Milwaukee, Wis., and growing to be six feet tall by the time she was 12, Johnston felt like a "freak" at her Catholic grade school, learning early on that being funny was the way to deflect nasty criticism by other kids. She took naturally to the stage, studying theater at NYU under the benevolent influence of a certain gay stage actor she refers to only as "David" (many of the details are pretty sketchy, as Johnston skates from one subject to the next). Fame suddenly struck with 3rd Rock, starring John Lithgow, along with heavy painkillers and alcohol abuse, and yo-yoing weight gain; in 2006, while doing a play in London, acute peritonitis caused extended hospitalization, surgery, and deep self-examination. In her sarcastic, self-deprecating manner ("I'm a lying, pill-popping lush" is a typical self-appraisal), Johnston re-creates her desperate hospital episode and subsequent rehab in Arizona. Coming clean, she says in her unsubtle, genuine memoir, hasn't lifted her sense of being a freak, but it has liberated her from a lot of shame and self-destruction.
Customer Reviews
Life changer.
This book changed my life. Kristen brilliantly writes with grit, wit and candor. She captures the grips of addiction and shares an intimate narrative of the reality of having overwhelming feelings that you simply cannot deal with sober that deeply resonates with me. I read "Guts" in one sitting. And then I did it again. And again. Kristen taught me that silence is deadly. And I stopped using. I will forever be grateful.
Buy this book.