Guts
The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster
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4.4 • 393 Ratings
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- $13.99
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
Highly recommend!
Real, relatable, shocking & of course, FUNNY! Highly recommend!
Guts
Wow, I have lived a very different life from Kristen's but I identified with everything she wrote. I have the same story, only different. The parts that count; the dark night of the soul, the suffering, the need to blot out the pain and the chickering that my damned head committee constantly made, all of these are part of my story too. What a great and inspiring read! Loved it, and I now feel I know and love Kristen too.
Never a big fan
Did not know much about Kristen and cannot remember where I heard about this book but am so thankful I found it! We all have our demons & lying has always been mine. Reading her truth has made it easier to speak mine. It is scary but it also is a huge relief. Well played, well played.