Just finished - Nobody Cares by Anne T. Donahue ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Synopsis : A collection of essays from writer Anne T. Donahue, author of the Thats What She Said newsletter and host of the Nobody Cares (Except for Me) podcast. @annetdonahue
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Review : Excuse me, but was Anne Donahue spying on my childhood because this essay collection is relatable af! When I got to the essay about Leonardo DiCaprio I knew that Anne understood me on a fairly deep level considering we have never met 😂 Anne’s writing is witty and funny recounting tales of awkward teenage life with that dreamy nostalgia of the 90s all current 30-something’s have! She writes passionately about things that interest her (Leo, One Direction) but also with great clarity and maturity on topics such as sobriety, dealing with mental heath issues, impostor syndrome and facing ours and others morality. Ok, so maybe semi-maturity but definitely on a level I could connect with. Her writing is empowering and encouraging for the reader, reminding them that no one truly cares what they do, so why not be yourself and do what you love.
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Thanks to @netgalley and @ecwpress for the review copy. Nobody Cares is out now and I highly recommend checking it out!

3.5 Stars

A book of essays that is part memoir, part critique, it reads like a friend wrote a letter to you. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments mixed in with reflective moments.

I really enjoyed this delightful book of essays. They were easy to read and so relatable to things I have gone through in my life. Now as a 30 something I can look back through my struggles and see where they have taken me similar to the author. Anne takes you on a journey through her anxiety, heavy drinking and search for a job/meaning in her life. I especially enjoyed all the 90's throwbacks throughout the book. I laughed and nodded along throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley, ECW Press and Anne T. Donahue for an ARC ebook copy for review. As always, an honest review from me.

My rating is actually 3.5 stars, but since there aren’t half stars I always round up.

Nobody Cares is funny, poignant, relatable and ridiculous in all the best ways. Through the author’s essays we experience her highs and lows, struggles and life lessons learned. She’s like the older sister/friend with the cautionary life tales to help you feel less alone and avoid her mistakes. Number 1 being figure out your stuff, be vulnerable and don’t be afraid to seek therapy. It will save you a lot of difficulty and heartache along the years.

I really liked her honesty. She says the things that people often sugar coat, without going out of her way to be edgy and dramatic. Her story is so dang (damn? I still feel bad about swearing in reviews, like I’m going to get in trouble for doing so) relatable. The life lessons that she passes on to the reader are validating.

However, some of the stories bounce around a bit so there’s an adjustment when reading. Also, it became redundant reading about her making the same mistakes multiple times. While it’s authentic to her and life in general, I felt frustrated after awhile.

Overall, an incredibly relatable and funny memoir of essays. I think the tone of the book is best summer up by this quote.

“In our small section of the galaxy, many of us are dealing with things that aren’t ours enough to talk about, but are still ours enough that we have to deal with them.” Bam! That’s so it.

Anne T. Donahue has laid her soul bare to the world in this book.

Nobody Cares is witty, raw and honest. At times it is a memoir, telling anecdotes from the author’s past to explain her attitudes to family and relationships, death and growing-up. At other times the essays are directly addressed to the reader (yes, you!) and form more of a self-help narrative or intimate pep talk, as she lists her own perceived failings and reassures us that we are not alone in ours.

The essays here cover a multitude of topics, from mental health and addiction, relationships and growing-up, feminism, religion, family, death and grief. Every story, every piece of advice is offered in intimate, conversational style, and the author generously shares tips and insight from her own experiences, counselling sessions and personal ‘aha moments’.

There is some repetition or overlap between some of the anecdotes, but they are told differently, in order to illustrate different points, so this does not detract from the book as a whole.

This book is about being a hot mess, but that actually that is alright, because we are all (or most of us, at least) hot and messy in our own ways, and whilst there are ways to become metaphorically cooler and tidier, it is really up to us what we do and how we muddle through. It is a paean to self-love and self-care without any condescension or po-faced lecturing, and I recommend it to everyone who feels they need a concerned friend to tell them it like it is.



And for the first time in years, I didn’t give a shit about being important.

Which is a relief, because I’m not. None of us are. Nobody’s looking at us, nobody cares – everybody’s obsessed with their own Thing. Most of the time we’re all just trying our best. And sometimes we fall and other times we don’t, but we’re sure as shit not better than anybody else before or after the fact. If you can look at your life and feel confident that you’re doing something you love and giving it all you’ve got, I think that’s enough. Especially since not even a tidal wave of third-party congratulations will make you feel better if you don’t already like where you’re at. No amount of RSVPs, no parties, no Cool Guys From Whatever City Is Hip Right Now’s adulations. No book deals. You are always left with being yourself.

– Anne T. Donahue, Nobody Cares

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

I had high hopes for this book. The cover is just gorgeous and I'd heard good things. I really enjoyed the first few essays, but after that I thought they were just okay. There were just a lot of experiences of hers that I can't personally relate to and I just didn't enjoy reading them. Other people will definitely be able to relate to this more than I will.

If you've read and are a fan of her newsletter then I think you'd love this. I hadn't and so it felt a bit odd to read her memoir as I didn't know her or follow her, I mistakenly thought this was a self-help book similar to 'the life changing magic of not giving a....'

There were some essays/chapters that I particularly enjoyed.

My main bug bear was that my copy had no numbers. or dates for example it would say 'then in late , I revved back up again' or 'flu like % of time' which was frustrating. I assume this would be sorted for the release.

This is a an easy to read memoir, with funny anecdotal essays in chapters with a good message.I'd recommended it if I knew you were a fan but otherwise I wouldn't tell people to rush out and get it.

I finished this book and felt sort of ambivalent about it. Some chapters were more interesting than others. Some chapters had some insightful moments. Some were a bit boring. I wouldn't go out of my way to read something else by the author.

Funny, well written memoir. I could relate to quite a few of the essays in this book.Anne T. Donahue entertains us with stories of work, school, failure, motivation and so much more. I had to order a copy for my sister I know she can relate.

I related to Anne so much while reading this that I had to set the book down and quickly google her birthday. I immediately knew she was a fellow Virgo! Before she even mentioned it herself! Her thoughts and reaction to death are insanely relatable. “I hate the look you get when somebody finds out you’ve lost someone, or the way you’re confronted with other people’s grief while grappling with your own.”

I wish someone handed me this book when I was 20 and not 30 so I had some sort of guidance through the last 10 years of my life. Many things she touches on like feminism, confidence, self-love are all things I’ve already worked so hard on and continue daily to master. So while this was no tool for me to discover something new about myself, I had many moments of saying “AHA, YES EXACTLY, PREACH GIRL.”

While I’ve always despised those people who trash their hometown and act superior, I can appreciate a person who in retrospect, admits they were wrong and “faking it.” Most people with that mindset arrive there and never return from it. “We are always the sum of where we’ve been and what we’ve done.”

This book is all about personal growth and I think many young women can learn from it. I certainly will be passing it on to my little sister, cousins and younger friends. Wonderful read!

I feel like I ghostwrote this book. So much of it could apply to my life, either as I was growing up or as I exist right now. Some of the messages that Donahue puts across are things that I needed to hear, at this moment in time, and I think that it'll appeal to a wide variety of people in that respect. Whether she's talking about the natural dissatisfaction of the introvert (no, I don't want to go to your party, I'd rather sit in my bed and watch vine compilations), the constant cloud of anxiety (sponteneaity makes me nervous, for example I HAVE to look at a menu before we go anywhere) but this collection really gives me hope. It's a slim little edition but it packs an almighty punch. For those of us in our twenties, still trying to figure out what the hell we're doing, this is a must-read.

Anne Donahue's collection of essays were very enjoyable and often times relatable. I think many 30 somethings can relate to the essays. I appreciated that she admits that she prefers to stay home, and that is ok! But she also recognizes when her mental illness is taking over. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of humorous essays!

Nobody Cares is a collection of essays on life in your 20's and 30's. It reads very much like you're just having a chat with a friend. Anne T Donahue has a very distinctive writing style and gives a unique perspective. This book contains some excellent advice and insight and makes for an enjoyable read.

Anne T. Donahue's #NobodyCares is a nice collection of honest and humorous essays. Some of them I related to more than others. I particularly found her Leo obsession funny. I also enjoyed the essay where she discusses that "it's okay to feel bad because things are bad." I think that everyone should at least consider reading her book even to just check out a few of her essays. My personal favorite was "While in the Awful.," it felt the most inspired. Thanks to the author, #NetGalley, and ECW press for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

DNF at 53%.

I'm putting this one on hold right now. It's not bad, but the first two essays started out SOOOO good, but then after that it just turned into stories I couldn't really relate to so it wasn't as funny. I think i'm gonna wait until this comes out and it's available on audiobook, then I'll enjoy it much more as a memoir then. If I knew the author from her previous work or social media then I might have enough interest to continue, but as someone who's never heard of her, I was just questioning why her stories matter, and it was too distracting to be able to continue.

I’m not sure if it was the copy sent but it seemed like a lot of the numbers were missing when Anne was talking about how much she was paid or how old she was. However, even with the numbers missing it didn’t change how I felt about the book or how I understood her stories. From the beginning, a lot of the essays that Anne wrote about hit home for me. Often I felt that this could have been my story. It was comforting that the things I’ve gone through I not unique to me be that others people understand. There were only a few times I felt like her essays were just a rant that kept going on forever. Definitely a great book and I’m considering on following her newsletter.

Nobody Cares is an appropriate title for this book because I certainly didn't care for most of it. Donahue is a mess, by her own admission. Hopping from job to job, she eventually amassed so much debt she had to move back in with her parents. I'm wondering how this book got published because it's just her ramblings strung together with absolutely no semblemce of order. She mentioned writing a blog, I think she just mined it for material or copied and pasted and tried to pass it off as a book. I appreciate her views on organized religion and the part about her relatives' demise is touching, but found little else of what she had to say interesting.

I would like to thank both NetGalley and ECW Press for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Nobody Cares’ in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

This book is made up of short essays. They are honest, fair, funny and at time harsh. You find yourself agreeing with everything that Anne T Donahue is saying.
It almost felt like I was in the essays and re living it all

Hilarious, thoughtful and brutally honest. These essays about different stages of life, mental illness and family are ones that I found myself nodding along to. The way that Anne wrote her essays I saw myself in many of them. Completely relatable for many women in their 20's; I hope that this book finds its way onto many women's shelves and in their hands.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free review copy of this book. My opinion is my own.

Anne T. Donahue’s slim book of essays is full of panache, humor, and honesty. Anne writes about everything from her experience growing up in the Catholic Church to her anxiety and alcoholism to reasons why she hates brunch. From the first page to the last, Anne’s self-deprecating humor had me laughing and listening.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has anxiety or anyone who just needs to be reminded that NOBODY CARES what pants you’re wearing or what you said last week to the barista (as long as it wasn’t mean).

A wonderful debut from an insightful, funny voice.