Don't Read That Book...

It doesn't happen often, normally I'm all about telling people OH you have to read this book or that book. Or I will say, that book was not my cup of tea. But sometimes I will completely warn someone away from a book. 

Matthew Perry died yesterday. Details are slim but he drowned in his hot tub. My guess is his heart gave out and he passed out then drowned. 

The reason I'm going with that direction is that I read his book so I know his heart was beating on borrowed time. 

Lots and lots of drug and alcohol abuse. Even when you get clean the damage you did lasts. And he did massive damage. 

It's sad. It's sad for his family. It's sad for his friends. It's sad for the fans of his work. 

Do not read his book. 

It will probably stop you from being as big of a fan. It will change the way you even view his most recognizable role. 

The funny sarcastic tone will come across as just being unnecessarily mean. 

Which, I mean, sarcasm walks that line doesn't it? It's why a lot of people hate it. Because it's often difficult to walk the playful/mean line. And for a lot of people there shouldn't be a line at all. Stop being mean for laughs. 

I'm Gen X. Sarcasm was our foundational language. We were all very sarcastic with each other. Show me your soft underbelly and it will become a joke for years. It's why a lot of Gen Xers and Boomers look at Millenials and younger and think they are too soft. "Why in my day we made fun of everything!"

And yeah we did. And we all grew up with battle scars and some wounds that didn't heal and so instead of telling our kids they were shit we built them up to believe they could DO whatever shit they wanted to. 

We (not all of us, not all of the time) got a lot less sarcastic. We tended to lean more to the joking side. So even in teasing it was done with a giant wink and a smile so the exaggeration for effect wasn't missed. 

But then...

There were those who were just mean. Who never figured out that line. And when you go back and watch old episodes of Friends after reading Matthew Perry's book and knowing that Chandler was written to be like him and you hear some of those lines you think...dude...that's just mean. 

So don't read his book. Don't get tempted to go back and pick it up in honor of his life. Just don't. 

Enjoy the memories of his work. The laughter that you got and can still get if you haven't read the book. 

I have a lot of good memories of Friends. I spent a lot of time with them. I still can do the required "Oh my god it's Chandler Bing!" impression. I can still do the phrasing where BE is emphasized. I can still find the jokes. 

I hope he found peace this past year. I hope he exorcised some demons and was able to find his worth. I hope all of those things happened for him. 

And I also recommend you never read his book.