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Hard Laughter
Anne Lamott's poignant first novel Hard Laughter , reissued in an attractive new edition.
Writer (and sometime housecleaner) Jennifer is twenty-three when her beloved father, Wallace, is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This catastrophic discovery sets off Anne Lamott's unexpectedly sweet and funny first novel, which is made dramatic not so much by Wallace's illness as by the emotional wake it sweeps under Jen and her brothers, self-contained Ben and feckless, lovable Randy. With characteristic affection and accuracy, Lamott sketches this offbeat family and their nearest and dearest as they draw ever closer in the intimacy Jen prizes "among the other estimable things: good music, good hard laughter, good sex, good industry, and good books."
Writer (and sometime housecleaner) Jennifer is twenty-three when her beloved father, Wallace, is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This catastrophic discovery sets off Anne Lamott's unexpectedly sweet and funny first novel, which is made dramatic not so much by Wallace's illness as by the emotional wake it sweeps under Jen and her brothers, self-contained Ben and feckless, lovable Randy. With characteristic affection and accuracy, Lamott sketches this offbeat family and their nearest and dearest as they draw ever closer in the intimacy Jen prizes "among the other estimable things: good music, good hard laughter, good sex, good industry, and good books."
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 1979
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3076 people want to read
About the author
Anne Lamott
86 books10.3k followersAnne Lamott is an author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her non-fiction works are largely autobiographical, with strong doses of self-deprecating humor and covering such subjects as alcoholism, single motherhood, and Christianity. She appeals to her fans because of her sense of humor, her deeply felt insights, and her outspoken views on topics such as her left-of-center politics and her unconventional Christian faith. She is a graduate of Drew College Preparatory School in San Francisco, California. Her father, Kenneth Lamott, was also a writer and was the basis of her first novel Hard Laughter.
Lamott's life is documented in Freida Lee Mock's 1999 documentary Bird by Bird: A Film Portrait of Writer Anne Lamott.
Lamott's life is documented in Freida Lee Mock's 1999 documentary Bird by Bird: A Film Portrait of Writer Anne Lamott.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews
December 31, 2007
This was a book I thought about giving up on many times. There are three reasons why I continued: 1) I want to like Anne Lamott's fiction because I so loved Bird by Bird, 2) the theme of the book -- dealing with a father's failing health -- was a personal connection, and 3) I hoped to find an answer to why the author would choose to give her 23-year old protagonist a best friend who was only 10 years old.
In the end, I liked moment of Anne Lamott's fiction. I would give her another try because I have faith that from her first novel, she only developed a better sense of how to write one. I loved the way the novel ended, incomplete and hopeful. But I still hated, truly hated, that the character Megan was only ten years old but sounded like she was thirty. I have met many precocious young people (I'm a teacher, after all), but her character was altogether unbelievable and irritating.
In the end, I liked moment of Anne Lamott's fiction. I would give her another try because I have faith that from her first novel, she only developed a better sense of how to write one. I loved the way the novel ended, incomplete and hopeful. But I still hated, truly hated, that the character Megan was only ten years old but sounded like she was thirty. I have met many precocious young people (I'm a teacher, after all), but her character was altogether unbelievable and irritating.
November 22, 2008
Give me anything by Anne Lamott and I will read it.
August 29, 2014
I think many nonfiction books should be pamphlets.
This novel should have been a short story. A very, very short story.
Yes, it is, at times, funny and sweet but good god, make something happen. <- What I was thinking, during most of the book.
Like many, I'm sure, I picked up Hard Laughter because I love Lamott's take on Shitty First Drafts; I thought I ought to read some of her fiction so as to see what she was talking about in Bird by Bird.
So now I have, and won't make that mistake again!
This novel should have been a short story. A very, very short story.
Yes, it is, at times, funny and sweet but good god, make something happen. <- What I was thinking, during most of the book.
Like many, I'm sure, I picked up Hard Laughter because I love Lamott's take on Shitty First Drafts; I thought I ought to read some of her fiction so as to see what she was talking about in Bird by Bird.
So now I have, and won't make that mistake again!
January 5, 2010
I was expecting this book to cover the whole bell curve of her father's illness, from diagnosis of brain tumor to passing, concentrating heavily on things like days visiting him in hospital, ethical quandaries, and a daughter's hagiography of her father.
Instead it was more like Some Several Months In The Life Of The Author, During Which Her Father Begins Treatment For A Possibly Malignant Tumor. It was much, much more about the protagonist (the author), her thoughts and life. And it is therefore much less emotionally wringing in the way I expected it to be, and therefore also much funnier, and touching, and excellently, honestly written.
This is the first book I can think of, that I can remember, where I was laughing loudly out loud and then crying sobbingly and then laughing great snorting laughs again, within three paragraphs. Or perhaps five. And without a trace of sentimentality.
Delicious, and, despite the long tracts on mental illness and neuroses, incredibly wholesome. Love.
Instead it was more like Some Several Months In The Life Of The Author, During Which Her Father Begins Treatment For A Possibly Malignant Tumor. It was much, much more about the protagonist (the author), her thoughts and life. And it is therefore much less emotionally wringing in the way I expected it to be, and therefore also much funnier, and touching, and excellently, honestly written.
This is the first book I can think of, that I can remember, where I was laughing loudly out loud and then crying sobbingly and then laughing great snorting laughs again, within three paragraphs. Or perhaps five. And without a trace of sentimentality.
Delicious, and, despite the long tracts on mental illness and neuroses, incredibly wholesome. Love.
June 11, 2008
This is a must-read for anyone whose family has survived tragedy and loss with love and dark humor. I love this family because it reminds me of my own. Anne's struggle to cope with her father's terminal illness hit very, very close to home. I love this book.
October 8, 2007
When I interviewed Anne Lamott in 1999, she said "Hard Laughter" was her worst book. I have not read all of her books, but I've read "Bird by Bird," which I found to be a wonderful guide to good writing; "Tender Mercies," and "Operating Instructions." Unlike these non-fiction books, "Hard Laughter" is billed as a novel, yet anyone familiar with Lamott's life knows much of the book is autobiographical. I have not read any of Lamott's other novels. But of the books I have read, "Hard Laughter" \ is by far my least favorite. She told me that she was still drinking when she wrote the book, and I found it to be a bit amateurish at times, perhaps reflective of her lack of sobriety. The book bears Lamott's trademark wit and sarcasm, but they're just not as effective as they are in her other books. Don't let this be your first Lamott book to read. Rather, start with a great one -- perhaps one of the three I mentinoned. I've heard other writers rave about "Bird by Bird." I saw "Operating Instructions" listed at the bottom of a list of the top 100 or so non-fiction works of the 20th century or whatever. I thought that was a bit overplayed, but any overwhelmed mother can identify with it. As for "Traveling Mercies," I just thoroughly loved it.
June 15, 2015
This one will stick with me. Not because it was a page-turner, or incredible plot twists, or anything I can really put my finger on. It was a story of a family and how they handled the father's brain tumor. And it wasn't necessarily different or unique than how the rest of us might handle it in real life. Which is why it was so good. It was just so true. And Lamott's characters are really real, and even if you are different than the basic outlines of the characters, she writes them in such a way that you can see pieces of yourself and of those people in your own inner circle inside them. And their feelings are ones that we all feel. The way she captures those crazy thoughts is spot-on and great to read.
Highly recommend. With a glass of whiskey even.
Highly recommend. With a glass of whiskey even.
November 16, 2020
1.5★
I can’t exactly remember why I wanted to read this one, although it had something to do with the author - her name was mentioned somewhere, but I can’t remember the context. Anyway I saw my library had it as an audiobook (not a print copy or an ebook), so I reserved it, it came in and I listened to it. I’m not sure whether it was the best book to listen to as an audiobook, but it was kind of slow, my mind kept wandering, and then I’d tune back in to wonder how we got to be talking about characters which I had no idea who they were! But I was never worried enough to go back and tune in again!
There was more swearing and casual sex than I’d expected. And I expected - or at least, hoped - that the book would improve as it continued, but the last track, which went for 64 min, had the most tedious listening of the whole book!
This was her first novel, so perhaps the others are better…? Or perhaps not. I might give her the benefit of the doubt and try another one, but I’m in no hurry!
I can’t exactly remember why I wanted to read this one, although it had something to do with the author - her name was mentioned somewhere, but I can’t remember the context. Anyway I saw my library had it as an audiobook (not a print copy or an ebook), so I reserved it, it came in and I listened to it. I’m not sure whether it was the best book to listen to as an audiobook, but it was kind of slow, my mind kept wandering, and then I’d tune back in to wonder how we got to be talking about characters which I had no idea who they were! But I was never worried enough to go back and tune in again!
There was more swearing and casual sex than I’d expected. And I expected - or at least, hoped - that the book would improve as it continued, but the last track, which went for 64 min, had the most tedious listening of the whole book!
This was her first novel, so perhaps the others are better…? Or perhaps not. I might give her the benefit of the doubt and try another one, but I’m in no hurry!
September 9, 2014
This is Anne Lamott’s first novel. It is also the first Anne Lamott novel I read.
Maybe if I didn’t know her themes so well, it wouldn’t have felt so painfully, awkwardly autobiographical, but because I have read some of her memoirs, I cringed at how transparently the sweet but screwy protagonist, Jennifer, represented the author.
Jennifer is 23 and her father has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor. She seems to have an unacknowledged drinking problem. She isn’t religious but the numinous haunts her. She is obsessed with her skin and hair. She is zany. Her family is oh-so-delightfully quirky, as are her deeply troubled neighbors in the hippie wilds of Marin County. She refers to a ten-year-old as her friend, very earnestly if adorably, as if relying on a ten-year-old for emotional succor, and subjecting the child to one’s romantic woes, is OK and charmingly eccentric, not messed up.
So, basically, it’s a novel that isn’t as good as the memoirs that follow but which tracks the themes of the later memoirs.
However, Lamott’s voice is great, and there is a vividness to her descriptions, and a pleasing (if too cute) candor to her discussion of her home, romantic life, and emotional stability. I will try another Lamott novel, methinks.
Maybe if I didn’t know her themes so well, it wouldn’t have felt so painfully, awkwardly autobiographical, but because I have read some of her memoirs, I cringed at how transparently the sweet but screwy protagonist, Jennifer, represented the author.
Jennifer is 23 and her father has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor. She seems to have an unacknowledged drinking problem. She isn’t religious but the numinous haunts her. She is obsessed with her skin and hair. She is zany. Her family is oh-so-delightfully quirky, as are her deeply troubled neighbors in the hippie wilds of Marin County. She refers to a ten-year-old as her friend, very earnestly if adorably, as if relying on a ten-year-old for emotional succor, and subjecting the child to one’s romantic woes, is OK and charmingly eccentric, not messed up.
So, basically, it’s a novel that isn’t as good as the memoirs that follow but which tracks the themes of the later memoirs.
However, Lamott’s voice is great, and there is a vividness to her descriptions, and a pleasing (if too cute) candor to her discussion of her home, romantic life, and emotional stability. I will try another Lamott novel, methinks.
May 14, 2019
The main thing I would say about this book is that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. That doesn't just mean I would specifically say "Don't read this" - but also literally, I can't think of anyone I'd say "Here, read this" to, and that's unusual for me. With pretty much any book, I can think of one or two specific people who I think would like it, get something out of it, what have you. But this one...it's so..meh. It's so oddly written...it's partially stream-of-consciousness, but the bad part. It's partially Real Life but in a very fake-feeling way. It feels almost like it should have been two separate books that the author decided to mush up into one.
The funniest thing is the reason I bought it in the first place is that it was a "staff recommendation" book at my local bookstore. Guess that tells me something about some of their staff...
The funniest thing is the reason I bought it in the first place is that it was a "staff recommendation" book at my local bookstore. Guess that tells me something about some of their staff...
June 4, 2012
I think this is not a great book.....but it's a funny, serious telling of a short period of life. Mostly Anne Lamotts life, probably. And I was always savoring the time that I spent reading her story and salivating for the time when I could get back to it and hear what happened next. I began to wish I lived around the corner from Anne Lamott. I think I felt like I could be friends her character, Jen, and this novel was kind of like a chat at the coffee shop with her.
The story that can draw you in and make you think and make you laugh is special. I can't really say why I liked this book. I just did!
I'll be reading more of Lamott.
The story that can draw you in and make you think and make you laugh is special. I can't really say why I liked this book. I just did!
I'll be reading more of Lamott.
May 28, 2011
I was trying to read the Anne Lamott books in order, but I just got this 1979 one, after I had started my reading, so it's out of order. So I already know a lot of the facts of the (apparently, most autobiographical) story from reading the other books. Still, there's lots in the book besides the facts. I'm enjoying getting to know this Anne Lamott. It's like finally getting to meet a friend of friends--I've heard so much about her.
December 31, 2013
I love Lamott's voice. the dialogue in this book is some of her best writing. The characters are perfectly drawn. Worth reading!
July 4, 2007
Anne Lamott is someone you have to read to understand. That seems obvious, but my thought was that she was some Christian author in the vain of Don Miller, Rob Bell. I thought this because I have read both Miller and Bells books and they have references to Lamott and how much they enjoy her work. My assumption could not be more off. Lamott writes with humor and strange clairty. She has details in the setting and characters that are truly brillant. Hard Laughter is not a overly happy book and I found it a little weird my wife recommened for me to read it on our honeymoon but none the less I loved it. The topics brought up in this book are realistic (drinking, drugs, sex, despair, burnouts, cancer, death) all of the frustration of family and death is present. If you've never read a fiction memoir give this a shot.
January 29, 2011
Another plotless wonder. LOVED it. Would probably have given it five stars had my attention not wandered a few times. Some conversations go on forever and you sort of lose touch with the point. But otherwise, VERY funny. I 'laughed hard' a number of times. So much so that I slipped into one of those silent fits where tears start streaming your face. Being Lamott's debut, I can't wait to start reading more of her more recent works!
September 25, 2022
I won't say it was awful...there were times when it was funny and heart breaking...but overall the book didn't grab me...and it was a struggle to read it. I did like the chapters being one thought about something...the story wasn't totally continuous...but I guess I will have to try again when I am in the mood for something like this...
May 14, 2018
I'm a dedicated Anne Lamott enthusiast but this book was not a good read for me. As hard as I tried I could only make it half way before I had to quit. Three stars is generous, but maybe you'll have a better experience with it...
March 11, 2015
Good writing...crazy time era!
April 20, 2019
I’m giving up and I’m half way through. The writing is good but the story isn’t compelling for me at this time.
July 30, 2023
Best depiction of the physical and mental routines people and families perform when working their way through grief. It shows how life continues when you feel like it shouldn’t. It’s an empathetic story that makes other people lost in grief feel that they truly aren’t losing their minds, but that they’re making it through, one moment at a time. Mixed with classic Anne Lamott humor, it ends up weird and endearing, and I think she’d be proud of that.
May 12, 2020
Heartwarming and wrenching. I've only read Anne Lamott's nonfiction, and I'm so glad I started at the beginning. She writes like a good friend. A crazy good friend, but that's the best sort, isn't it?
April 23, 2025
I absolutely love Anne Lamott. I have read several of her books and decided that I want to try and read all of her books. Hard Laughter is the very first novel that she wrote. This book is basically a commentary about life and death, why bad things happen to good people, etc., told through stories about the family in the book, and it's very autobiographical. With a father (Wallace) recently diagnosed with a brain tumor, a significant other who is hardly significant, and a neurotic dream consultant for a best friend, it seems hard to believe that Jennifer, the main character of Anne Lamott's book, could find anything to laugh about. And yet, as the title suggests, she not only finds some hard laughter in the situation, but also realizes that laughter is, in fact, one of the things that makes life worth the struggle. The ending is such a celebration of family and life, and it leaves us in the moment, without knowing about Wallace's cancer. Good solid book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
May 7, 2025
In your 20s and feeling lost? This book IS you.
February 2, 2025
I'd have ditched this book about 50 pages in if I weren't reading it for a group. I ended up skimming the last half simply to end it. Nothing happens in this book. It's a series of weird vignettes from a town of even weirder characters with unconventional relationships. Would not recommend.
September 17, 2025
Dnf but not saying it was bad just wasn’t for me
October 29, 2024
This was published in 1979 and at times feels really dated-- sometimes it's fine (a scoop of ice cream costs $0.65) and sometimes it's nonsensical (a swastika is drawn on a character's car and she and her friend just wipe it off and...it's never mentioned again). There's a lot of drinking, a fair amount of drinking and driving.
But once I focused on the timeless positives I felt better about it. The family really cares for each other and it feels authentic. There are intergenerational friendships and what we'd now think of as female empowerment but it's just presented as normal.
This takes place mostly in Marin County (a fictional Bolinas maybe) and in the wider Bay Area (I loved the Swenson's reference in Russian Hill). It's a novel of character driven vignettes and I did come to really care about the characters. I've been appreciating reading older books for the perspective they provide.
But once I focused on the timeless positives I felt better about it. The family really cares for each other and it feels authentic. There are intergenerational friendships and what we'd now think of as female empowerment but it's just presented as normal.
This takes place mostly in Marin County (a fictional Bolinas maybe) and in the wider Bay Area (I loved the Swenson's reference in Russian Hill). It's a novel of character driven vignettes and I did come to really care about the characters. I've been appreciating reading older books for the perspective they provide.
January 13, 2019
This book was a struggle to read/want to read/finish. Another reviewer said "it's written in stream-of-consciousness style..the bad part." I agree. There were moments that I enjoyed, but this should have been much shorter. Like a twelve page short story instead of a 290 page novel. The plot describes a close-knit family comprised of dad (Wallace) and three adult-children (Ben, Jen, Randy) as they navigate life after Wallace is diagnosed with a brain tumor then endures surgery and radiation therapy. I enjoyed the scenes with Wallace (aside from him and Jen skinny dipping together in a hot spring?!?) and the camaraderie between the siblings as they lean on each other during such an unstable time, but not much else. Lamott describes the main character, Jen (a writer), struggling to write during certain scenes, and it made me think that maybe this part was autobiographical, perhaps even describing this very novel. I kept skipping ahead by ten, fifteen, then fifty pages at a time just to move along. It got slightly better at the very end, but I still didn't enjoy the story. Disappointed because I've read other books by her and they were truly great. Then again, this was her first novel, and she was grieving her father (been there, I was a total mess and couldn’t have strung any kind of story together) so I won't hold it against her. I hold her other books, overflowing with wisdom, in high regard and will continue to read them.
August 18, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed this. The book cover says "It is a moving and strangely joyful book, a kind of celebration, and it is written with assurance far beyond the reach of most first novelists."
Lamott has a gift for nailing interactions between family members, some of which I've had to read out loud to my spouse. And, along the way, I've learned a couple of new words, like "scintillant" and "hebephrenia," which might give you pause about putting this on your reading list. But, how can you not love a book with a passage like the following:
----
Wallace brought us here countless times when we were young, with Randy in a baby pack on his back. He held Ben and me by the hand when we walked out onto the slippery reef to inspect the tidepools. We always pleaded with him to let go of our hands, so that we could inspect the life in the pools more closely, and he would say, "Every time I let go of your hands, at least one of you falls in, and then you complain all the way home because you're cold and wet and sandy."
"But that was last time," we would say. "We're older now."
"All right," he would say, and let go.
Ben and I would bend down to put our fingers in the sea anemones or to watch a sea snail crawl from behind a magenta algae into a new shell, and one or both of us would slide into the ankle-deep water, and then complain all the way home.
----
??
Lamott has a gift for nailing interactions between family members, some of which I've had to read out loud to my spouse. And, along the way, I've learned a couple of new words, like "scintillant" and "hebephrenia," which might give you pause about putting this on your reading list. But, how can you not love a book with a passage like the following:
----
Wallace brought us here countless times when we were young, with Randy in a baby pack on his back. He held Ben and me by the hand when we walked out onto the slippery reef to inspect the tidepools. We always pleaded with him to let go of our hands, so that we could inspect the life in the pools more closely, and he would say, "Every time I let go of your hands, at least one of you falls in, and then you complain all the way home because you're cold and wet and sandy."
"But that was last time," we would say. "We're older now."
"All right," he would say, and let go.
Ben and I would bend down to put our fingers in the sea anemones or to watch a sea snail crawl from behind a magenta algae into a new shell, and one or both of us would slide into the ankle-deep water, and then complain all the way home.
----
??
February 17, 2017
I really liked this book. It wasn't a "can't put it down until it's finished" book, but it definitely kept me interested. I had checked it out from the library, and since it was an interlibrary loan I could only renew it twice and had to renew it before I reached the end. I definitely felt the need to have closure with these characters and had to request this book again, which I ended up finishing in one sitting.
I really enjoyed Anne Lamott's characters and how real they felt to me. I actually believed that if I lived in California during that time period, I could easily run into any of those characters. I even feel like I know some people similar to those characters in my present day life. The irony was that I started reading this book at about the same time that my own father was diagnosed with Cancer, only his was Stage 4 throat Cancer. It was helpful seeing the way the siblings in the story reacted similar to me and my siblings have.
I really enjoyed Anne Lamott's characters and how real they felt to me. I actually believed that if I lived in California during that time period, I could easily run into any of those characters. I even feel like I know some people similar to those characters in my present day life. The irony was that I started reading this book at about the same time that my own father was diagnosed with Cancer, only his was Stage 4 throat Cancer. It was helpful seeing the way the siblings in the story reacted similar to me and my siblings have.
January 15, 2017
I heard about Anne Lamott through a random quote of hers that really touched me. : "The reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is NUTS on the same day."
Earth-shattering and profound, I said. I must read more from this Wise One!
That led me to Hard Laughter.
The story is about a family that deals with the father's diagnosis of a brain tumor. It could go all dreary and maudlin based on that topic, but is obviously NOT Lamott's writing style.
She takes us through LIFE as the family processes this hand of cards they are dealt. They do it with hard laughter... clever puns, goofy dialogue with one another, good music and love for one another.
It's a story about a family and how "Life Works"!!
Earth-shattering and profound, I said. I must read more from this Wise One!
That led me to Hard Laughter.
The story is about a family that deals with the father's diagnosis of a brain tumor. It could go all dreary and maudlin based on that topic, but is obviously NOT Lamott's writing style.
She takes us through LIFE as the family processes this hand of cards they are dealt. They do it with hard laughter... clever puns, goofy dialogue with one another, good music and love for one another.
It's a story about a family and how "Life Works"!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews