The End of the World Notwithstanding: Stories I Lived to Tell

by Janna L. Goodwin

Rife with misadventures, brushes with death, and moments of existential insight, The End of the World Notwithstanding is a hilarious yet reflective look at the emotional experiences that make everyday life exciting―and the physical ones that remind us we’re lucky to be alive. I’m traveling alone, renting a cabin at a normally tranquil spot―that’s called foreshadowing―on the banks of the Big Laramie River at the edge of the Medicine Bow National Forest. So begins Janna L. Goodwin’s lighthearted collection of nail-biting stories, all true, and all of which fill the listener with wonder … as in, “I wonder how any of us survives?” Encounters with wildfire, insects, house pets, weather, gravity, predators, bullies, and the most potent force of all―fear itself―unfold in remote landscapes of the American West (and Midwest); on the neon-splashed sidewalks of Hollywood; at a Catskills summer camp for actors; in the lavish apartment of a famous senator; in a Hawaiian beach condo; on the side of a mountain above the Mediterranean Sea; and far beneath the streets of Paris. Goodwin looks for and ultimately finds meaning (if not security) in a clear-eyed acknowledgment of our shared, human condition―and in laughter.

Genres: Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

Published April 13, 2021

Reviews

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection started off strong, whether embellished or not, the stories were amusing, engaging, and perceptive and had me laughing from a wildfire ruining a writing retreat in Wyoming, exploring the Parisian catacombs, housesitting and catsitting a lunatic kitten outside of Boulder, Colorado, and Naked and Afraid versus a homeless ranter. Then the humor just petered out and my initial five star rating downgraded to three stars ending with a four-star average for the book selections. Notwithstanding, the author, who is a playwright, performer, and communications professor, is a talented writer.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this accidentally--I hosted an event with the author, and I planned on skimming the book so I'd know enough to do the interview, and then I ended up blasting through the whole thing in two hours, and it is delightful. Absolutely hysterically funny at times, at others incredibly poignant and heartwrenching, this is a memoir for people with anxiety and people who are brave because of it.

(cw: rape/sexual assault in chapter The Wolf and Me)

[Gary Buslik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This breezy, sunny little book is like a day at the beach, but for reasons other than what you might think. Sure, Goodwin's humor is as cheerful and trouble-forgetting as sipping a piña colada while from your chaise lounge you watch those giddy kids building a castle. And yes, her wit is as playful as that yellow Lab leaping into the water to fetch a Frisbee. And there's no denying that Goodwin's philosophical insights are as wise and comforting as that leathery old guy scanning the shoreline with his metal detector.

After a while you get up, stretch, and pad off to take a little dip. Not to swim (that's not your thing), just to cool off a bit—wet your feet, ankle-splash; okay, maybe wade in up to your calves and knees; what the heck, you're here, may as well toddle in up to your waist. Safe enough, right?

Then you take one more step, and suddenly solid ground disappears from under you. No more gradual incline, no more calculated safety. Pffft. Without warning, the earth drops off, and now you're thrashing around, wondering what the hell happened, holding your breath, legs flailing, toes desperate to feel sand again.

That's how Goodwin lures us into her perilous waters. We laugh at her quips, her hilarious observations, her self-induced goofy situations, and then, just as we're licking the straw of our figurative rum punch, certain that we're skimming the perfectly inconsequential beach read, she drops solid ground from under us, and we find ourselves up to our eyeballs in existential surf—metaphoric (and sometimes literal), life-altering tsunamis. The great power of her prose isn't that those harrowing circumstances are hers alone; they're ours, too—maybe especially ours. We're the ones suddenly facing life's loss of foothold; it's you and I who are now looking down and seeing...what?

Hemingway famously coined the phrase "Iceberg Theory": In great literature, only ten percent of its meaning lies above the surface, while ninety percent—its metaphoric resonance, the part that tells us something about life, about ourselves—lurks hidden beneath the waves. Its lasting power lies in that invisible meaning, that which stays with us long after its last page.

You can read The End of the World Notwithstanding in one or two sittings. (I read mine in short spurts in bed at night.) I assure you, you'll be thinking (and maybe dreaming) about it long afterwards.

[Karen Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conflict of interest disclosure: the author is a friend of mine! But I am still a fair reader, and I gobbled this book down in a day, alternating between laughing out loud and 'oomphing' with pathos. This collection of memoir-experiences is compared to David Sedaris, but I'd say Janna's a good bit deeper than Sedaris (and nothing wrong with Sedaris! I love reading him and find him endlessly enjoyable). Janna's stories here, while hilarious, really do meditate on our mortality and safety. There are moments of serious danger and sadness here (the chapter on the wolf I found particularly hard to read, and frankly, I did want feminist rage there), but the book is always so vibrantly human that it's never not engaging. I really loved this work.

[Carla King · Rating 5 out of 5]

She hooked me from the very first page with humor and naiveté. OMG what is she going to do next? was the question and it was certainly NOT what I would have done in the situation. I followed, with a sense of dread (and frequent laughter so hard I had to read aloud to those around me), as Goodwin led me around her life like a puppy being offered frequent treats. It's worth mentioning she is a comedienne with a comedienne's timing and interruptions. Wait for it!

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guessing this will be hit or miss depending on whether you find her funny. I did not, but i gather from the blurbs and other goodreads reviews that many do.

Lots of awful things happened to her, plus some stressful ones that are not awful [like freezing in fear at a tricky point on a hike with a friend], and you can tell she is a playwright -- she has real facility for writing a dramatic scene. But nevertheless i just couldn't get into it for the most part.

[Taylor Rosty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly enjoyable read! Goodwin has a gift for bringing levity to everything, even her more grim misadventures. A read that will make you laugh out loud, make you think, and if you’re an anxious person like me, make you realize you’re not alone in assuming that literally everything and anything could kill you.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny, interesting, and anxiety-ridden collection of essays. It's short and entertaining. I believe I read about this in Forward Reviews. It's based on a standup comedy act of the author, a playwright and professor in Denver. She's a good writer and I enjoyed this memoir. No matter how bad things get, it felt like she maintained a certain sense of calm.

{library, hardcover}

[Helen Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a little book of anecdotes, experiences of the author, told is a humorous way. The book was entertaining but not so special because I believe that every person has similar episodes in their lives which, with a little embellishing, would be as laughable. One shocking incident, however, is unique, and involves the (then) Sen. Ted Kennedy. Sorry. No spoilers.

[Sharon McNeil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, funny, great read!

[Sonja · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why I stuck with this book. Hilarious is not a word I would use to describe it, though many other reviewers did.

[Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong start. Quite a few laughs and funny anecdotes. Dragged for a long way thru the middle. Easy read with some fun adventures.