Kelly Williams Brown had a really awful string of bad luck, over two years worth. Her marriage fell apart. She broke three of her limbs at three different times. Her father was diagnosed with cancer. And she felt completely upended over Trump’s election in 2016.
She didn’t just feel bummed out; she fell into a horrific morbid depression. Due to a failed suicide attempt, she ended up in an in-patient psych facility. It was there, Williams Brown started to face her demons and find the path to healing. Crafting was a part of that healing, hence, her latest book Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things.
According to Williams Brown, she’s the person who coined the millennial term “adulting.” Maybe, it’s because I’m a crotchety Gen X-er, but the term adulting makes my teeth itch. Guess what, kids? You don’t deserve a trophy for paying your bills or showing up to work on time.
But I digress.
I thought this book would be the ideal read for me. I’m quite the crafter myself, and I’ve been in the trenches when it comes to my mental health (depression, anxiety, and PTSD). However, I couldn’t get into it. Though Williams Brown is a talented writer, and I thought some passages funny and sad, I still found her at times to be shallow and self-absorbed. She’s clearly a privileged person and only briefly touches on the issues of how mental illness is looked down upon and the how access to proper mental health treatment eludes so many people.
Furthermore, I couldn’t feel too much empathy about her divorce. She selfishly buys a Miata without discussing it with her husband; she’s quite dismissive of his feelings and opinions. And after her divorce, she comes across way too desperate to be in another relationship instead of focusing on what made her marriage fall apart in the first place. And despite being marginally employed, she seems to have loads of money to play around with.
As for the crafts? Most of them seem more suited for children. Williams Brown will never be the millennial version of Martha Stewart. The craft tutorials are poorly written and not very creative; however, the illustrations are kind of cute.
I’m not a complete monster, and some passages of Easy Crafts for the Insane truly touched me. My heart broke when I found out about Williams Brown attempt to kill herself (thank goodness, her boyfriend at the time found her), and I really related to her time in a psych ward. And I’m happy she found solace in crafting. Creative projects do help us feel better in so many ways.
Still, I can’t quite recommend Easy Crafts for the Insane. Perhaps if Williams Brown had spent more time “adulting” by being more self-aware than self-absorbed I would have found this book to be a more solid effort.
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