Help Me!

How Self-Help Has Not Changed My Life

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Help Me!

By: Marianne Power

Narrated by: Marianne Power

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About this listen

'I love it! Hilarious and thought-provoking!' - Fearne Cotton
'A sweet sharp read' - Jessie Burton
'A laugh-out-loud funny book.' - Lucy Diamond

Marianne Power was stuck in a rut. Then one day she wondered: could self-help books help her find the elusive perfect life?

She decided to test one book a month for a year, following their advice to the letter. What would happen if she followed the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? Really felt The Power of Now? Could she unearth The Secret to making her dreams come true?

What begins as a clever experiment becomes an achingly poignant story. Because self-help can change your life – but not necessarily for the better . . .

Help Me! is an irresistibly funny and incredibly moving audiobook about a wild and ultimately redemptive journey that will resonate with anyone who’s ever dreamed of finding happiness.

Perfect for listeners who enjoyed Everything I know About Love by Dolly Alderton, Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon and Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig.

Personal Development

Women

Funny

Feel-Good

Heartfelt

Inspiring

Thought-Provoking

Witty

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Critic reviews

I love it! Hilarious and thought-provoking! Love! (Fearne Cotton)

A laugh-out-loud funny book that also manages to be thought-provoking, perceptive and devastatingly honest. I loved it. (Lucy Diamond)

A sweet sharp read, and the last chapter made me cry . . . it’s perfect (Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist)

Marianne’s writing makes me smile and has moved me to tears more than once. She combines a journalist’s no-nonsense investigative skills with a tenderness and honesty that sets her apart (Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said)

Couldn't put this book down – Marianne's honesty and wit shone through . . . a hugely enjoyable, fantastic read. (Poorna Bell, author of Chase the Rainbow)

Sublime and ridiculous . . . Britain’s answer to Sarah Knight, with Amy Schumer’s naked hilarity and Matt Haig’s soul-deep profundity chucked in. (Catherine Gray, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober)

Wonderful. I’ve laughed and cried my way through it’s pages . . . I’d highly recommend this book . . . It’s a wonderfully refreshing approach. It’s worth picking up just for Marianne’s Mum’s sassy one liners alone. Give it a try! (Keegan Hirst (on Instagram))

Sparkling . . . a laugh-out-loud odyssey

Marianne Power is a delightful companion and one who (putting all natural misanthropy aside) acts a powerful reminder that the traditional ways of denigrating or demanding too much of ourselves ain’t going to get us anywhere . . . excellent

Funny and fearless, I loved Help Me! almost as much as I loved Marianne’s mum who was always on hand with some no-nonsense advice and really needs to write her own self-help book. (Sarra Manning)

What starts out as a simple idea for a journalist looking to try something quirky (live your life by a different self-help book every month for a year) rapidly changes into something far more real and worthwhile as she explores just exactly what is wrong with her life and whether any of it can help her! Super stuff. (Rick O'Shea)

It is a charming introduction to the world of self-help and a good gift for any sucker addicted to self-improvement.

London-based journalist Power chronicles the harrowing, often side-splitting adventures she embarked on while pursuing happiness and inner peace . . . Throughout this consistently entertaining book, she writes with unflinching honesty - and bald hilarity, especially as she encountered deadpan reality checks from her mother, sisters, and skeptical friends—about the throes of facing her fears, tackling money issues, living in the present, opening herself up to rejection, and getting over her hang-ups with men . . . A winner. Bridget Jones meets Buddha in this plucky, heartwarming, comical debut memoir.

Most relevant

I'm generally wary of these "year of" memoirs, which have flooded the book market in the last few years. I've yet to find one that didn't feel gimmicky and insincere, and most of the time, I don't bother with them. But this looked interesting, so I gave it a go. First off, I think it was a mistake to allow the author to narrate the book. It usually is. A professional actress would have brought it far more to life; the author's voice is too flat and sad, which perhaps is appropriate for the tone of the book, but just left me feeling blah. I also didn't like the interjections in her mother's voice. But that's mainly because, as the book progressed, I felt angrier and angrier with the author's parents, particularly the mother. I have no idea if the author is aware of how much of her issues in every field that she tried to address were clearly coming from her upbringing, but it was unpleasantly apparent throughout. Underlined by the actual mother's voice in the narration. It seemed to me that a year of psychotherapy was what was needed, not a twelve month self help project.

Nevertheless, the book was well written, and held my attention. It did share the usual issue of these "year of" memoirs: twisting the results in a very predictable story arc, disaster at the start, a few twists and turns midway through, and a positive outcome at the end. This was slightly exaggerated by the fact that the year was broken down into separate projects for each month; this well worn story arc became much more obvious when it was repeated each month, regardless of the topic. I'm sure a lot of readers expect this, the rags to riches idea, but personally, it makes me distrust the story, and the reality of it all, when it seems that I'm being spun a tale, rather than participating in a real life story.

This all sounds negative, but actually, overall, I enjoyed the book.