Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

In a positive review for The Guardian, Barbara Ellen praises Perry's openness and the fact that Perry is candid to the point where the reader might not really like him, commenting, "maybe that’s the mark of a truthful memoir." In an interview for the Financial Times conducted with the author by Elisabeth Egan before the book came out, Perry confessed that the feeling that he might be able to help others going through experiences similar to his encouraged him to write about things he might not necessarily want to share. The interview stresses that the book was not ghostwritten. A reviewer for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that they were surprised to find out Perry still had the stamina for romantic relationships among the difficulty of addiction and acting work. A reviewer for Kirkus Reviews was less enthusiastic, noting that the author is "a blurter, not a storyteller", with the book itself being "strictly for Perry's fans". == References ==