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  • By the Creator of Big Boys: Cheer the F**K Up

  • How to Save Your Best Friend
  • By: Jack Rooke
  • Narrated by: Jack Rooke
  • Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (146 ratings)
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By the Creator of Big Boys: Cheer the F**K Up cover art

By the Creator of Big Boys: Cheer the F**K Up

By: Jack Rooke
Narrated by: Jack Rooke
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

This book will definitely make you laugh and might just make you cry, but it could also help save a life.

Cheer the F--k Up is a bold, brilliant and very personal account of a young comedian’s experiences with mental health. An ode to the importance of friendship, Jack Rooke takes us on a mission to better understand the reasons why so many people are struggling and how we can all feel better equipped in knowing how to support that one friend we might be that bit more worried about.

Part comedic memoir, part advice guide, this book is a fresh and timely take on a huge issue very close to Jack’s heart – in 2015, while working as an ambassador for a male mental health charity, he lost one of his best friends to suicide.

Taking you on a journey through his life and experiences with grief, sexuality, depression and more, Jack offers his own frank and powerful advice on how best to have meaningful conversations about a loved one’s state of mind. Hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure, Cheer the F--k Up will definitely make you laugh and might just make you cry, but it could also help save a life.

©2020 Jack Rooke (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Cheer the F**K Up is, without a doubt, the most meaningful and funniest book I have ever read on mental health and loss. Jack is a genius (fact) and he weaves together themes of love, grief, sexuality, trauma, growing up, mental health and friendship in a memoir that will stand the test of time. If you are a human living on this planet you need this book! It has never been more important and never been more needed." (Scarlett Curtis)

"Once you've had the pleasure of reading a work by Jack Rooke, you'll have spent time with one of the funniest, warmest, most caring people I've ever known and he'll feel like your new favourite friend. This book deals with difficult topics in such a beautiful, thoughtful and hilarious way. It's the book we all need in our lives.'" (Nicola Coughlan) 

What listeners say about By the Creator of Big Boys: Cheer the F**K Up

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Tears for years

Back in 2015, fresh from Edinburgh festival, my friend Nay bought me a ticket to see Jack Rooke's 'Good Grief' at the Soho Theatre. I knew nothing about it, or him, but Nay told me "you HAVE to see this. YOU, specifically YOU." So I took my friend Fi along, and we both cried our way through the whole thing, from both laughter and sadness. Jack is part of the DPC (dead parents club), specifically the DDC. His open and honest chat about grief in the show was so refreshing, and exactly what I'd been doing since my Dad died in 2004. In his book, Jack mentions that after performing the show each night, throngs of people would be clambering to chat to him about their own dead relatives and friends, and I did exactly this (sorry, Jack!), excitedly telling him that I was in the dead parents club too! And I spoke about my Dad all the time! I was grieving to anyone who would listen!

I've been following Jack's career ever since, and had really been looking forward to this book. I downloaded the audiobook, and it was like listening to an extra friendly, lovely pal chat to you about some traumatic and shitty and hilarious things, peppered with wonderful advice about how you can seek support if you’re feeling blue, if you’re worried about someone else or if you want to know which gay bar in London is the best. Now, more than ever, so many of us are struggling. Someone you know might be thinking about taking their life, or one of their friends or family members may have died quite suddenly. I would whole heartedly recommend this book to anyone, whether or not they’ve been touched by death in any way. If they’re lucky enough not to have been, then it’s only a matter of time; let’s be honest. This book will guide them through it all, offering friendly support in an entirely non judgemental and very lovely way. Buy it for someone you know and get yourself a copy too.

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The most thoughtful, funny and sweet book

The author writes so beautifully about his experiences you can really feel his loving warm personality come through

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Everyone needs to read this book.

Perfect balance of sensitivity and humour addressing some difficult but extremely important conversations. Cried and laughed in equal measure. Very timely.

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Wholesome!!

Beautifully narrated and incredibly relatable. Even down to the small details like the Argos catalogue being the most important book of my childhood

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I am speechless

I have laughed and cried and am.in awe of Jack's wisdom.and determination.. I was stunned when I read he was 25 when he wrote this.

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Brilliant

This book was beautiful, taking me from laughing out loud to tears.
Written and narrated amazingly, everyone should listen.

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Cheered me the F**K up

Loved this. Came to this through his Big Boys show on C4 and it only made me love him more! Great narration, plus interesting and useful content. Made me laugh AND cry!

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Great autobiography of a young famous big gay boy

I came to this book having loved ‘Big Boys’ but not see any of Jack’s other work. Essentially this is an autobiography of Jack’s life as a young big gay boy from just before the death of his Dad at 15 to now-ish at 23. I found this lovely. Jack is an engaging writer and that he reads this himself makes the book far more immediate. He has some important stuff to say about his experiences, bereavement, LGBTQIA+ mental health and suicide, speaking both as an expert and from an insider perspective. Crucially he also offers several tips on how to help/cope with these situations so although not a self-help guide, there is help in here. Please nominate this guy as out Minister for Mental Health and we might just have a chance. Lovely stuff and thanks Jack for doing you for us xxx

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Great book.

Great storytelling, great information. I’ve listened to it with a chuckle, a laugh and a tear or two.

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Loved this

Loved this book. I laughed and cried whilst listening to this, it felt like such a beautiful listen. Hard to listen to in some places but sensitively told. Some really important topics which I feel is beneficial to anyone experiencing mental health or someone around them is.
Also I hugely recommend watching Big Boys on channel 4 if you enjoyed it. (Jacks comedy) I hadn’t heard of it until this and ended up binge watching it. Absolutely fantastic 👏🏻

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