Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful

A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love and Loss

By: Stephanie Wittels Wachs

Narrated by: Stephanie Wittels Wachs

The space between life and death is a moment. But it will remain alive in me for hundreds of thousands of future moments.

One phone call. That's all it took to change Stephanie Wittels Wachs's life forever.... Her younger brother Harris, a star in the comedy world known for his work on shows like Parks and Recreation, had died of a heroin overdose. How do you make sense of such a tragic end to a life of so much hilarious brilliance?

In beautiful, unsentimental, and surprisingly funny prose, Stephanie Wittels Wachs alternates between her brother's struggle with addiction, which she learned about three days before her wedding, and the first year after his death, in all its emotional devastation. This compelling portrait of a comedic genius and a profound exploration of the love between siblings is The Year of Magical Thinking for a new generation of listeners.

A heartbreaking but hopeful memoir of addiction, grief, and family, Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful will make you laugh, cry, and wonder if that possum on the fence is really your brother's spirit animal.

©2018 Stephanie Wittels Wachs (P)2018 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Beautiful, funny, and epically poignant." (Sarah Silverman)

Moving and raw

Powerful book narrated by the one person who could do it. Highly recommended. Grab some tissues.

Thank You Stephanie

I lost my sister to suicide. Although that is different than this painful loss, I haven’t read/listened to any other book that made me feel so understood. The multitude of feelings you feel when you see a sibling struggle with their demons (addiction or depression or otherwise) and then ultimately losing them is hard for anyone to understand and this book helped me feel less alone. Thank you Stephanie, for sharing your story and helping the general population understand addiction and have more empathy.

I Wish I Could’ve Known Harris But Now Feel Like I Do

As a big fan of Harris Wittels, and a loving big sister to four siblings who are each so much a part of me, I wouldn’t know how to exist.... if the unspeakable occurred, I’m so thankful for this book.

Wittels-Wachs has granted us the great privilege of a loving look into Harris’s life & the many lives he brightened. She beautifully invokes the unique and sacred bond she shared with her brother and brings it to the page in an honest, vulnerable way that somehow manages to be funny way more often than it is painful and sad.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who has been moved by grief, addiction, loss, or Harris Wittels & his comedy, which will live on and continue to bring joy to so many. The impact he made was monumental & in too short a time. This book reminds us how fleeting life is, and how rich it can be.

Beautiful story of family and loss.

I laughed, I cried, I couldn't stop listening. Too often, we lose people too young. This was a really raw story of one family who dealt with that loss first-hand. It's an achingly beautiful, honest tribute to Harris Wittles by the person who loved him most.

Laughed and cried and so happy I listened

Such a terrible but all too relatable story. I think we have all been touched by the loss of a loved one due to one addiction or another. Stephanie shares her raw emotions and paints such a clear picture I could nearly feel all the same emotions she was describing. I love all the ways she continues to remember and honor her brother. Very sweet.

Courageous

Having gone through the loss of my oldest son almost 10 years ago at the age of 29, I related all to well to this book. For the life of me, I don't know how Stephanie was able to narrate her tragic loss. Thank you for putting down on paper what alot of us are thinking and feeling and for making us aware that we are not alone.

Don't miss this book!

Would you consider the audio edition of Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful to be better than the print version?

I enjoyed the audio version because the author was such a great narrator of her story. She was very genuine - you could feel the emotion in every page.

What about Stephanie Wittels Wachs’s performance did you like?

Very heartfelt - she's an excellent narrator

Honest, phenomenal

After listening to Harris’s comedy for years, I started to feel like I knew him. To see what addiction does to someone you thought you knew helps immensely to put yourself in the shoes of someone who actually has lost a loved one to addiction.

As un-filtered as Harris presented himself in his celebrity, he was simultaneously a far more flawed, and far better person than most of us ever saw. You’ll find yourself furious with him on behalf of his family, only to forgive him a few chapters later when he makes you laugh, only to feel empty again knowing his specific brand of genius is gone.

Stephanie’s book is beautifully written. Harris’s comedy and honesty is conveyed all too well, making the tragedy of his death more miserable by contrast. But his strengths as a writer are mirrored by his sister, who successfully finds the absurd in the darkest moments.

On an un-emotional note, read dreamland too, which helps to convey the universal scale of the addiction epidemic. The two books complement each other well.

The Strongest Book on Grief, Loss, and Addiction

As someone who both lost a younger brother who died at 13 years of age in a car accident a half mile from home and lost a cousin last year from a heroin/fentanyl overdose at 20 years of age, this great book by Stephanie Wittels Wachs hits home hard. I was transfixed by the incredibly honest and breathtakingly brutal account of her last year with her brother and the year after her tragic loss. This Audible book is devastating, intense, refreshing, sad, painful, and still hopeful. I highly recommend it. No one has brought alive so much grief, love, and loss so eloquently.

Brooke Kesler

Heartbreaking, beautiful, and hilarious. Thanking for sharing your story. The pain you shared was so raw and real. Addiction, addicts need these unfortunate stories to be told.