Scrappy Little Nobody

Scrappy Little Nobody
By: Anna Kendrick

Why do we read books written by celebrities? Is it for insider info on their movies/shows, celebrity gossip, a peek into what it's like to be a celebrity, to read their story to fame, or to hope they are relatable? I don't really know. But for whatever subconscious purpose I read this book, it was not met. I came away feeling pretty similarly as when I read Amy Poehler's Yes Please (which was also disappointing). I think they are both awesome actresses and very funny/witty, but their books just didn't land for me.

The most annoying for me was all the language and crudeness. Lots of f-words. Really she hit all the words pretty frequently. A lot of sexual references. Just skip her chapter on boys altogether. Also similar to Poehler's book was that almost every anecdote involved her being drunk or high or wishing she were drunk or high.

There were some stories that gave us more information about her journey to fame, but because she started in theater and stage, those chapters were full of jokes and references to people/plays/musicals that mean nothing to me. To her credit, I am fairly uncultured so they are probably well-known.

Then there was her chapter describing various holiday parties she would throw which was completely random compared to the rest of her book. I am a proponent of random and funny and whenever I live a life worthy of a memoir, it will be a disjointed mess of awesomeness, but you kinda have to choose one or the other. You can't just throw in a few random and pointless chapters in a structured book already achieving a particular goal. Doesn't have the same comedic effect in my opinion.

She definitely goes out of her way to be self-deprecating and paint herself as a normal person living a celebrity-status life. And I do still feel like she's more down-to-earth than a lot of celebrities and do appreciate that about her. But in this book, it came off as a little over the top. Like she was more so trying to just prove to herself that she was still a normal person. But normal or not- I still didn't find her very relatable.

I don't know exactly why I read this book or what I expected to get out of it but I would have liked to come away thinking: 'She is hilarious' or 'What an inspiring story' or 'Did you know [insert fun or interesting fact or story about how the "other side" lives]...??' or 'I think we could be friends' or 'Now I appreciate Twilight or Pitch Perfect more now.' Instead I think: 'Her parents are awesome' and 'What did I even just read?'

And honestly, if you would have taken out all the language and crude content, I have a feeling my experience would have been pretty different. But I guess that's not what sells these days. Or maybe I'm just in a very small minority that cares about that stuff. Either way, the point stands that I did not care for this book.

Share this review to your social media!