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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
It's amazing to think that we are only a couple of weeks apart in age but our worlds could have have been any different. People often think that actors have it made, they are famous and rich but they are often alone and constantly judged for the most mundane things. Mara's book is a great insight of someone who just wanted to feel normal after her child acting career. Her insights on mental illness sheds a light that I was not aware of. I often call myself OCD, but to truly have a condition on top of anxiety can create a destructive way to view the world without meaning to. I hope parents read this book and take note that children need to be listened to and mental illness needs to be taken seriously. She has great stories and anecdotes we can relate to (like middle school kids are awful) and so on.
If you don't care for Mara, or don't know who she is then you may not fully enjoy this book. However, for those of us that grew up wanting to be Matilda, this is a great book to bring back great memories and essentially learn what would have happened to Matilda when she grew up.
If you don't care for Mara, or don't know who she is then you may not fully enjoy this book. However, for those of us that grew up wanting to be Matilda, this is a great book to bring back great memories and essentially learn what would have happened to Matilda when she grew up.
Where Am I Now? a collection of essays by the actress Mara Wilson about her life in Hollywood, childhood, and personal experiences of growing up. Each section of the book is set up as a reflection piece based on a certain subject, a pivotal event, and different stages of her life. The book is mixed with tales about her normal, everyday life as well as the ups and down of living a life in the spotlight.
Mara’s voice feels very real, down to earth, and genuine throughout the entire book. Each of her stories will either make you laugh or cry, but overall the book is heartwarming. In the book, she talks a lot about her struggles with being in the public eye at a young age and how that affected her. As a child she was labeled as “cute”, being typecast into specific roles and when puberty hit she lost roles because she was becoming “too much” of a teenager/young woman.
The reason i sought out this book was to read her experiences of filming Matilda (in my list top 10 childhood favorite films ever) which ended up being my favorite essay to read. In this specific essay, she writes a heartfelt letter to the beloved character, wishing to be her and realizes (that as an adult) how much that movie’s story meant to little girls. For me, Matilda was sort a childhood hero. I have always been a voracious reader and the kid that was always the “odd one out”. I resonated with the character because I saw so much of myself in Matilda, plus I admired that she always kept true to who she was.
While her book is endearing, it’s also raw and eye opening. She shares her struggle of losing her mom to cancer and how it affected her (losing a mother figure). She also shares her experiences with mental illness when she discusses her diagnosis of OCD.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I liked learning more about Mara’s work in acting as reading about her personal life. The entire book fees like a storyteller’s work. Mara shares her stories with you without talking at you. It makes the readers ease into the text very comfortably. At the end of the book she lets’ her readers know that it is okay to be human. Don’t be afraid make mistakes, , face your fears, and most importantly the lesson of always staying true to yourself (you don’t have to be the “cool kid” in the room).
Mara’s voice feels very real, down to earth, and genuine throughout the entire book. Each of her stories will either make you laugh or cry, but overall the book is heartwarming. In the book, she talks a lot about her struggles with being in the public eye at a young age and how that affected her. As a child she was labeled as “cute”, being typecast into specific roles and when puberty hit she lost roles because she was becoming “too much” of a teenager/young woman.
The reason i sought out this book was to read her experiences of filming Matilda (in my list top 10 childhood favorite films ever) which ended up being my favorite essay to read. In this specific essay, she writes a heartfelt letter to the beloved character, wishing to be her and realizes (that as an adult) how much that movie’s story meant to little girls. For me, Matilda was sort a childhood hero. I have always been a voracious reader and the kid that was always the “odd one out”. I resonated with the character because I saw so much of myself in Matilda, plus I admired that she always kept true to who she was.
While her book is endearing, it’s also raw and eye opening. She shares her struggle of losing her mom to cancer and how it affected her (losing a mother figure). She also shares her experiences with mental illness when she discusses her diagnosis of OCD.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I liked learning more about Mara’s work in acting as reading about her personal life. The entire book fees like a storyteller’s work. Mara shares her stories with you without talking at you. It makes the readers ease into the text very comfortably. At the end of the book she lets’ her readers know that it is okay to be human. Don’t be afraid make mistakes, , face your fears, and most importantly the lesson of always staying true to yourself (you don’t have to be the “cool kid” in the room).
Very enjoyable audio -- laughed out loud several times and also nearly cried a few.
It was everything I didn't expect. Mara Wilson isn't just the cute girl from Matilda that grew up. She is a daughter, a teenager, a show choir singer, a playwright, a comedian, and so much more. Witty tales of romance, mistakes, growing up in the public eye, and her life. Nice little book to read when you want to know more about the girl who played Matilda.
As most kids, I grew up watching Matilda. It is one of my absolute favorite movies and always puts me in a good mood after watching it. With this being said, I was ecstatic to learn that Mara Wilson, who plays Matilda, wrote a book. I already had known all of the hidden Matilda knowledge that was in this book but I learned so much about Mara Wilson in this short, funny, and coming-of-age autobiography. It details Mara's journey on becoming a child actor, growing up, and her life as an adult. This book made me cry, made me angry, and made me laugh. This is one of those special books where I loved it before I was even done with the book. I definitely recommend this as it puts child actors into a new perspective as we learn how hard it can be and how Hollywood and our media can be very predatory.
One of the best books I've read in a very long time.
Mara Wilson has a lovely narrative voice. This book is touching, relatable, insightful, and funny. Throughout, the author was genuine, smart, witty, and honest. Some of the stories were nonlinear which isn't my preferred style and I found them less captivating than others. But, overall, it was a good read.
Mara Wilson is a delightful storyteller. I felt like she wrote this book just for me, and I cried a lot while I was reading it.
But you don't need to be an adrift adult who was a famous kid (like me) to fall in love with her stories and the people in them. Mara is almost 20 years younger than me, but the stories she told about growing up weird, sensitive, and filled with anxiety could have come from my own childhood -- and that doesn't even take into account the whole famous child actor thing.
I literally just finished Where Am I Now?, and I have a lot of feelings that I need to process. I suspect I'll be processing them for awhile, because that's what a good book, written by a talented author, will do to a person.
But you don't need to be an adrift adult who was a famous kid (like me) to fall in love with her stories and the people in them. Mara is almost 20 years younger than me, but the stories she told about growing up weird, sensitive, and filled with anxiety could have come from my own childhood -- and that doesn't even take into account the whole famous child actor thing.
I literally just finished Where Am I Now?, and I have a lot of feelings that I need to process. I suspect I'll be processing them for awhile, because that's what a good book, written by a talented author, will do to a person.
A great way into this new reading year!
Mara Wilson is a fantastic storyteller. She manages to tell her stories in a way I can relate to her life, showing that people experience the same insecurities, fears and problems - being child actors/stars or not.
I would really like to read more from Mara, I would really like to listen to her live. She is a real inspiration. Her story about the hipster festival (last one in the book) shows how brave she really is. I hope she knows that and can acknowledge it.
Mara Wilson is a fantastic storyteller. She manages to tell her stories in a way I can relate to her life, showing that people experience the same insecurities, fears and problems - being child actors/stars or not.
I would really like to read more from Mara, I would really like to listen to her live. She is a real inspiration. Her story about the hipster festival (last one in the book) shows how brave she really is. I hope she knows that and can acknowledge it.