Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up

A beautiful and insightful read. I wouldn't consider myself a Selma Blair fan and have always been indifferent to her as a performer. This book is a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys powerfully human memoirs. It completely stands on its own merits regardless of Blair's stardom. This book was so painful yet beautiful. There is a rather lyrical quality to Blair's writing that I adore. I loved her honesty, self reflection, and openness with the intense hurt of her life. This is very much a book about the struggles of addiction, illness (both phsyical and mental), and finding a sense of belonging/home in a world that can be really painful. Please do check trigger warnings for this one cause the author has been through some rough stuff.

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lexa's review against another edition

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5.0

Emotional and raw and heartbreaking and beautiful.

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katieconklin's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

I knew almost nothing about Selma Blair before reading this book-- I just thought she was a cool and chic it-girl of the early 2000s. But man, she is pretty weird. Her honesty in this book is incredible, major content warnings in this one. Listening to the audiobook was a bit jarring due to the sheer amount of times she cried while reading it (it felt like at least once a chapter, typically more). I did find the book very interesting, but since I'm not a huge fan of hers it didn't have a lasting impact on me.

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

Title: Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up
Author: Selma Blair
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: May 17, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Vulnerable • Straightforward • Fitful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention.

Although Selma went on to become a celebrated Hollywood actress and model, she could never quite shake the periods of darkness that overtook her, the certainty that there was a great mystery at the heart of her life. She often felt like her arms might be on fire, a sensation not unlike electric shocks, and she secretly drank to escape.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I've been on a celebrity memoir kick lately, and Selma Blair's was up next on the docket. Going in, I knew very little about the author aside from having seen her in a few movies (most notably Legally Blond - a favourite of mine). And I must say Mean Baby didn't wow me like some celebrity memoirs have.

Selma narrates her story in a non-linear manner, touching on her childhood - particularly her strained relationship with her parents, - her alcoholism and depression, her MS diagnosis, and life with her son. The first half has a fair amount of name dropping and superficial meandering, when in fact there could have been a lot more reflection and emotion. The strength of this memoir lies in her opening up about her MS diagnosis and living with a chronic illness. Yet even here there could have been a lot more depth.

I can't pinpoint exactly what this memoir was missing, but I know it was lacking something. It didn't pack the emotional punch I'd been anticipating, despite some extremely difficult and heartbreaking circumstances. It's Selma's right to remain very surface level in telling her story - but as a reader I wanted so much more depth.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• celebrity memoir fanatics
• readers wishing to learn a bit about MS

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Someone once told me that grief is love you can no longer express."

"I learned how it feels when someone else’s thoughts touch a part of you that you haven’t felt before."

"Books also taught me how to notice things, how a moment can be a whole story."

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