Reviews with content warning for Rape - Making a Scene

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Making a Scene by Constance Wu

44 reviews

autumn_alwaysreadingseason's review

3.5

As with most celebrity memoirs, the audiobook really makes the experience. Constance Wu delivers her memoir-in-essays with an easy humor. It feels like a friend telling the reader stories. She speaks of her childhood--a ruptured relationship with her younger sister, a teacher who wrongfully accuses her of plagiarism--as well as her growing interest in acting and the study of that craft. She details times spent with various lovers, her devotion to her pet rabbit, and an ode to her first cars. In the latter half, she discusses the controversy over her Fresh off the Boat tweets briefly and the reasons for her time away from social media. Because the structure is more essay-like, the timeline is non-linear and certain facts are repeated. I wished it was just a bit more cohesive, but I did enjoy getting to know Constance.

Content Warnings

mraible18's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

I had downloaded a free ALC through Libro.fm of this audio book and blew through it in a day. Constance narrates the essays in a conversational tone, so listening to the audio book felt like she was telling me stories to get me through my work day. An honest, compelling memoir that gave insight not only into Constance’s past traumas around sexual harassment and assault, but into who she is as “an uncool” person. Definitely recommend picking this one up to read, and recommend the audio book even more strongly!

Content Warnings

kquixotic's review

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

Content Warnings

skillwithaquill's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

In a lot of ways, this book shouldn’t be my cup of tea.

There’s so many stories in this book about men and boyfriends and breakups that I rarely if ever seek out in media. I can’t relate to the pressure of “always having a boyfriend since [she] was a teenager” and constantly struggling to make relationships work. That’s never been my experience and sometimes I disconnect with memoirs that are so driven by overwrought romantic entanglements.

But this book deftly weaves poetic themes, imagery, and insight into those relationship stories. They don’t feel trite or boring or too self-indulgent. I did have trouble keeping all the different boyfriends’ names straight by the end of the book, but that’s my fault and not the author’s.

The very uniquely female fear of being labeled and dismissed as “difficult” is interwoven expertly throughout her stories. Even in childhood, girls & AFAB folks are punished for standing up for themselves with ostracism and harsh criticism. It’s a never-ending battle.

I’d rather be a difficult bitch than a push-over or a pick-me any day. But I still have sympathy for those who think they must be push-overs or pick-mes to be accepted and loved. I think this memoir has sympathy for that phenomenon too.

The book gave me more to think about than I expected, which is always a nice surprise.

Content Warnings

serenaasora's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.75

Content Warnings

mishale1's review

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.0

I’ll admit to being someone who enjoyed Fresh off the Boat and was completely dumbfounded when Constance Wu tweeted that she was disappointed that it had been renewed (paraphrasing). I thought at the time, she’s got a good tv show and only one successful movie why does she want to leave? Why isn’t she grateful to the show that brought her all this success and recognition? And then more of the story came out: she’d been harassed at work for years, she genuinely thought the show had been canceled and had been given the unofficial okay to pursue movies, and she felt so badly after the public backlash to her post that she tried to kill herself.
And then I felt like a real heal for judging someone when I had absolutely no knowledge about what she was going through. The more I heard about her book, the more that I wanted to read it and actually get to know this person through her own words.

Making a Scene is really a perfect title for this book because it refers not just to her career as an actress but also to how hard Constance tried to be non-confrontational. She tried to just make jokes and go along with some truly uncomfortable and bad situations because she “didn’t want to make a scene” and she worried that she’d make things worse if she actually did confront someone.

She doesn’t claim to be perfect. She talks about her regrets about not being kind enough to her younger sister and issues with her mom and others.

When I started reading the book and she was pouring her heart out about her first love, it became obvious that she was going to give a lot of details about her life. She never wrote in such a way that it was only making her sound good. You could really feel her pain at times, especially during wine bad breakups.

She talks about her one eyed bunny. Her first car. Her first job at a bakery (this made he want cinnamon rolls badly). And she talked about her time on Fresh off the Boat.

My only surprise in reading this book is that she didn’t talk about her current relationship or much about her daughter. I have the feeling she was trying to keep that part of her life just to herself.

I enjoyed this book and I’d definitely recommend it. It was a very quick read too.

Content Warnings