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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
it’s like okay. i didn’t really gain anything from reading this. props to her for like speaking up about everything she’s gone through. i’ve just kinda heard everything that she had to say before. yea…
i’ve always been a fan of madison beer and her music! i finally had the opportunity to read this book and i loved learning more about her and just more about mental health. she’s so amazing and strong!
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Confession: I had no idea who Madison Beer is when I read an excerpt from her memoir in Rolling Stone. Having read this book, I still don't know who Beer is, apart from a very open, honest, and also really good writer.
“I was so young when this all began that I didn’t realize I was making lifelong decisions.”
Madison signed a contract with Island at the age of thirteen. At the age of 15, she had to deal with Internet sharing her nude pictures and videos, seemingly without anybody caring she was underage, much less attempting to protect her or arrest people responsible for spreading them. When she was sixteen, the record label ended their contract. In the meantime, she lost a big chunk of her childhood – how many people's careers seem to end at the age of sixteen, followed by the discovery that they missed years of possible friendships and simply attending school, because somebody else envisioned their career, then got rid of them when that vision didn't work?
“I invalidated my own pain by convincing myself it wasn’t worthy of being called “pain” in the first place. [...] Even if you can’t feel the pain for yourself, even if you don’t think you’d feel the same in my position, the pain is real to me.”
Few of us find it in themselves to pity poor, poor, rich pop stars. Even if they're neither all that rich, nor… of age. Beer speaks frankly and openly about her borderline, PTSD, addiction. It doesn't come out either as "pity me" or "…but I overcame all my struggles and #NeverGiveUpOnYourDreams." Some of the book are little therapeutic exercises that, I'm afraid, made me roll my eyes – "what is your favourite song that relieves your anxiety?" sort of thing. The 176 page (including 10 pages of acknowledgments) book desperately needed padding to be released as a hardcover, but those random Dear Diary inserts dilute the message – and the message is important.
“My career relies on social media. If the internet were to mysteriously vanish tomorrow, I’d have no way to connect directly with my fans. It’s so fragile and superficial, and yet my “job” relies on it. It’s a concept I still grapple with.”
How many Gen Z-ers dream of becoming influencers? (Answer: one in four.) Apart from impossibility of achieving that dream – if 25% of all teens/twenty-somethings were influenced, who would even be left to influence? – this sort of success comes at a price. Sometimes it's the person's soul – "With the cultural shift, being overly heartfelt has become a very effective way to build an audience and monetize" is one of the most chilling things I have ever read. Beer shows the other side – the price that has to be paid if you don't have it in you to monetise (this word gives me the heebie-jeebies) your heart.
The Half of It is the half that's stripped of the brand endorsements, make-up collaborations, features on dance tracks. It's a memoir of a person who is twenty-four as of the time of the book's release, still struggling to understand how decisions made when she was a tween can – and do – shape the rest of her life. It's a book about how difficult it is to control your narrative when you're forced to be a puppet, then blamed for the underwhelming performance. And a warning. The younger me could have benefitted from reading this (if only he knew English at that age…) The older me is impressed, shocked, and in awe.
Beer hasn't written a memoir of a Content Creator, but one of a person. I am a memoir devourer. 150 pages or not, it's rare for people twice her age to be so open and… real. If she is being overtly heartfelt to monetise, it sure doesn't feel this way. And, apart from the "mini-quizzes," this book is an adult's tale of what it's like when Internet is your job.
*deletes Instagram account, moves into a cave, decomposes in peace*
“I was so young when this all began that I didn’t realize I was making lifelong decisions.”
Madison signed a contract with Island at the age of thirteen. At the age of 15, she had to deal with Internet sharing her nude pictures and videos, seemingly without anybody caring she was underage, much less attempting to protect her or arrest people responsible for spreading them. When she was sixteen, the record label ended their contract. In the meantime, she lost a big chunk of her childhood – how many people's careers seem to end at the age of sixteen, followed by the discovery that they missed years of possible friendships and simply attending school, because somebody else envisioned their career, then got rid of them when that vision didn't work?
“I invalidated my own pain by convincing myself it wasn’t worthy of being called “pain” in the first place. [...] Even if you can’t feel the pain for yourself, even if you don’t think you’d feel the same in my position, the pain is real to me.”
Few of us find it in themselves to pity poor, poor, rich pop stars. Even if they're neither all that rich, nor… of age. Beer speaks frankly and openly about her borderline, PTSD, addiction. It doesn't come out either as "pity me" or "…but I overcame all my struggles and #NeverGiveUpOnYourDreams." Some of the book are little therapeutic exercises that, I'm afraid, made me roll my eyes – "what is your favourite song that relieves your anxiety?" sort of thing. The 176 page (including 10 pages of acknowledgments) book desperately needed padding to be released as a hardcover, but those random Dear Diary inserts dilute the message – and the message is important.
“My career relies on social media. If the internet were to mysteriously vanish tomorrow, I’d have no way to connect directly with my fans. It’s so fragile and superficial, and yet my “job” relies on it. It’s a concept I still grapple with.”
How many Gen Z-ers dream of becoming influencers? (Answer: one in four.) Apart from impossibility of achieving that dream – if 25% of all teens/twenty-somethings were influenced, who would even be left to influence? – this sort of success comes at a price. Sometimes it's the person's soul – "With the cultural shift, being overly heartfelt has become a very effective way to build an audience and monetize" is one of the most chilling things I have ever read. Beer shows the other side – the price that has to be paid if you don't have it in you to monetise (this word gives me the heebie-jeebies) your heart.
The Half of It is the half that's stripped of the brand endorsements, make-up collaborations, features on dance tracks. It's a memoir of a person who is twenty-four as of the time of the book's release, still struggling to understand how decisions made when she was a tween can – and do – shape the rest of her life. It's a book about how difficult it is to control your narrative when you're forced to be a puppet, then blamed for the underwhelming performance. And a warning. The younger me could have benefitted from reading this (if only he knew English at that age…) The older me is impressed, shocked, and in awe.
Beer hasn't written a memoir of a Content Creator, but one of a person. I am a memoir devourer. 150 pages or not, it's rare for people twice her age to be so open and… real. If she is being overtly heartfelt to monetise, it sure doesn't feel this way. And, apart from the "mini-quizzes," this book is an adult's tale of what it's like when Internet is your job.
*deletes Instagram account, moves into a cave, decomposes in peace*
inspiring
reflective
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Okay.. 2.75?
Oof
I appreciate her experience and vulnerability being honest some troubles are relatable and I went through as well although not same span.
The ‘celebrity’ aspect for me.. idk. It was journalistic not memoir, it was immature writing repetitive I didn’t love the style
Doesn’t take away from her life and unfortunate upbringing and lack of childhood Id rather watch her interview than read this book is all
Oof
I appreciate her experience and vulnerability being honest some troubles are relatable and I went through as well although not same span.
The ‘celebrity’ aspect for me.. idk. It was journalistic not memoir, it was immature writing repetitive I didn’t love the style
Doesn’t take away from her life and unfortunate upbringing and lack of childhood Id rather watch her interview than read this book is all
emotional
informative
fast-paced
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced