A review by emilyrosebooks
The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul

2.0

I want to preface this with the fact that I already like RuPaul, but this memoir just did not do it for me. The first part of the book outlined his childhood traumas, as well as this imposition of greatness bestowed on him from birth. Even his name was given to him by his mother because she believed he would be special. For the majority of the book, and for the beginning part of his life, this belief seemed to make RuPaul think he was destined to be famous, but he didn't seem to be taking the steps to get there. I'm not saying he didn't, but his memoir seems to be focusing on his drug use and entertaining anecdotes, not on how he managed to change the drag scene forever. This felt more like a memoir of drug abuse and hitting rock bottom to then become sober, and that has its own value, but I was hoping for more about his challenges and obstacles and discovering himself in drag. 

That being said, I have a hard time loving memoirs, and I have heard mixed reviews about this, but I just can't say that I really enjoyed it at all. Still a RuPaul fan though!