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A review by skeltzer
Open Book by Jessica Simpson
5.0
This book was a fucking ride. Here’s what it’s like to be a dream girl and how damaging it can be to try and live up to those expectations, to live for others and not yourself. I feel for all that Jessica’s been through. I’m not a fan of her music, and while reading this I tried recalling one, any of her songs and the only one I remembered was the t-shirt song. I do remember watching Newlyweds. I finished it in a few days. Good pacing and framing, likely thanks to the ghostwriter. This isn’t meant as a slight - she’s got the content and the writer has the method. They made a good team.
She has been through so much (alcohol issues, sleeping meds, sexual abuse, body image issues), and she has had so many people take advantage of her. Her dad is a dick. Tommy Mottola is a dick. Justin Timberlake is a dick. Nick Lachey is a dick. John Mayer is a HUGE DICK. Tony Romo is a dick. Willie Nelson and Johnny Knoxville seem ok. Dolly Parton is my savior, and Jessica’s too.
She comes across as incredibly earnest, honest about her flaws, somewhat naive, and steadfast in her faith, to the point of being preachy. I feel like this book should be an advertisement for therapy because she is able to reflect on herself in a healthy way.
I enjoyed this book, but I think I’m the target demographic - a white lady of a certain age and class who grew up as the target demographic for Britney and Christina and Jessica. A quick and just-enough-juicy read. I don’t think we’d be friends, but I do feel differently about her after reading her book. The PR spin worked on me.
Stray thoughts:
-I like that she thanked her housekeeper in her book (or one of them at least)
-A few lines read like therapy to me. An example: in chapter 23 about her mother and hurt people hurting people. “She didn’t want to make me cry, she only wanted to take me to the same dark place where she was.” WHEW. And chapter 14: “I was escaping to be with myself.”
She has been through so much (alcohol issues, sleeping meds, sexual abuse, body image issues), and she has had so many people take advantage of her. Her dad is a dick. Tommy Mottola is a dick. Justin Timberlake is a dick. Nick Lachey is a dick. John Mayer is a HUGE DICK. Tony Romo is a dick. Willie Nelson and Johnny Knoxville seem ok. Dolly Parton is my savior, and Jessica’s too.
She comes across as incredibly earnest, honest about her flaws, somewhat naive, and steadfast in her faith, to the point of being preachy. I feel like this book should be an advertisement for therapy because she is able to reflect on herself in a healthy way.
I enjoyed this book, but I think I’m the target demographic - a white lady of a certain age and class who grew up as the target demographic for Britney and Christina and Jessica. A quick and just-enough-juicy read. I don’t think we’d be friends, but I do feel differently about her after reading her book. The PR spin worked on me.
Stray thoughts:
-I like that she thanked her housekeeper in her book (or one of them at least)
-A few lines read like therapy to me. An example: in chapter 23 about her mother and hurt people hurting people. “She didn’t want to make me cry, she only wanted to take me to the same dark place where she was.” WHEW. And chapter 14: “I was escaping to be with myself.”