kessler21 's review for:

Will by Will Smith, Mark Manson
4.0

I decided to read this book after the Oscar incident.

This book is fun, entertaining, and funny. I never knew how successful and groundbreaking DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince were. How Will Smith entered acting is an amazing and inspiriting story as well as how he lost everything due to overspending and failing to pay taxes but recovered.
Also this book is for Will Smith to talk about how great he is. Smith has a drive to be the best at everything. Best as a protector, provider, musician, actor, box office success. And you learn how great he is over and over. Even when he realizes his family and falling apart because of him, he decides he has to be the best father and the best at being emotionally supportive. Its all about Will Smith being the best.

This book felt like a performance itself. It’s a great performance and enjoyable read, but everything he does is about being the best at it. The best to the point he excludes everything and everyone else. Most times, everything he is not focusing on crumbles around him. This book is another chance to be the best. The best memoir. The best at showing how much he has changed and learned in life. The mistakes in his life seem to be very surface level, but the personal growth from them seems to be of the deepest and most heartfelt level. The focus is on his change and not his actions.

I do think the book is heartfelt and sincere, but it also feels as though Will Smith has no balance or modesty in anything he does. He suffers because of this and when he genuinely tries to make changes, he again goes overboard.