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A review by emeeliuh
The Half of It by Madison Beer
2.0
This isn't a memoir. It's Madison Beer's journal with a few "Ask Amy" style sections and a handful of journal prompts for the reader. When I hear the word "memoir," I anticipate a narrative-driven account of a person's life, and The Half of It is far from that. She tells us what happened and then deep dives into her feelings about it. Every chapter is so far detached from the actual events of her life, as if the reader should be able to picture everything that happened to her, as if I should already know what she's talking about and just listen to her thoughts about it. The only descriptive story I could actually picture was one of the very last ones where she is shooting the final scene for her "Reckless" music video.
Do I feel sad for what Madison went through and is probably still going through? Absolutely. Reading certain parts of this book truly made me angry at the world for not helping a victim. It made me angry at the music industry for the way it chews up and spits out children with no regard for their health. And it made me angry with the way young women are treated in the US, especially those who have a platform.
I will also argue that Madison poses many thought-provoking ideas in this book. She pushes the reader to think critically about their own mental health and is inspiring in some of the things she says.
Ultimately, though, this book is not for readers. It's written only for her fans. It's written poorly, and is practically begging for a ghost writer to step in and make it good. It lacks any kind of timeline or structure. It's all tell, no show. Most of it belongs on a WordPress blog. But Madison's casual way of describing her struggles with mental health and the trauma she is trying to work through surely is a powerful message to her fans, and anyone else who struggles the same.
Do I feel sad for what Madison went through and is probably still going through? Absolutely. Reading certain parts of this book truly made me angry at the world for not helping a victim. It made me angry at the music industry for the way it chews up and spits out children with no regard for their health. And it made me angry with the way young women are treated in the US, especially those who have a platform.
I will also argue that Madison poses many thought-provoking ideas in this book. She pushes the reader to think critically about their own mental health and is inspiring in some of the things she says.
Ultimately, though, this book is not for readers. It's written only for her fans. It's written poorly, and is practically begging for a ghost writer to step in and make it good. It lacks any kind of timeline or structure. It's all tell, no show. Most of it belongs on a WordPress blog. But Madison's casual way of describing her struggles with mental health and the trauma she is trying to work through surely is a powerful message to her fans, and anyone else who struggles the same.