Recently, celebs from all around have been throwing together their experiences in a memoir for their fans to read, and I have ignored them for the most part as I mainly see them as nothing more than another form of income for the already ultra-wealthy. But as I just finished bingeing “The Umbrella Academy” in anticipation for the fourth and final season, I was curious to read more about Elliot Page’s experience as he transitioned from female to male during the show. Luckily for me, our copy of “Pageboy” was just returned to the library, so I decided to give it a shot, but little did I know that I would be diving deep into the rabbit hole of reading and listening to the chaos that is celebrity memoirs.
Given that I’ve already brough it up, let’s talk about “Pageboy” first. “Pageboy” jumps around the life of Elliot Page as he grows up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and eventually transitions from female to male. Page recounts his life through interesting historical passages and detailed memories of childhood as he comes to terms with his sexuality and gender identity. “Pageboy” is a heartbreaking and awe-inspiring story, yet it can get very confusing at times as he floats through the decades even inside chapters. But I overall found “Pageboy” to be a very empowering memoir full of interesting commentary and relatability, something I feel many celebrity memoirs lack.
One of the major contributors to the celebrity memoir craze spawned from Jenette McCurdy’s massively successful “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” for good reason. Like Page, McCurdy also became an actor at a young and impressionable age. Throughout this memoir, McCurdy delves deep into her past all the way up to the present, detailing the disturbing life of an abused and manipulated child star. This book, in my opinion, is the best on this list, with McCurdy’s extremely well put writing and bluntness that provides a detailed exploration of her treacherous tale, both before and after her mother’s passing. Her writing style and storytelling ability is extremely powerful, and I find that this is the most relatable of all these memoirs and honestly would not have even known it was written by a celebrity if not for her impact on television shows that I loved as a kid.
Another fantastic memoir I’ve read, and have considered talking about in many previous posts, is “We Were Dreamers” by Simu Liu. Simu Liu gained mass popularity from his role as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Asian superhero, being the main topic that this memoir builds up to by the end. Liu retells his life as he immigrates from his birthplace in China to Canada and eventually begins acting in the U.S. This memoir has amazing commentary and character as Liu details the bittersweet moments of his life, going from a straight A student to one of the darkest periods of his life, and eventually becoming a grade A actor. Liu’s memoir is inspiring for people of all minorities who doubt their abilities as he compares himself and the readers to being a real-life superhero.
Probably one of the most popular memoirs comes from Michelle Obama in “Becoming.” This is the only memoir on the list that I have not personally read, but because of how famous it is, I had to talk about it. Much like these other books, Obama’s memoir begins in her early life and recounts the steps she took in becoming one of the most powerful women in the world. I can’t say much about Obama’s memoir, but from its critical acclaim, I am positive that this is an awe-inspiring memoir for especially African American women living under oppression in the U.S., and a generally enjoyable read for all interested in learning a bit more about the life of the First Lady of the United States.
Another very famous memoir of a political figure came out just last year when Prince Harry released the controversial “Spare.” Out of all the celebrity memoirs on this list, I would have to say this is my least favorite, even when compared to the literacy level of our last entry. I overall found Prince Harry’s writing style to be… different, to say the least. While I have yet to finish “Spare,” I find it difficult to get through as I don’t really understand, or frankly, care much about the “difficult” life he describes. Listening to a straight, white, and above all, royal man, detail all the small problems he faces doesn’t feel relatable or as impactful as many of the previous memoirs that I have read and talked about, but I shouldn’t ramble on too much because I felt somewhat similarly about the next memoir in the beginning as well but quickly grew fond of it.
To finish off, we have the competitor to “Spare” in our March Madness Book Bracket this past spring, “The Woman in Me” by Britney Spears. Spears’s memoir is the most recent one I’ve read and… let’s just say, you can tell it was written by a celebrity. While I find it somewhat difficult to get through some of the choppy grammar and word-choices through the memoir, I still found the story to be extremely impactful and interesting. Like I said above, I do find that certain parts are very self-centric (I mean obviously, it’s a memoir) I can still tell that Spears does deeply love and care for her fans and those reading her story. Spears is deeply honest and raw all throughout this memoir, providing a detailed dive into the hardships she has faced throughout her career.
Even through thick and thin, all of these memoirs are extremely powerful. While it may be difficult to get through some of the clearly unedited celebrity works, I still find a sort of fascination listening to the recounts of the rich and famous that rule the world, because in truth, they do face many of the same problems that all of us do. But if there is any moral to this story, it’s that every writer needs an editor, no matter how rich or famous one may be.
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