Karen K

Non Glamourous Memoir of Fame, Abuse and Addiction

Reviewed: 08-26-22

We all hate a memoir by a spoiled famous person complaining about fame ruining their life. This is so NOT what this is. As a fan of memoirs about bad lives, but not usually about fame, I was amazed by this one. Jennette's life is really bad from the beginning. Abusive and isolated to the extent that she is completely unaware of how abusive and horrible it is. I expected a bitter, bratty "I hate my mom" memoir, but this was completely the opposite of that. Jennette deeply loves her mother and that is part of the tragedy. In fact, she isn't celebrating the death of her mom, but is rather devastated by it and it takes many years for her to understand how wronged she was. Her life has left her completely unprepared to succeed on her own and we see a deep, dark, sometimes cringeworthy aftermath. I always liked her TV shows and when I first heard her feelings about them I pictured her as a completely different person. I hope she finds happiness in her future. This stands as a testament to how completely one person can completely ruin someone else's life. Gripping. Listened to it in two days.

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Not a Hollywood Memoir

Reviewed: 06-22-22

I am not in the habit of reading memoirs by celebrities. I don't think being a celebrity makes your life interesting to read about necessarily. I made an exception to listen to this because I love all things Teen Wolf and with the movie coming out it was on my mind. However, there are maybe a few pages about Teen Wolf, certainly nothing you could call any behind the scenes drama or gossip. There is even less about Colton's time on Arrow. However, some things I do find interesting in a memoir are poverty, complicated childhood family dynamics and alcohol addiction. Lots of that in here. I didn't necessarily like Colton very much at the beginning, but I was won over by his narration. Potential readers should be aware that there is a lot of explicit homosexual content. I have no issue with homosexuality, or even some explicit sex, but would say this is in the cringe-worthy category simply because it's hard to listen to the situations Colton gets in because he doesn't have enough self-love and self-respect, and I wanted better for him. If I knew someone who was interested in trying to be a famous actor or model, I would recommend this book as it highlights the underbelly of Hollywood and of the modeling business much more than it does any positive aspects of fame. If the sex scene acting class scene doesn't turn them off the path, nothing will. Wishing Colton the best and admiring the fierceness it took to share every detail of his own story.

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Typical Joe Grey, maybe a little slow

Reviewed: 01-02-20

In general I like this series and have read them before though not for a long time. While listening to this one I stopped for a while. I think this is just one of the slower paced ones. Also now that other listeners have pointed it out, I do get a little tired of the long descriptions of cats eating other animals. Still will continue with series.

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3 people found this helpful

Likable Mild Cozy Mystery, Well Performed

Reviewed: 01-02-20

I read a lot of cozy mysteries with animals. People who do know that animals in cozies behave in a variety of ways. Know that Buddy the service dog just acts like a service dog. I found the narrator very likable and well suited for the role. This is basic stuff, a heroine who butts in to an investigation, a hunky sheriff.

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1 person found this helpful

Wanted more of something

Reviewed: 02-06-19

The idea of living inside an apartment inside a library is fascinating to me. This book should have been really interesting. But somehow while it was okay and mildly interesting I just wanted more. Even an alcoholic father couldn't save it and I find alcoholics almost as interesting as libraries.

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Had to stop listening

Reviewed: 02-06-19

There were pros and cons to what I listened to of this audiobook. I am giving it one star because I couldn't continue it. On the pro side, I found the story compelling, and it did create anxiety which some readers would definitely enjoy. On the con side, I am not a big fan of gratuitous gore. Though in the author's defense, at least he didn't try to create empathy with the people and animals about to be turned into piles of brains and meat. In fact, there is a distinct lack of likable characters - pretty much all of them are unlikable. However, and here is the deal breaker for me, I cannot possibly keep reading/listening when it has become obvious that a character is going to be fed their slain pet. Regardless of how attached or unattached I am to said characters. It is just not something I want to hear so I had to delete it. One final thought, somehow I got from the description that there would be a lighter aspect to the story. If you got that impression as well you should know that there isn't. The low performance rating is just due to a one very silly sounding female character, though his Indian accents were good.

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14 people found this helpful

Just What I Wanted to Hear More Of

Reviewed: 11-14-17

I am a huge fan of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. This book gives me all the "more" that I wanted when I read that. I knew that book was "semi-autobiographical" but this actual memoir makes it appear almost entirely autobiographical and here we get more detail. Alexie is a fascinating person and his narration really adds to the experience. Listeners should know that there is a lot of poetry mixed in with this memoir. Normally, I don't like poetry, or think I don't, but I found a new appreciation for it when read here by the author. The book makes you think, about poverty, culture, mental illness, addiction, loss, you name it. You could say that Alexie is obsessed with his late mother, but his experiences with his late bipolar mother almost leave the reader with PTSD so he can hardly be blamed. Alexie himself is also bipolar and discusses this and his brain surgery, though the one thing I noticed he didn't go into here was his own alcoholism, though he discusses his alcoholic father at length. He shares a lot of opinions on many subjects, including politics, and does this in straight forward no holds barred fashion. I appreciated the intensity and honesty of this memoir. For people not familiar with the author, i recommend The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian first, while keeping in mind this book is much more adult in language and content.

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3 people found this helpful

Often Funny, Sometimes Unsympathetic

Reviewed: 11-14-17

I didn't know who the author was when I picked this book. I actually picked it because I thought the concept of being a "tomman", the grown up version of a tomboy, and how it affects you in life was interesting. That isn't what this book, or even that chapter is about however. Though Klein may have been viewing herself as uninterested in the feminine, that is the exact opposite of who she really is. She is completely obsessed by it. Which I should point out doesn't mean she isn't funny. Parts of this book are very funny. One thing which I found sort of irritating was her self absorbed complaining in situations of great economic advantage. The worst case of it is when she is at the Emmys, winning an Emmy, basically complaining that the biggest Hollywood stars are having more of a princess experience than she is. Of course, the Emmy was for writing for Inside Amy Schumer and if you have any experience with watching the usual character Amy portrays you will recognize that self absorbed character. You should also expect lots of crude material, sex jokes, etc. Comedians are comedians I suppose because of their insecurities and that is fully on display here. But again, I did laugh quite a bit.

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Compelling Mystery with Hateable characters

Reviewed: 10-20-16

Most of the negative reviews I saw were based on the fact that the characters are not likable people.This is true. However, this is a mystery, not a romance, so I didn't feel the need to fall in love with the characters, only to figure out what happened. I don't usually try to solve a mystery, but somehow I felt compelled to try here. There are a number of characters and it is hard to like any of them. I didn't so much like our main character Rachel but I have often read memoirs or novels with female alcoholic characters and usually find them interesting. One interesting thing about Rachel, is that her issues and cringe worthy behavior cannot be entirely blamed on her alcoholism because any Rachel scene can become painful due to bad decisions even when she hasn't had a sip. Rachel may be a train wreck of a woman but Anna and Megan were in my opinion worse. Anna is a smug mistress turned wife and Megan has to be the most immature and self centered of them all. The book would certainly make a reader wonder if the author hates women (despite being one herself) except that the male characters manage to be pretty awful too. That said, I really did want to know what happened. The resolution while believable enough, was not necessarily what I would have chosen. But I guess why have an uplifting conclusion to any book filled with these people? That is to say, there didn't seem to be a message at the end, just a conclusion. I did figure out who the killer was though not right away, not until there was some whittling down of suspects. Narrators were good. They reminded me very much of the narrators of Try Not To Breathe. Alcoholic Rachel sounded like alcoholic Alex and young self centered Megan sounded just like young self centered Amy. So much so I checked if they were the same, but they weren't.

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Everything for people fascinated by EMS

Reviewed: 09-28-16

I always thought that being a paramedic must be a fascinating job. Not for me, but for the thrill seeking sort. This book validates all of that - it is full of interesting stories and funny stories with a background thrillingly horrible. I don't think I ever need to read a book like this again - it has covered everything from training through a complete career and my curiosity is satisfied. It felt a little bit long but I guess that is to be expected when it encompasses an entire career. Well performed.

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