Hi Guys,
The only way I can really get through memoirs or autobiographies is in audio. This week I decided to hop on the Anna Kendrick bandwagon and give Scrappy Little Nobody a go.
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick is a collection of short essays, written by Kendrick about her life. Kendrick discusses her personal life and her rise to fame. We get a peek into her childhood and how she went from Maine resident, to a child Broadway actress, to Hollywood and beyond.
Throughout the book we get a glimpse into Kendrick’s personal life, habits and opinions. We see how she keeps it real throughout the craziness that is being a professional actress. The reader, or in this case listener, also gets funny little vignettes about boys, dating and sex. The audio book is narrated by Kendrick herself.
I feel like I will be in a small minority here, but for me this was a middle of the road biography. Don’t get me wrong, I love Anna Kendrick; she seems really down to earth and this often comes across in the book. But I had high expectations for the audio book, that I felt weren’t met (my fault Anna, not yours!).
I don’t know if this is a problem in the physical book but in the audio book I had a hard time keeping the chronology in check. One minute she’d be talking about Picture Perfect and the next how poor she was… my mind went waiiit a minute.
The book did succeed in giving me a glimpse into the not always so glamorous life of filming a movie, going to award shows and just generally being someone who is known. Sweatpants, takeout, no free time, early mornings and late nights… mayyyybe acting isn’t my undiscovered calling.
The book did leave me wanting to know more about Kendrick, which is a good thing for career stability, maybe not such a good thing for dodging paparazzi. I really, really want to know if she is still living in the same apartment with her two guy friends. And I sort of wished there was a chapter about appearing on talk shows (Late Night, SNL, etc.)
Overall, the book was worth a listen but it wasn’t one that stuck with me. Do I have a new appreciation for Kendrick, yes. So mission achieved. 3.5 stars from me.
That’s all for now!
-M-