literaturewithlish's review against another edition
5.0
If you are going to do a tell all memoir this is how you do it. Lily Allen has told her truth and it took me through a rollercoaster of emotions. and my final thoughts - what an incredibly strong woman she is, just amazing. 5 stars
lucy_bookworm's review against another edition
3.0
Lily Allen is a British singer, songwriter, actress and author. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and rather grew up in his shadow – she was not “Lily” she was “Keith Allen’s daughter”. Whilst this gave her immense privileges (such as backstage Glastonbury passes) it also brought challenges – her parents were not really present or actively parenting and that left her seeking love & affection in other ways – what she refers to as “co-dependent”. She found this in a series of unsuitable boyfriends, drugs, alcohol, breakdowns and mistakes.
At the start of the book, Lily acknowledges that she ought to be too young to write her “life story”, but she’s been through a lot in her life so far. She also starts the book with the statement:
I am not a Lily Allen “fan”, I have heard of her but would struggle to pick her music out of the plethora of other early 2000’s artists. I picked this book up for a reading challenge & what I got was not what I expected! This is most definitely not a glossy chatty celebrity memoir, this is a very personal, and very gritty story. Lily believes that if she is going to tell her story, then she needs to tell all of her story, even the hard, unpopular and difficult bits. What results is one of the most honest, most brutal, and quite frankly disturbing books I’ve read in a while.
Lily starts with her childhood & takes us through the early years of her career and then into her darkest days, where she was battling addiction, struggling with the expectations placed on her by the press & music industry, and trying to figure out relationships. She was doing this whilst being stalked, trolled on social media (still in its early days), demonised by the press (particularly the Daily Mail) and trying to come to terms with the realities of living in the “public eye”. The final part of the book takes us through her journey to motherhood, stability and a future. Again, this has not been easy & she’s made numerous mistakes along the way.
I was impressed with her determination, her honesty, her refusal to let others pull her down or dictate her life. She acknowledges her mistakes, and whilst there are still times when she seems to be blaming everyone except herself for some of her issues, she does own many of her mistakes and is passionate about owning her story.
I don’t know whether I like Lily after reading the book, she actually comes across as someone that will never be happy, somebody who will always be looking for somebody else to prop her up, yet she is also somebody who shows an inner strength & determination to battle on. Her story is powerful, she doesn’t shy away from the gritty & uncomfortable and I definitely see her in a different way.
Audiobook
I listened to the audiobook which was read by Lily Allen herself. I usually find that books read by the author have a unique quality that only an in-depth knowledge of the story/subject can bring. Unfortunately, Lily has quite a monotone voice and it definitely felt as though she was reading, rather than telling her story … it was just a little bit stilted. She speaks quickly which doesn’t give the reader a chance to absorb what is being said, though by the end of the book I’d grown used to her voice & was enjoying it much more than I did initially.
Recommendation
This is a fairly quick read that will appeal to anyone who wants to get an insight into “popstar life” – but be warned: Lily is brutally honest, pulls no punches & covers topics that most other would shy away from.
The book does need to come with a content warning – there is a LOT of sex, a LOT of drugs, abuse, sexual assault, stalking, stillbirth & more.
At the start of the book, Lily acknowledges that she ought to be too young to write her “life story”, but she’s been through a lot in her life so far. She also starts the book with the statement:
I'm strong. I can be tough. I've been broken. I'm opinionated.
I'm a people-pleaser. I'm spoilt. I'm needy. I contradict myself.
I try to do good. I want to do good. I'm impassioned. I'm observant.
Most importantly, I tell the truth. And this is my story.
I am not a Lily Allen “fan”, I have heard of her but would struggle to pick her music out of the plethora of other early 2000’s artists. I picked this book up for a reading challenge & what I got was not what I expected! This is most definitely not a glossy chatty celebrity memoir, this is a very personal, and very gritty story. Lily believes that if she is going to tell her story, then she needs to tell all of her story, even the hard, unpopular and difficult bits. What results is one of the most honest, most brutal, and quite frankly disturbing books I’ve read in a while.
Lily starts with her childhood & takes us through the early years of her career and then into her darkest days, where she was battling addiction, struggling with the expectations placed on her by the press & music industry, and trying to figure out relationships. She was doing this whilst being stalked, trolled on social media (still in its early days), demonised by the press (particularly the Daily Mail) and trying to come to terms with the realities of living in the “public eye”. The final part of the book takes us through her journey to motherhood, stability and a future. Again, this has not been easy & she’s made numerous mistakes along the way.
I was impressed with her determination, her honesty, her refusal to let others pull her down or dictate her life. She acknowledges her mistakes, and whilst there are still times when she seems to be blaming everyone except herself for some of her issues, she does own many of her mistakes and is passionate about owning her story.
I don’t know whether I like Lily after reading the book, she actually comes across as someone that will never be happy, somebody who will always be looking for somebody else to prop her up, yet she is also somebody who shows an inner strength & determination to battle on. Her story is powerful, she doesn’t shy away from the gritty & uncomfortable and I definitely see her in a different way.
Audiobook
I listened to the audiobook which was read by Lily Allen herself. I usually find that books read by the author have a unique quality that only an in-depth knowledge of the story/subject can bring. Unfortunately, Lily has quite a monotone voice and it definitely felt as though she was reading, rather than telling her story … it was just a little bit stilted. She speaks quickly which doesn’t give the reader a chance to absorb what is being said, though by the end of the book I’d grown used to her voice & was enjoying it much more than I did initially.
Recommendation
This is a fairly quick read that will appeal to anyone who wants to get an insight into “popstar life” – but be warned: Lily is brutally honest, pulls no punches & covers topics that most other would shy away from.
The book does need to come with a content warning – there is a LOT of sex, a LOT of drugs, abuse, sexual assault, stalking, stillbirth & more.
alexandracowie's review against another edition
2.0
Bit of a miss for me unfortunately. I found I didn't enjoy the writing style and just didn't get on with the way she talked about her life, finding it a bit vague where you wanted to know more and far too specific where you didn't care.
hannahrus3's review against another edition
4.0
I read so many negative reviews of this book before I got to it. After finishing, it became clear that those reviewers had either stopped after the first couple of chapters, or hadn’t read it at all.