cerandolph13's review against another edition
4.0
Mara Wilson is a compelling storyteller. Her stories don’t even have to revolve around her childhood acting career to be engaging - her most relatable stories are told as she grows up. Her voice is quirky, charming, and REAL!
ria_mhrj's review against another edition
4.0
What an interesting read. Childhood stardom must be incredibly difficult, and Mara Wilson's perspective is all the more interesting as she came of age as the internet exploded. Her writing is smart, heartfelt and honest, and I enjoyed this book a lot.
sophienocturne's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed most of Mara's stories. It was an interesting insight into her life, but I do think some of the chapters were better than others; the chapter about Matilda was relatable and charming, and the chapter about Robin Williams was beautiful, but some of the others felt a little unnecessary and nothing more than regular high school drama. I also would have preferred a chronological structure as the timeline jumps around a lot.
katiethepenguin's review
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
First off, I have never seen Matilda, although it has been recommended to me a million times. Nothing against it and I probably will watch it at some point. I just didn't like Roald Dahl as a kid.
I picked this up after seeing it recommended online as an example of experiencing OCD. I also have this diagnosis and oh did I relate! The other chapters about being a child actor and figuring out what she wanted to do with her life after were also interesting. I was surprised how much she talked about sex. It wasn't a bad thing, just reconfirmed I'm not straight lol.
I picked this up after seeing it recommended online as an example of experiencing OCD. I also have this diagnosis and oh did I relate! The other chapters about being a child actor and figuring out what she wanted to do with her life after were also interesting. I was surprised how much she talked about sex. It wasn't a bad thing, just reconfirmed I'm not straight lol.
mrslennyren's review against another edition
4.0
Mara Wilson was a huge character growing up, in so many of my favourite films, so I had high hopes for her book. It didn't disappoint. It opened my eyes to her life and struggles and at times I felt I was a teenager again going through some of the tough times she talked about. Excellent read!
mg_ocio's review against another edition
4.0
Me ha gustado bastante. Me resulta complicado engancharme con los libros en inglés porque, como es lógico, tengo que hacer un esfuerzo mucho mayor para leerlos y la lectura es menos fluida, pero este libro me ha tenido casi enganchada.
Es ameno y sencillo de leer. Mara Wilson da la sensación de ser una persona muy normal y que cuenta las cosas de manera muy natural.
Es ameno y sencillo de leer. Mara Wilson da la sensación de ser una persona muy normal y que cuenta las cosas de manera muy natural.
qas242m's review against another edition
1.0
Why did I put myself through this?
This book started off well enough, but didn't waste time taking a sharp turn into crap-town. The early chapters about Mara’s life as a child star, and her antics behind set were entertaining and interesting. It all seemed surprisingly dark in tone, but with light and funny anecdotes throughout to keep things balanced. I found the standout moments of the novel were the chapters about her mother’s death, and a later chapter on the death of Robin Williams, showing things do get a bit morbid here.
Unfortunately, as the novel went on and moved away from the Hollywood side of her life, very few chapters held my interest. The rest of the novel dealt with Mara’s romances as a child, her teenage romances, her time in a high school choir (?), her college romances, her adult romances, and that’s about it.
I found all of these chapters to be drab, boring, mundane to the extreme, and ultimately distasteful. The book might have been good if it were focused and stuck to a single topic or area. Instead, each chapter is a random and disconnected snapshot of her life, described in the most bland and repetitive way possible.
1.5 stars.
This book started off well enough, but didn't waste time taking a sharp turn into crap-town. The early chapters about Mara’s life as a child star, and her antics behind set were entertaining and interesting. It all seemed surprisingly dark in tone, but with light and funny anecdotes throughout to keep things balanced. I found the standout moments of the novel were the chapters about her mother’s death, and a later chapter on the death of Robin Williams, showing things do get a bit morbid here.
Unfortunately, as the novel went on and moved away from the Hollywood side of her life, very few chapters held my interest. The rest of the novel dealt with Mara’s romances as a child, her teenage romances, her time in a high school choir (?), her college romances, her adult romances, and that’s about it.
I found all of these chapters to be drab, boring, mundane to the extreme, and ultimately distasteful. The book might have been good if it were focused and stuck to a single topic or area. Instead, each chapter is a random and disconnected snapshot of her life, described in the most bland and repetitive way possible.
1.5 stars.