A review by jojodoug55
Be a Triangle: How I Went from Being Lost to Getting My Life Into Shape by Lilly Singh

2.0

I am a fan of Lilly Singh and her work, I even quite enjoyed her first book, "How To Be A Bawse." Unfortunately, this book I did not enjoy. It reads like a secular devotional that speaks only to a superficial understanding of what it, itself, does not even comprehend. It is mentioned at the beginning of this book that Singh did not know what exactly to write when she started writing it; this is clear. The book unfortunately seems directionless and because of this it also comes across as half-baked, making for redundant content (most of what is said in this book is just a slightly-elaborated-upon-and-mostly-paraphrased-and-reduced version of some topics covered in "How To Be A Bawse"), fluff and self-contradiction (one of several examples of such contradiction is the fact that it is stated that the purpose of this book is to go beyond the superficial, but it doesn't actually do so; it introduces profundity, but doesn't explore it).

On the positive side, I love Singh's voice in her writing. It is distinct, humourous, personable, and humble. The illustrations accompanying her text are cute and appropriate. The organization of ideas is well done, and I appreciate the fact that she is going through a personal journey right now and wishes to be as open with it as she can with her audience.

I hope that in the future Singh writes something more developed, something that reaches beyond superficiality and popular belief, where she expresses a deeper vulnerability without hiding behind a wall–or few–of fear (the type of vulnerability I am speaking of is like that which exists in the writing of Selma Blair's memoir "Mean Baby" or Jessica Simpson's "Open Book"). Getting into the nitty-gritty of her life experiences, emotions, feelings, insecurities, traumas, healing process, etc. would be very interesting and most likely helpful for many in and outside of her community, including herself. The complexity of the human condition is what is needed in this writing.