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A review by honeycoffeereads
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
2.0
McConaughey has always been a favorite of mine. Having this book on my shelf since it debuted and finally taking time to read it, I wasn't surprised to find how easy he takes to storytelling. Similar to his interviews and on social media, he carries a singular voice that captures a refreshing sense of good ol' fashioned plain speaking - he knows what he knows, thinks what he thinks, and doesn't cut corners when he speaks, and now when he writes offering insight into his childhood, adolescence, and navigating his life/career. When he takes his time delving into the experiences that made him go to the depths of the Amazon to find himself, the controversial ways his parents raised him, and making drastic decisions with his career, you feel you're alongside him for the ride. If not an actor, he would've made a terrific travel writer, and if he found himself going in the same direction as Stanley Tucci's travelogues, it'd be a another great insight into how McConaughey sees and explores the world as he has done to reinvent and reconnect with himself.
On the other side though of his memoir is the self-help motivation. McConaughey's concept is to keep a positive out look for greenlights - the things that keep you connected with your true self - and when you come across a red or yellow light, challenges that can halt your journey, wait for them to change or make that change happen on your own. I'm not someone who always need a literal explanation or interpretation of the meaning of a book, but contrary to the greenlights concept, there's little exploration of any deep yellow/red lights actually affected him. Readers will disagree with how his parents raised him with an 'outlaw' mentality, and or come to understand why he took a step back from the rom-com genre that put him on the map. But there's not a lot of insightful or eye-opening challenges that McConaughey faced that wasn't summarized into a few sentences, automatically channeled into a greenlight because he wanted something else to happen, or having the means to travel the world to get clear on what he wants out of life. The book, more or less, expresses one green light after another, without any central conflict of McConaughey up against something greater than himself and wanting to be a man he'd admire. It's not necessarily narcissistic or self-serving as many readers say it is, but this lacks a universality to people who are impeded by other things besides their own self-image. While it's nice that he goes the extra step to open his diaries, notes, and poems to serve as part memoir, the memoir feels undercut by the equally romanticized and tedious talking points that basically boils down to his famous catchphrase 'just keep living.'
On the other side though of his memoir is the self-help motivation. McConaughey's concept is to keep a positive out look for greenlights - the things that keep you connected with your true self - and when you come across a red or yellow light, challenges that can halt your journey, wait for them to change or make that change happen on your own. I'm not someone who always need a literal explanation or interpretation of the meaning of a book, but contrary to the greenlights concept, there's little exploration of any deep yellow/red lights actually affected him. Readers will disagree with how his parents raised him with an 'outlaw' mentality, and or come to understand why he took a step back from the rom-com genre that put him on the map. But there's not a lot of insightful or eye-opening challenges that McConaughey faced that wasn't summarized into a few sentences, automatically channeled into a greenlight because he wanted something else to happen, or having the means to travel the world to get clear on what he wants out of life. The book, more or less, expresses one green light after another, without any central conflict of McConaughey up against something greater than himself and wanting to be a man he'd admire. It's not necessarily narcissistic or self-serving as many readers say it is, but this lacks a universality to people who are impeded by other things besides their own self-image. While it's nice that he goes the extra step to open his diaries, notes, and poems to serve as part memoir, the memoir feels undercut by the equally romanticized and tedious talking points that basically boils down to his famous catchphrase 'just keep living.'