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| Scrappy Little Nobody |
Title: Scrappy Little Nobody
Author: Anna Kendrick
Publication Date: 11/15/2016
Pages: 275
Genre: Memoir / Nonfiction
How I Found It: I am a fan of Anna Kendrick
Date Completed: 7/5/17
Summary: Anna Kendrick looks back on her life thus far. She covers her childhood days on the stage, her early work in independent films, and some of her more familiar work, including that time she got nominated for an Academy Award.
What I Thought: I was really looking forward to this book. I like Anna Kendrick a lot. Kevin and I both love Pitch Perfect and I've really enjoyed Kendrick's work in a number of other things. If you watch interviews with her or follow her on social media, she seems quirky and accessible in a way that is often rare in Hollywood.
She certainly also comes across as quirky and accessible in the book, at least in part. Somehow, the same vibe you get from Kendrick's Hollywood persona did not translate all the way to the page. Her humor is perfect for Twitter and social media, but in a longer format, she comes off as stiff and disconnected.
In structure, the book is similar to all the other actor/comedian memoirs that have come out in recent years. Kendrick starts with her childhood and her years on the Broadway stage. She discusses her move to L.A. as a teenager and is more transparent about her fears and struggles during that time than she is anywhere else in the book. She loosely covers her biggest career moments. Those stories consist more of personal anecdotes, though, and less about how she got the jobs or what she thought of them. This is a book about her life, to be sure, but I would have really enjoyed some more behind-the-scenes content about the projects for which we best know her.
I was definitely disappointed by this book. I really wanted to like it. It's certainly not bad. However, I think I just expected more from it. It straddled a weird line between humor and in-depth content. Thus, it didn't achieve either route particularly well. I still really like Kendrick as an actress and look forward to seeing where her career takes her. But I don't feel like I needed to read her book to have that reinforced.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Will I Re-Read: No
A Reduced Review: While Kendrick is charming and quirky on screen, the same vibe didn't translate all the way to the page. Her writing felt stiff and disconnected.
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