G455 Brunette Ambition
Author: Lea Michele
Publisher: Crown books
Publishing Date: 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8041-3907-6
Summary:
The star of the hit show Glee shares her experiences and insider tips on beauty, fashion, inner strength, and more in an illustrated book that’s part memoir, part how-to, and part style guide.
Lea Michele is one of the hardest working performers in show business. Whether she’s starring as Rachel Berry on Glee, rocking a glamorous look on the red carpet, recording her solo album, or acting as the spokesperson for L’Oreal, Lea is the ultimate multi-tasker. She knows better than anyone that it is difficult to be your best self and keep things in perspective when your to-do list is overflowing and you are faced with challenges, so she’s developed a foolproof system for remaining healthy and centered. In Brunette Ambition, she reveals the lessons and advice that have worked for her--from beauty and fashion secrets to fitness tips, and career insights. Supplemented with never-before-seen photos and revealing anecdotes, it’s the book Lea wishes she’d had in her teens and early twenties: A practical and inspirational guide to harnessing tenacity and passion and living the fullest life, no matter what obstacles life puts in your way.
Personal Opinion:
What rating should I give to a book that's 200 pages, mostly pictures, but you're still feeling desperate to finish and even count pages? I couldn't last through this, I'm sorry. First of all, I'm not a Glee fan, although I know of the show, and the title appealed to me, although I vaguely knew who Lea Michele is. When I got it, I hoped that the book would be, well, accessible to someone average and that she would realistically detail her stresses and frustrations in life. Instead, somehow, she tries to sound "helpful' but ends up sounding condescending towards non-wealthy folks and the way its built is that its as if she's meant to be famous. Yeah, big lack of conflict. Just because she mentions that she knows some people who had eating disorders, but doesn't really elaborate on their problems or on her feelings, it doesn't really count as being empathetic or sympathetic. Let's continue on what my other problems were with the book.
Mostly I read fiction, although non-fiction does creep in, yet she can't really decide what the book should be: should it be about how awesome her life is? Should it be a bit on her tribulations? The book really suffered from her indecision though. If she was going for memoir, then she really failed to bring out or to make me care about the people in the pages, and besides simple sentences about her hanging out with friends and family, she doesn't go into detail about how she hangs out with them. For example, she could have mentioned that she and her family meet up at a restaurant they like and what they order, or perhaps give more examples of her family members doing things together.
Also, seriously, for someone who claims to be well rounded, she really isn't aware that people have different situations in life: Whole Foods a standard grocery store? *rolls eyes* Some people can't afford to shop at Whole Foods, and instead they shop at Wal-Mart or maybe small ethnic grocery stores, and unfortunately organic foods are expensive and we are not blessed with your salary to splurge. Yeah, the ideas are nice, but use different examples: not everyone is an actor or works at an office: different careers exist such as waitress, cashier, bagger, etc... Its impossible to please everyone, I know that, but why alienate those who are not blessed with the rich and famous lifestyle that you seem to enjoy?
She also sounds very unrealistic and too good to be true, and she's really not Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. If she is also like this as a TV character, I'm really glad I never got into watching Glee, because I'm pretty sure I would have been angry that a Jewish girl character is behaving the way she is.
I would go on about the problems that prevented me from reading a book that I thought would be a quick read, but I'd rather move on to another good book instead of spending on something like this. Ooh, just a got a good idea for it.
I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.
0 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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