Scrappy Little Nobody - Nonfiction Review

Goodreads:  Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

Rating: Loved It!

Source: Library (Audio)

Description: Even before she made a name for herself on the silver screen starring in films like Pitch Perfect, Up in the Air, Twilight, and Into the Woods, Anna Kendrick was unusually small, weird, and “10 percent defiant.”

At the ripe age of thirteen, she had already resolved to “keep the crazy inside my head where it belonged. Forever. But here’s the thing about crazy: It. Wants. Out.” In Scrappy Little Nobody, she invites readers inside her brain, sharing extraordinary and charmingly ordinary stories with candor and winningly wry observations.

With her razor-sharp wit, Anna recounts the absurdities she’s experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture as only she can—from her unusual path to the performing arts (Vanilla Ice and baggy neon pants may have played a role) to her double life as a middle-school student who also starred on Broadway to her initial “dating experiments” (including only liking boys who didn’t like her back) to reviewing a binder full of butt doubles to her struggle to live like an adult woman instead of a perpetual “man-child.”

Enter Anna’s world and follow her rise from “scrappy little nobody” to somebody who dazzles on the stage, the screen, and now the page—with an electric, singular voice, at once familiar and surprising, sharp and sweet, funny and serious (well, not that serious).

Genre: Memoir

Why I Picked This Book: I've had good luck with celebrity memoirs in the audio format and I like Anna Kendrick in the movies I've seen her in.

My Impression:  I liked Anna Kendrick going into this.  I had enjoyed Pitch Perfect, Into the Woods, and Up in the Air.  She seemed funny and down to earth in the maybe two interview clips I've seen of her.  And that pretty much sums up my entire knowledge of her.  A pleasant association but hardly devoted fan.  To be honest when the book came out it wasn't high up on my TBR.  But then my library got it in audio and I enjoy celebrity memoirs when they're read by the author so I got on the waiting list.

It turns out Anna Kendrick strikes this magic balance in Scrappy Little Nobody.  She's weird, funny, self-deprecating, and incredibly honest all without seeming to try to hard to be any of these things.  For the most part the story is told in a linear fashion.  Starting with her childhood in Maine and getting started performing in theater and moving up to almost present day and her life in Los Angeles.  She makes no secret of her insecurity and just the general weirdness of it all and I really enjoyed the behind the scenes about awards shows, press junkets, and red carpets.

This book made me laugh more than a few times and kept me incredibly entertained from start to finish.  I might not have started this book as a devoted Kendrick fan but I think I finished the book as one!

Audio Note: This is a book that if all possible should be listened to versus read.  I'm sure the book is great but Kendrick does a fantastic job reading and I think increased my enjoyment exponentially.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Yes absolutely!  I enjoyed this memoir and would read more by her.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you enjoy humorous memoirs I think you'd enjoy this one even if you weren't an Anna Kendrick fan.