Author: Connor Franta
Published April 21st 2015 by Atria/Keywords Press
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 212
“In this intimate memoir of life beyond the camera, Connor Franta shares the lessons he has learned on his journey from small-town boy to Internet sensation so far.
Here, Connor offers a look at his Midwestern upbringing as one of four children in the home and one of five in the classroom; his struggles with identity, body image, and sexuality in his teen years; and his decision to finally pursue his creative and artistic passions in his early twenties, setting up his thrilling career as a YouTube personality, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and tastemaker.
Exploring his past with insight and humor, his present with humility, and his future with hope, Connor reveals his private struggles while providing heartfelt words of wisdom for young adults. His words will resonate with anyone coming of age in the digital era, but at the core is a timeless message for people of all ages: don’t be afraid to be yourself and to go after what you truly want.
This full-color collection includes photography and childhood clippings provided by Connor and is a must-have for anyone inspired by his journey.” -Goodreads
Review:
Since I was about 12, I have been watching Connor Franta. I haven’t watched recently but I used to be a huge supporter. I liked every video, left comment, tweeted like crazy. But eventually I began to chill and now I barely watch his videos. But I have now read his book. I know its been years since it came out but I finally downloaded the audio book and listened.
and holy poop it is good.
I love it so much.
But let me just say I am a little biased. I love Connor and I liked the book a lot because of his personality. As I write this I am reading reviews for points to hit and inspiration and quite a few are saying something like “his journey isn’t inspiring because he comes from normal no hardship life like many other middle class children and he surely cannot be giving advice to anyone” which yes I agree. He doesn’t really have that heart-clenching, sob story many other people write about. But I think that is a bit refreshing. If his story was similar to all the other stories of squalor and setbacks, it would just fall into the pile of those stories.
That being said, yes, I agree to you Goodreads bloggers saying it isn’t inspiring. Because it isn’t. Yes, he gives good advice and yes we all should take his advice. And yes he started low and crawled his way up there. But for me personally, I never really ever listen to those stories and do what they say anyways. I just read them for the story. And his story was good.
Basically all the book talks about is his teens years to when he began YouTube. He doesn’t have anything to shocking. It honestly get quite boring and not very interesting if you live a normal white, middle-class life, or if you live anything less than that.
Connor is a good writer though. He knows how to write good words. But I really only read this book because it was him and I could get it on my Overdrive right then.
Thank you so much for reading! I know this was short but I am really trying to bust out the reviews I need to finish from my hiatus. I read this one a long time ago so I don’t have much to say. Again, thank you for reading and see you next time.
Star Rating: 3.2
-A Bookie