Girl, Wash Your Face

Years ago, I really wanted to read this book. Top of my TBR. I couldn't wait to be inspired. But I never got around to picking it up. Then I started hearing the bad reviews of Rachel Hollis and her books. But I really am not someone that likes to just believe everything I hear, even and especially if it's overwhelmingly negative. Cancel culture is so real, and the tiniest misstep can spark it. It's kinda crazy. I wanted to give this book a chance and not start by focusing on those negative opinions so I went into this thinking I was going to prove everyone wrong.

That didn't work out. I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author. Her personality really shone through in her narration. And frankly, I feel like we wouldn't be friends. And this is really no fault of hers, but our personalities just don't mesh. I'm not a “HEY, GIRL, HEY” type of person. It really seems that Rachel is. I tried to keep an open mind, however. But as it went on, it just became increasingly clear that this was written for one particular audience. The basic middle class Gen X (possibly older milennial) straight white woman. I truly can't imagine anyone else relating to this book. I would LOVE to be proven wrong, seriously.

I didn't realize this was so very Christian before I read it either. I assumed it'd just be your run of the mill “I did this and you can too” self-help book. No. About a million times she mentions faith, Jesus, etc. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you believe, but again, written for a very specific audience and excludes a huge population. This is probably my bad for not researching it more beforehand. No biggie.

At first, I thought people were being too harsh on Hollis in their reviews. But when I got more than 30% in, I understood what they meant when they talked about her incessant humblebragging. This woman invented humblebragging, I think. And I drew the line when she got to the chapter about not taking no for an answer. Like, ok sis, we understand you're persistent. That's a great quality to have. But to full on attribute your success to “not taking no for an answer” and literally nothing else?? And to take a step farther and have the audacity to say that other people aren't successful solely because they “took no for an answer????” Please. It's too much. I really hope I don't need to explain all the things wrong with this because, geez, it's a laundry list. There's also a hint of racism and ableism sprinkled in at the end, just for a little spice.

I'm giving this two stars instead of one because I'm sure it wasn't easy to share the trauma of going through the adoption process. And props to her for that. But yikessssss @ the rest.