Making a Scene

I've never watched Fresh Off the Boat but Crazy Rich Asians is one of my favorite movies in the past few years. And I do remember all the social media firestorm over Constance's comments during the final season renewal of FoTB, so it was obvious that I was read this book. But I was glad to get the audiobook because I always love celebrity narrated memoirs and this one in particular is made for the audio format.

I can't review a memoir based on the life of the author, so I'll restrict my comments to the writing as far as possible. This book is more like a collection of essays about various topics related to her life that Constance wants to discuss, so there's not a lot of chronological continuity and there were many moments where I was confused about which time in her life she was talking about. The essays can also range from very emotional or significant to just cutesy and random, so my interest in the book kept fluctuating.

But what definitely kept my interest was the narration. Constance is a theatre major who has been doing plays since her school days and all that shows in the way she tells her story. She is emotional, she is crying, she is dramatic, and most of all she is very open and honest about herself. And I loved listening to her. I was particularly moved by the essays about her mental health struggles, the whole Twitter debacle and then her subsequent suicide attempt and how she has recovered from that, her relationships with her sister and parents and they have evolved over time, and her various relationship dynamics.

I'm not sure how the experience of reading this book might be but I can promise you that the audiobook is very entertaining and emotional. I liked getting to know the woman behind the celebrity persona and it was nice to see an Asian American woman living her life on her own terms, being successful, and fearless. Can't wait to see more of her future work.