Review: Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

Scrappy Little Nobody
by Anna Kendrick
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication date: Nov. 15, 2016
Genre: Memoir Audiobook
Rating:

A collection of humorous autobiographical essays by the Academy Award-nominated actress and star of Up in the Air and Pitch Perfect.

“I’m excited to publish my first book, and because I get uncomfortable when people have high expectations, I’d like to use this opportunity to showcase my ineptitude, pettiness, and the frequency with which I embarrass myself. And while many of my female inspirations who have become authors are incredibly well-educated and accomplished comedy writers, I’m very, very funny on Twitter, according to Buzzfeed and my mom, so I feel like this is a great idea. Quick question: are run-on sentences still frowned upon? Wait, is ending a sentence with a preposition still frowned upon? I mean, upon frowned? Dammit!” —Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick’s autobiographical collection of essays amusingly recounts memorable moments throughout her life, from her middle class upbringing in New England to the blockbuster movies that have made her one of Hollywood’s most popular actresses today. Expanding upon the witty and ironic dispatches for which she is known, Anna Kendrick’s essays offer her one-of-a-kind commentary on the absurdities she’s experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture.

I’m not usually a fan of biographies or memoirs because I tend to get really bored with them. I mean, I like to read to get out of my reality, not to get stuck in someone else’s boring day-to-day life. However, while I wouldn’t say I’m an Anna Kendrick fan, I love her character in Pitch Perfect and thought I’d give this a shot when I saw that she narrated her own audiobook. I’m so glad that I did because I’ve come to realize that Anna and I are on the same wavelength. When she talks about being a kid and having some old person talk down to her like she’s stupid, she berates the person inside her head, throwing out f bombs left and right. Her humor and her outlook on life is pretty much me.

One thing I learned from Anna… I need to start shining a flashlight on my lady bits before going out to make sure my outfit isn’t see-through. I can’t believe I never thought of that. I usually just do the awkward bendy turn in front of the mirror and call it good. This flashlight thing would have saved me some embarrassments had I known about it. Because let’s be honest, we’ve all gone out thinking we look fierce, only to realize later on, as we look at photos from the night, that you could see your bra or underwear through your clothes. :face palm:

I love that she spends some time talking about Twilight. Meeting the other actors for the first time, how she only really had to film for a few weeks for each movie, and because she was a secondary character, she didn’t have to deal with any of the craziness that the main cast did. However, she was witness to all the people who tried sneaking into their hotel while shooting, the paparazzi camped outside at all times, and just all the craziness that encased the filming of the saga. After all, Twilight was the first thing I’d seen her in. So for me, that’s when her career started… even though it started WAY before that.

She also talks a bit about other movie sets, the people she met along the way, the bonds she’s made, and you really get a sense of how chaotic everything is… and also how fake it all is. I mean, you see her playing a role, like with Pitch Perfect, and you just assume that they are all BFFs all the time. However, these people didn’t even know her grandmother had just passed away. They didn’t know that she flew home to attend the funeral. Not to mention, that there’s not a lot of cute anecdotes about her and the girls. Which made me feel like a lot of her time on set is just a job and while she may become friendly or friends with the people, they are not as buddy buddy as you’re led to believe. Or, maybe I’m just reading into it too much. I just felt like she skimmed the surface of her big acting jobs and didn’t really dig into her personal experiences with the other actors, just her issues with waking up early, shooting at odd hours, and wearing uncomfortable clothes.

Scrappy Little Nobody made me realize that Anna and I would get into a lot of trouble together if we were friends… or we wouldn’t get into any trouble because we would probably never leave the house and instead just sit around in pj’s binge-watching shows on Netflix. I loved her humor, her passive-aggressive stance on just about everything, and her “I really don’t give a crap” attitude. It was a really great audiobook and I highly recommend it if you want to listen to a snarky chick talk about her life. 😉

Favorite quote…

“Wear the Spanx. You might not want to squeeze them over your ass in the morning, but when you see that mac and cheese at lunch (do it, you beautiful monster) you’ll be glad they’re there, doing the lord’s work.”