All I Know Now - Carrie Hope Fletcher
"Everyone is feeling exactly the same about themselves. Not you. They all think they’re standing alone on a stage in the spotlight and everyone else is in the crowd, scrutinising their every move, when really we’re ALL standing on the stage but the lights are off and there’s no one left in the audience to watch you. The only pressure to make a good impression and be memorable is coming from yourself, so take the heat off a little bit. Also it’s it’s any comfort, your first day at school probably won’t be as difficult as my first day at school..."
As of writing this post, Carrie Hope Fletcher has 567,784 subscribers to her youtube channel; ItsWayPastMyBedTime. I was a little skeptical, I have to put my hands up and admit it, when I heard that Carrie would be writing a book. I've been a subscriber of hers for quite a while and I find her videos to be enlightening and entertaining. I was worried that this would be “just another youtuber book”. I actually made this observation to a friend of mine who was reading it, and she told me to give it a chance. In all honesty, I guilt tripped myself into buying this book at 11:45pm last night.
And on starting it all of my opinions changed. I was expecting vague advice and what I was given were anecdotes of a girl who, despite all of the acting professionally, had gone through of lot of similar experiences to me. It was a breath of fresh air to hear all of the things I had told myself affirmed by someone slightly older and wiser. For anyone picking this up in the hopes that Carrie’s book will provide you with tips on getting into show business, good luck but there aren’t any. For those looking for words of wisdom from the honorary big sister of the internet generation, it is the closest thing to perfect.
What I thought when reading this was that for someone starting secondary school this is a wonderful book to own. Unlike books handed down from parents or from the library, or even parents sitting down to talk to their children, it is full of advice for the current generations talking about the internet and various things to do with social media (including a chapter on internettique which I want to make a thing immediately). It also comes from someone who is proving that, however tough life is, there is always a silver lining, and life is what you make of it. However Carrie doesn’t recommend doing everything via the internet, and specifies that some things are better done face to face.
I was worried that I was going to jump into this book and find stories that no one could relate to about having a famous brother and working in show business. Instead what was given to me made me smile and filled me with confidence about life for my future. I don’t think that my age was really the target for this book (19) but reading it forced me to answer some questions; Am I happy with the choices I'm making? Could I have made a better decision? But ultimately it made me look at myself different.
I can safely say that coming away from this book I have grown to love myself a little more. I know now that none of the bad things that have happened in my life were ever because the world is against me, and I know now that it’s okay to be single and date myself for a while ( a phrase which I have grown to love).
Total pages - 288
Total read time - 5 hours
Rating /10 - 7.5-8
Recommend - Yes (for those looking to reminisce or for those growing up in the modern world)
(Oh and Carrie, if you read this, I kinda hope in the future you’ll write another All I Know Now; maybe if/when you’re married and have children, just to help us out as we grow up with you.)
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