I really really loved this book. Since I didn't watch GLOW I looked up an interview with Betty Gilpin so I knew what her voice sounds like. While I thought this was a book of essays that were all different kinds of memoirs, this felt more like a memoir broken up into essays - I guess that's the same thing, but it feels slightly different. My favorite essays were 6. Away, 8. Max, 14. Thanksgiving, 15. Trying, and 20. Oh Wow the End. Gilpin is a powerful writer who is incredibly witty, sharp, and you can tell her mind moves a thousand miles a minute. While those things made it into a great book to read, sometimes her sentences were jammed packed full of so many metaphors and references that I found myself having to slow down and reread parts. Or sometimes it was just slightly clunky to read and I accepted feeling lost. But overall, I loved her raw and honest reflections about coming of age (CW: eating disorders) and being an actress (CW: misogyny). I took pictures of a lot of the pages because they had some beautiful sentences, sometimes entire pages, but these are some of my favorites that won't get me in trouble for just retyping the whole book.

"Girlhood fucks you in this way. It's hard to learn to dream when you've spent all of your energy trying to be one for someone else." p. 105

"She had an endless faith in the world and unwavering love for all things in it." p. 108 (This is how I'd like to be remembered some day.)

"Running around the world trying to feel loved does not compare one grain to loving someone else. Finding flickers of a twin in someone's eyes and hushed union in the dark of a theatre were beautiful, yes. Fleeting moments of sameness and recognition had felt like the thing to spend my life running toward. But there was something so much more thundering and beautiful here. Love that had nothing to do with stopping to make sure you exist. Instead of Am I here? Do you see me? You think, Oh God. Look at you!" p. 179

Overall rating 4.5/5