Connor Franta

In his second memoir Connor Franta lets his audience into some insights of his life. Through short personal essays and poems he describes hope, heartbreak, and life. I don’t think I’ve related to another fellow millennial for a while now. I’ve never been a part of the selfie culture or vlogging business basically social media adept in general. I knew of Franta because of his ties to another YouTuber I watched on and off many years ago but his name stuck with me as one of the many show more YouTubers that “came out” in close succession almost four years ago, if I’m not mistaken. But he’s actually a pretty good writer. I didn't read his first autobiography, assuming that's what it was, so all I know is the now that he described.

There’s something universal about a first love and the heartbreak that comes with it. It’s always unexpected and no matter how hard or how little you try to make it work it's just as heartbreaking when it ends. Then there’s a matter of personal identity, who are you when you end it?

I was personally touched by Franta’s struggles with depression. It just happens and sometimes giving yourself a pep talk is only going to make it worse by the anxiety that creeps up with it. It was really refreshing to read about someone else’s experience with seeing a therapist because it really does help. Someone who has no personal ties with you and can extract thoughts that you need to let out can be a relief whereas when a personal family member tries to do the same they can end up rejecting those wayward thoughts.

The poems were a nice attempt at being deep but they weren't very memorable. show less

This piece of art left me in a daze. An emotional daze.
I wont lie and say I was a little worried leading up to this books release. Originally when Connor announced it on his youtube channel I was extremely excited. I am a huge fan of his, and appreciate his aesthetic. I think he is an extremely artistic, and visual person, and I am drawn to that incredibly.
However, lately (leading up to the release) his material he was producing felt extremely self promoting, and had very little artistic show more value to me. It seemed more and more every video or post or tweet, or whatever was about, "Hey go buy my book," instead of adding to the narrative. So, naturally I became a little less excited with each passing week.
However, despite all that, this book left me stunned and speechless. It was, to put it plainly, beautiful. The word seems inadequate, yet, I fail to find another word to give it justice.
This piece, unlike his first memoir, felt raw and uninhibited. He says in his forward that his first work was what he wanted people to see, and this work was what he was truly feeling in the moment, and it was SO evident and so wonderful.
I connected with him on so many things, and felt a closeness to the work that I haven't felt in awhile.
His prose about heartbreak and depression especially, stuck with me. He wrote about both with such truth and vulnerability that I couldn't help but fall in love. He opened up in these pages in a way that was completely unexpected and probably very difficult to do.
I think that opening ourselves up in such a raw way, and simply sharing our truths, for what they are in the moment we are feeling them, is powerful, and important and beautiful.
The addition of Connor's poetry and photography only helped to create what I consider truly a piece of art, that this memoir is.
Simply, wonderful.

Also, totally random side note, I am now the FIRST person to review BOTH of his books here on Librarything!! It feels pretty great! show less

I will not lie, the idea of a Youtuber writing a memoir was eye rolling to me to say the least. I picked up this one because it was recommended to me, and probably only because he's gay, which is a silly reason to recommend a book.
However, as you can see from my 4 1/2 rating, I loved this memoir.
Nearly halfway through I had to stop and ask myself, am I really a 30 year old, learning life lessons from a twenty something kid who makes videos on the internet for a living? And the answer was show more yes!
He has a lot to say and some great views on life and living. We could all take a page out of his book, punn intended, and live life more fully. Let's follow our dreams!
I will say his writing felt very scattered and sort of crazy, until I watched his videos, and then I got it. He was writing in his voice! The same scattered and overactive energy he has in his videos are found in this book, and it just works!
I find him adorable and fresh and smart!
It's helped me go into other books with a more open heart. Maybe we can't judge a book by its cover and have to give twenty something kids a chance to talk. They actually just might have a lot to say, and we just might learn something. I did. Thanks Connor! show less

I'm not a Connor Franta fan. He seems like a nice kid, but I think that he phones his videos in and just feeds off of the cult of personality he's created around himself. But I'm not even sure Connor Franta's fans will like this book. They're reading it, I'm guessing, to learn more about their favorite youtuber. And they are going to be disappointed because he doesn't share much more than they could learn by watching his videos or simply googling him. He's from Minnesota, he has 3 siblings, show more and his dad is a doctor. There, I just saved you the trouble of reading this book. Well, not quite, this book was saved from a 1 star rating by a single chapter. It's the only chapter that doesn't read like a Wikipedia entry/hallmark card hybrid. I forget the chapter's title, but it's the one towards the end where he talks about coming out. There he abandons the lame platitudes (reach for the stars) and shallow dives (my family used to visit a lake) and actually opens up about his internal struggle with sexual identity. So, if you want to learn more about Connor, skip to the end to read that chapter. If you want to read a decent memoir, don't read this at all. show less