Title: Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded
Author: Hannah Hart
Series: Standalone
Publish Date: October 18, 2016
Publisher: Dey Street Books
Format: Ebook (Hoopla)
Goodreads Summary:
The wildly popular YouTube personality and author of the New York Times bestseller My Drunk Kitchen is back! This time, she’s stirring up memories and tales from her past.
By combing through the journals that Hannah has kept for much of her life, this collection of narrative essays delivers a fuller picture of her life, her experiences, and the things she’s figured out about family, faith, love, sexuality, self-worth, friendship and fame.
Revealing what makes Hannah tick, this sometimes cringe-worthy, poignant collection of stories is sure to deliver plenty of Hannah’s wit and wisdom, and hopefully encourage you to try your hand at her patented brand of reckless optimism.
Review: I’m not one to usually read memoirs. I’m also not someone who usually watches some of the famous Youtubers of old. And yet, there was something in Hannah’s writing that caught me and kept me reading far past when I wanted to stop.
The essays that she includes in this book are all over the place in terms of subject. Some delve into her memories as a young child, others focus on her Youtube successes (as of 2016). There doesn’t seem like there is much in the way or organization of these passages, as we jump around between reading past and present very quickly.
But, that also reminds me very much of some of the videos I used to watch of hers. I’ve only seen a handful, but her voice came out strong. And here in these written memories her voice brings these instances to life.
My takeaway from this memoir is that she isn’t bragging. This isn’t a tale of “look at me and all my successes.” What I saw was someone overcoming incredible odds, to forge a path to happiness. It’s a tale of survival, and making the best out of something small.
It works. And she seems to make clear that she’s not done yet. So I think even the title fits well.
Rating: 4/5
Goodreads Goal 12/52
(Quick note: I didn’t write a review for the 6th, 8th and 10th “books” I read this year, as they are the first three The Old Guard: Tales Through Time issues, which are 32 pages each. I decided I’ll just review the series as a whole when the final issue is released in September.)
