Review: Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

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

Even before she made a name for herself on the silver screen starring in films like Pitch Perfect, Up in the Air, Twilight, and Into the Woods, Anna Kendrick was unusually small, weird, and “10 percent defiant.”

At the ripe age of thirteen, she had already resolved to “keep the crazy inside my head where it belonged. Forever. But here’s the thing about crazy: It. Wants. Out.” In Scrappy Little Nobody, she invites readers inside her brain, sharing extraordinary and charmingly ordinary stories with candor and winningly wry observations.

With her razor-sharp wit, Anna recounts the absurdities she’s experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture as only she can—from her unusual path to the performing arts (Vanilla Ice and baggy neon pants may have played a role) to her double life as a middle-school student who also starred on Broadway to her initial “dating experiments” (including only liking boys who didn’t like her back) to reviewing a binder full of butt doubles to her struggle to live like an adult woman instead of a perpetual “man-child.”

Enter Anna’s world and follow her rise from “scrappy little nobody” to somebody who dazzles on the stage, the screen, and now the page—with an electric, singular voice, at once familiar and surprising, sharp and sweet, funny and serious (well, not that serious). 

Review: I absolutely loved this memoir. I listened to it on audibook but made sure that I had the beautiful hardback on hand to be able to see any pictures that might be talked about. I really enjoyed the audiobook experience because hearing Anna talk about her own experiences in her own way really made the book come alive.

This book is written in chronological order on the most part and so you really get to build up a picture of this actress from her roots in ameteur theatre, to commercials, to broadway and eventually the star of films we know today. She isn't shy to give her take on things, her opinions on the showbiz world and I think it was her honesty that I liked most about this book.

I think that even if you haven't seen many of her film, or seen her on stage, then this book will be an interesting read. We, as readers, are given as insight into award shows, just how awkward it is for even famous teenagers growing up and just how exciting the pull of the stage is. I think this is a valuable memoir and I do hope that she produces another one as her career continue to progress. I would highly recommend listening to this one but also getting a copy of the hardback to keep and treasure because it really is a beautiful book!