What a disappointment.. was soooo looking forward to this!! UGH seriously probably 2.5 ⭐ for me but it's a biography and I feel harsh lowball scoring someone's life thoughts lol so I rounded up.. I realize a lot of people loved this but truly not sure what to say about that.
Also not too sure where to start here but will make it brief. My final thoughts are that I guess you should leave your Hollywood crushes alone and not read about their lives in case you end up here, where I am... I loved Matthew McConaughey's vibe, his kind of random, crazy coolness, ugh ya, that's gone, like no. This was like being stuck at a party or on a date with someone you thought would be fun and then you wonder when they will stop talking. I loveeee his voice and was so pleased to get a skip the line audiobook copy from my library, narrated by the man himself! but sadly, I now do NOT love his voice... I listen to audiobooks while I cook dinner and putter around and the kids kept coming out of their rooms to ask who I was saying "omg please SHUT UPPPP, I'm begging you" to. I pulled my headphones out of my ears multiple times saying "I am done with you" and my personal favourite me quote "say 'wet dream' one more time McConaughey, I dare you" sadly, he dared.. Suffice to say that it took me two skip the lines at the library and a lot of self talk to get through this book.
I have seen reviews where people wanted more from him, he mentions he has experienced sexual assaults but doesn't elaborate, people wanted less of his parents and their abusive behaviours, people wanted more detail on all of his movies and interactions with other stars, this is NOT where the book fell apart for me. I have no issue with people discussing what they want about their lives, sharing what they will and wont, it's their story to tell and I was fine with this.
What I did have a problem with was, as my husband would say, he has "I like me a little bit of me" syndrome. He reallyyy likes himself and I am still so done with that I want to scream. He presents it in a way that looks super introspective and really like he challenges himself to grow and live his best life and that's good he thinks so, but I got the opposite impression, I feel like he glazes the top coat and then sands it off once in a while to reapply and make is shine again. Just blech. Sorry, ugh, and keep in mind, I am(?) a fan.
There are points when he talks about lying and says that he was raised that it doesn't matter if you tell a big lie, as long as you believe it and it helps you, who cares and that's his personal choice but my thought on that throughout the book was what my parents taught me, "once a liar, always a liar" and "don't retell a lairs tale" so why was I reading one? To me this could have been a great story that he embellished and concocted and those are fine for bar tales but this is a biography and after he said that, it just didn't come off as honest to me.
There were a few points where I cringed, I didn't love him and his brother screwing around feigning blindness with a hotel manager as the butt of the joke. I didn't love his get out of jail bongo tale, too many people don't get that privilege.. I dont know, maybe those would have been funny stories if I liked the rest.. probably not, just not for me I guess..
It's too bad because I LOVED his philosophy of looking for the greenlights. If you are faced with a red, it will go green, and even if you feel you are in a red zone of negativity, there is likely something there that you can grasp on to that will show you the green. The "keep it positive" look for the good philosophy. But somewhere in the middle that got lost for me.. It may be around the time that I wished he would stop shouting, literally shouting, his catchphrases in my ear "greenlight" "prescription" "poem" stop shouting... please... Oh boy, I was supposed to make this brief lol and am ranting..
I also loved, although not in my style of expression (but to each their own) his love for his family and children and wife. Beautiful. But still not enough to make me greenlight this book Matthew.. sorry 🚦 I hugged my husband when I was done and thanked him for proving that I don't have completely awful taste!😅