Pages:
303
Publisher:
S&S
Release
Date: 20th
October 2015
Edition:
UK hardback,
purchased
From
someone who made a career out of over-sharing on the internet, Tyler Oakley has
a shocking number of personal mishaps and shenanigans to reveal in his first
book: he experienced a legitimate rage blackout in a Cheesecake Factory; he had
a fashion stand-off with the White House secret service; he crashed a car in
front of his entire high school while wearing his fast food restaurant server’s
uniform; he projectile vomited while bartering with a grandmother.
With
millions of fans clamouring for more Tyler Oakley, he delivers his best untold,
hilariously side-splitting moments with trademark flair in Binge.
I have incredibly mixed feelings
about Binge and I don’t really know
where to start…
I’m a big fan of Tyler Oakley,
and though I haven’t watched his most recent videos, I love his videos too so I
was eager to read more about him. And I did learn more about him, sometimes a
little too much, but the way Binge was
formatted just seemed so very strange. Tyler’s anecdotes and stories and lists
that feature in this book have no real order. They’re not chronological and
they’re not divided into sections so it felt a little like whiplash. We were
thrown from topic to topic, shock to shock and then back again later in the
book. It felt like it hadn’t even been passed through structural edits!
Tyler talks a lot about his
career and rise to fame on YouTube. He discusses the highlights, of course, but
puts a lot of focus on the not so great side of being a YouTube celebrity which
was fascinating. The imposition of fans on his life, the stress of all he’s
being asked to do, the fear of backlash from fandoms – it’s not something that I
imagine is considered very much, even though being a YouTube celebrity is
something that lots of people aspire to be now. Tyler was brutally honest about
his bad experiences with the One Direction fandom (and the boys themselves) and
fans going to unsafe lengths to spot him and invading his personal time but he never
insulted anyone or condemned them too harshly; he just shared his experiences.
YouTube and career experience weren’t
the only things Tyler shared, however. There is a lot of very personal stuff
discussed in Binge and I applaud Tyler
for being brave enough to reveal it. He discussed his battles with an eating disorder,
coming out, parental divorce, an abusive relationship and horrific break-ups. I
can't imagine how reassuring it must be for people suffering or experiencing
some of the things Tyler mentioned in Binge
and knowing that Tyler Oakley went through the same thing and came out of
the other end. That’s going to be invaluable for so many people and that alone
makes this book important.
I'm very glad I read Binge, even though I would personally
like to restructure the entire thing, and I have even more respect for Tyler Oakley
as a person as well as a creator than I did before.
Sophie
Thanks to this, I've set aside my skepticism because as Tyler continuously emphasizes in Binge, in the end, his goal isn't anything else but to be himself. And while this book won't be required reading for AP English Literature anytime soon, it is the epitome of Tyler's presence, and that in itself makes for a fantastic story.
ReplyDeleteMarlene
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