Wildflower

by Drew Barrymore

'We all have stories to tell. These are mine.' Drew BarrymoreBorn into Hollywood royalty, Drew Barrymore is one of the biggest stars of her generation. Despite an unconventional childhood, she has built a life and career of her own that millions of fans admire.Wildflower is a portrait of Drew’s life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges and incredible experiences she’s had. It will inspire, delight and show the true meaning of family, happiness and love.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Audiobook, Biography, Biography Memoir, Autobiography, Humor

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 27, 2015

About the author

Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film producer, director, photographer, entrepreneur, and author. She is a descendant of the Barrymore family of well-known American stage and cinema actors. In 1982, her first major roll was in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial which made her one of the most famous child stars of the time. She has been a CoverGirl spokeswoman, an Ambassador Against Hunger, posed nude for Playboy and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Barrymore is the co-founder of the production company Flower Films. She is also the founder of Flower Beauty, a line of low cost, high quality beauty products.

Barrymore married her third husband art consultant Will Kopelman in 2012. They have two daughters.

Reviews

[Federico DN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Every now and then you hear an Audiobook to mix things up a bit, and what could be better than the voice of a major celebrity to do it?

I started thinking this was a novel but it turned out to be a random and non sequential autobiography of Drew Barrymore's life. Going through a childhood with a dissimilar mother and a distant father; ET and the explosion of fame; the court emancipation and the turbulent teenage years; her relationship with Señor Spielbergo, Adam Sandler and Cameron Diaz; the family, the husband, the children. And a variety of anecdotes, projects and personal opinions, among other things.

It's interesting to know the backstage of a celebrity's life, but in this case it turned out to be sooo tedious. It's one thing to read AARRGGHHHH in text, and quite a different one having Drew literally screaming AARRGGHHHH to your ear. Repeatedly! Also, I don't mind some good swearing, as long as it is done with style and wit, but there seemed to be an abundance of 'f*ck this' or 'f*ck that' without much reason. Lastly, according to Drew everything and everyone is lovely and the best in the world. Now I'm as much optimistic as the world allows me to be, but it is one thing to be optimistic and a very different one to paint everything pink. It is easy to talk about the things we like, but a lot harder to talk about the things that affect us most. Maybe an opportunity was lost to explore more deeply all those dark parts of her life; there were certainly several major scandals along through it.

Overall, very cute, but not really recommendable. Maybe just reading the book could have been better. I enjoyed the novelty and some anecdotes here and there. I love the actress, but no so much the author. And I'm sure I will keep seeing her around. '50 First Dates' is still one of my all-time favorites.<3.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[2015] [288p] [Audiobook] [Memoir] [Very Cute] [1.5] [Not Recommendable] [Screaming] [Swearing] [Overly sweet]
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De vez en cuando escuchás un Audiobook porque querés variar un poco las cosas, y que podría ser mejor que la voz de una gran celebridad conocida para contartelo?

Empecé esto pensando que era una novela pero resulta ser una autobiografía no secuencial y aleatoria de la vida de Drew Barrymore. Pasando por una infancia con una madre dispar y un padre distante; ET y la explosión de su fama; la independencia judicial y los turbulentos años adolescentes; su relación con el Señor Spielbergo, Adam Sandler y Cameron Diaz; la familia, el esposo, las hjas. Y una variedad de anécdotas, proyectos y opiniones personales, entre otras cosas.

Es interesante conocer el backstage de la vida de una celebridad, pero en este caso resultó ser bastante tedioso. Una cosa es leer AAAHHHH en un libro, y otra muy distinta es tener a Drew literalmente gritándote AAAHHHH al oido. Repetidamente! Y no me molesta una buena puteada usada con ingenio y estilo, pero acá parece que abundan los 'al carajo esto' o 'al carajo aquello' sin motivo aparente. Por último, según Drew todo y todos son adorables y lo mejor del mundo. Soy tan optimista como el mundo me permite serlo, pero una cosa es ser optimista y otra muy distinta pintar todo de rosa. Es fácil contar las cosas que más nos gustan, pero mucho más difícil hablar de las cosas que más nos afectan. Tal vez se perdió una oportunidad de explorar esas partes oscuras de su vida; ciertamente tuvo resonantes escándalos a lo largo de ella.

En fin. Muy lindo, pero no especialmente recomendable. Tal vez sólo leer el libro hubiera sido mejor. Rescato la novedad y alguna que otra anécdota. Amo la actriz, pero no tanto la autora. Y estoy seguro de que voy a seguir viéndola por ahí. 'Como si fuera la primera vez' sigue siendo una de mis favoritas de todos los tiempos <3.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[2015] [288p] [Audiobook] [Memoria] [Muy Lindo] [1.5] [No Recomendable] [Gritos] [Insultos] [Demasiado dulce]
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[Miranda Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a down-to-earth book from a former wild child

I really liked the tone she set from the very start of the book:

"Memoir seemed heavy to me and I wanted this to be light. This is a book you can dip into or listen to whenever you like."

Very true. Her book seamlessly wove back and forth in time as she connects her rocky childhood to her unstable teens to her free young-adult years until finally she reaches her solid and dependable adulthood.

Much of her crazy-behavior was completely explained - and I'm not talking the "I can explain that" sort of reasoning. This was a genuine - "I was a kid with no idea how to live on my own thrown into an insane life" sort of explanation. I wanted to wrap little-Barrymore into one giant soul-crushing hug.

As someone too young to have followed (or cared about)the Barrymore drama the first time around, I found myself shocked by her childhood. No child should have to deal with that much crazy at such a young age. I'm so happy that she is able to look back with grace & poise and firmly put the past in the past.

Many inspirational, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps sort of quotes are scattered throughout the book but what struck me most was the way she talks about family. The way she described how she chose her husband:

"He is so wonderful. And he is door number one. And I know it. And he’s right here."

Ironically, they are no longer married yet her words still ring true. So many folks are always wanting to see what is behind Door #2 that they fail to notice the wonderful contents of Door #1.

Additional Audiobook Impressions:
--She read her own book: Check.
--She spoke with feeling and inflection: Check.
--Pleasant to listen to: sometimes her voice would screech and yell based on what was happening to her younger self. Although entertaining, sometimes I would be spooked/jolted when the volume made such a sudden jump.

YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drew Barrymore has infectious enthusiasm. Her adorableness and zest for life have made her an appealing actress and an inviting storyteller.

Wildflower is a collection of stories from Drew's life. There are a few chapters about Drew's childhood, but the book isn't in chronological order. The stories jump around and are randomly arranged, which was a bit confusing, but it also fits with Drew's free-spirited style.

My favorite stories were about Drew's travels around the world, and some behind-the-scenes anecdotes about her movies, including E.T., Charlie's Angels, The Wedding Singer, and Ever After. Drew admits she had a wild youth, but she also had to grow up fast when she emancipated herself at 14. She wrote about how tough it was figuring out how to be an adult without a lot of guidance, and she shared her perspective on that famous sexy dance she performed on David Letterman's show. There was also a fun story about a rough camping trip Drew took with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu, and another one about going stir-crazy and jumping off a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and swimming to a nearby island.

Now at 40 and with two young daughters, Drew seems more settled and comfortable with herself. She has some moving chapters on being a mother, and she is determined to be more nurturing and loving than her parents were with her.

I listened to this book on audio, and Drew is a charming narrator. The print version has some cute black-and-white photographs of Drew over the years. This is a warm, light-hearted read, and I would recommend it to Drew's fans.

[Helene Jeppesen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This autobiography both gave me what I was hoping for, but it also disappointed me in some parts. I was interested to read this because I admire Drew Barrymore and think she must have had quite an extraordinary life so far. Also, I had to get it because of that stunning cover - let's be honest.
This book was a mix of very different chapters. They differ in length, content, honesty, and chronology. I didn't really mind because it kept the book fresh in a way, but I did feel like there was an inconsistency in how deep Drew goes into her emotions. Some chapters are bare anecdotes, while others are very emotional. For instance, there are two chapters that are letters for her two children, and for me that became a bit too personal. However, I loved her chapter about Flossy and her feelings for that dog.
All in all, I do feel like I got an insight into Drew's life which has been nothing but ordinary. I love reading books like these that allow for me to look into a person's life which is so very different from my own, because they always leave an impact on me and widen my horizon. Despite my small disappointments, I still think that this is definitely worth a read; and once you've finished it you can always stare admiringly at the cover :)

[Monica (is working the heck out of · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edit 4/21/20:

A word to the wise, if you are a super fan of Drew Barrymore’s and are in undying love with everything she’s ever done, that’s great! Go and gush about it in your own review. Trolls who wander my way to slap at me for expressing a critical opinion of her…offering will be summarily obliterated and blocked and have their spoor scrubbed off the thread. I’ve seen attacks on more than one one-star review and am disinclined to be as kind as those reviewers were.



Everything about Wildflower bothered me, from Barrymore’s inebriated, overly dramatic narration style to her embarrassingly poor execution of the non-linear mode of storytelling.

Charitable folks might call this a collage, or maybe a collection of autobiographical snapshots.

I’m calling it one of the most incoherent messes I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve read some doozies.

I’m going to assume that the incoherence is intended to illustrate Barrymore’s free spirit and unorganized nature but, given her repeated emphases on her evolution into an “appropriate” “adult,” her employment of fragmentation as a literary form doesn’t really succeed.

As one of my more exacting profs once told me, “Annie Dillard says that the obligation of the fragmented text is to be even more strongly unified than a linear one, because a linear text provides at least the illusion of cohesion, one thing leading to the next.” She went on to explain Trinh Mihn-Ha’s concept of the `coming into being of the structure of the text,’" stressing that it was “critical to successful writing because, as Barthes says, we can’t really conceive of a text without structure. It’s like a building—if you leave out a crucial support, the whole thing collapses, killing everyone inside.”

Maybe there *is* a “crucial support” here, one that I’m not seeing. Still, it should be more apparent than it is, even if organized chaos is supposed to be the major underpinning of the narrative.


In terms of content, I like memoirs that work to provide readers with insights into who the authors are. I especially like when celebrity authors take responsibility for poor decisions they’ve made and speak honestly about those mistakes.

What I don’t like are jumbled collections of yawn-worthy,decontextualized stories that either gloss over or completely ignore the darker sides of show business.

I am well aware that she owes readers nothing more than what she is willing to give, especially with children to protect; they are almost certain to come across their mother’s book one day, so it behooves her to be judicious in and strategic about what she discloses about her past.

That said, the silences and lapses in her narratives are problematic in that they raise questions that shouldn’t be raised, the answers to which are critical to conveying the significance of the overall story she is trying to tell.

To continue, she and I cannot disagree more about the constitutive criteria for good girls, wives, or mothers or about the necessity of female repression.

Even taking into account the ways in which her heartbreakingly turbulent childhood may have contributed to her antifeminist precepts, I still regard them as harmful, pedantic generalizations.

I found some of these attitudes alienating and had to make myself keep reading/listening.

To continue, I rarely if ever discuss in my reviews the grammar errors I find in books, but Barrymore’s were numerous and served to take me out of what there was of the story. I also had to laugh at the awkward phrasing and word choices.

Now, to be just a little fair, she does warn us that her intention was not to write a serious memoir. She also makes clear that the book should be one that we pick up and put down at random intervals.

Still, I expected more and better than what I got.

To be clear, I did not come to Wildflower in search of juicy gossip about Drew Barrymore. I hadn’t really thought about her at all until I read Corey Feldman’s brief mentions of her in his own memoir. My favorite role of hers is linked below (WARNING: violence):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlLMG...

Aside from the above, I’ve yet to sit all the way through any of her other films.

I came to Wildflower in search of what I get from all the memoirs I consume, inspiration, insights, and the humility and candor that function to illustrate the human behind the star.

I also wanted to dive into something that would take me out of my current headspace and, unfortunately, this book just didn’t do that for me. Two stars.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://melissa413readsalot.blogspot.c...

I have always loved Drew Barrymore so I was excited to read this new book. Drew says in the preface that she didn't write the book in any particular format, it's not a sweeping life story but an elaboration on times in her life as she remembered them. I thought the way it was written, with the back and forth from different years of Drew's life was awesome.

In the beginning chapter of the book, Drew talks about having an avocado tree in their tiny backyard and a cascading bougainvillea flower out front. She felt close to nature with these flowers and tree. She was especially sentimental about the avocado tree....



•••••

In fact the significance of the avocado tree is still as strong as can be for me. I even have it in my will that I want to be buried under one, or have some of my ashes put there. Some avocado tree preferably on a hill that is nowhere near anything this time. Just up on a rolling mountain, preferably with an ocean view. I can dream!

•••••

Let us all be wildflowers!






•••••

Drew talks about different friendships through out the years. She talks about her business "Flower" with her best friend, which makes movies, a cosmetic line and many other ventures.

Drew talks about how her mom wasn't really a mom to her and she was emancipated at a young age. Her dad was a hippie with another story you will just have to read about.

I loved the story she told about her dogs! Being a dog lover, this would appeal to me. She spent many wonderful years with three dogs she rescued and had a most wonderful bond. They were her family until she made another family of her own. The dogs were Flossy, Templeton and Vivian.



Flossy outlived all of them and it was sad hearing about them passing away, even when Flossy passed. They all had a wonderful life, I can tell you.

I love that she has dogs with her daughters, they named them Lucy (my dogs name!) and Douglas. Drew says:

The house is chaos sometimes when the dogs are trying to eat the kids' food or jumping into the tub with them. But it's worth it. Life with dogs is better. I just wouldn't have it any other way. They say that dogs can give and receive love through their eyes. The unspoken ability to lock in and actually feel love between human and animal is an extraordinary thing.

•••••

I love when she talks about her beautiful girls, Olive and Frankie. I would say for her this is her best moment of her life, having those girls and bringing them up to be strong women.



There is a little section called Dear Olive and Dear Frankie. They are so sweet, I will add some words Drew said to each of them.

DEAR OLIVE

I love you in the way where you discover the most selfless true love that one can experience. You are the keeper of my heart. The love of my life. You are trying to just figure it all out right now, but the truth is, I can't wait till you will just collapse in my arms and stay for a while. Like forever.

DEAR FRANKIE

To say I love you is the understatement of the world. To show that I do for the rest of my life will be my honor and my pleasure. As I sing to you the tune of "Rubber Duckie" ... "Little Frankie, you're the one, you always make my day so fun. Little Frankie, I'm awfully fond of you."

I thought is was a great book...

[Snotchocheez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have much respect for Drew Barrymore the actress, producer, entrepeneur, humanitarian, etc. Not only did she co-star in one of the first movies I lined up for--and loved---at the movie theater (of course, "E.T"), but also produced (and cameo'd in) one of my favorite movies ever: "Donnie Darko") Though I knew she had a rough time growing up (I haven't read her first book of her childhood travails), I was glad to hear she was happy and relishing her new role as the perfect mom to her two daughters.

Something about this book, though, just didn't work for me. Every one of these roughly 4-10 page "stories" seemed choppy and incomplete. And it's not just because the yucky bits have bit excised (perhapa because she's already written about them). I wasn't expecting literary excellence from her, just some cohesion and clarity. By her own admission, this took seven years to write and compile. You'd think (even with a busy lady like Drew) that would be plenty of time to amass enough material for a complete, compelling set of stories . Even the best stories (like her friendship with Adam Sandler) seemed pithy and puny compared to all the stuff she could've written about (like, say, funny "Wedding Singer" production dirt, maybe?). Some stories (like the one devoted to her three dogs) seemed too long and out of place. One story (named "Todette") started promisingly enough with a cross-country RV trip with her Flower Films co-founder Nan, that screeched to a thud in Texas. (Drew intended it to be high-larry-us; it was just dumb dumb dumb, funny for her and her friend, maybe, but hardly funny for her readers.) A story about her philanthropic efforts in Kenya seemed more a self-congratulatory celeb publicity stunt.(an idea Drew despises) than enlightening.. A story of her trip to India (ostensibly to get in touch with her spirituality, but really seemed more a pretentious voyage to scatter her dog's ashes) was a head- scratcher. Ditto one about an Outward Bound trip and bonding exercise to Utah with her fellow "Charlie's Angels" gal pals Cameron (Diaz) and Lucy (Liu). (Drew seemed more pissed off at her friends than having a bonding experience.) A account of three-week long Mediterranean cruise showing off vestiges of her spoiled girl insolence made me yawn.

I will never begrudge Drew's success, but this just made me shake my head. She probably needs to stick with the stuff she excels at.

[Lala BooksandLala · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not the greatest writing you'll ever encounter...but Drew Barrymore has been my spirit animal since I was 5, so...

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I still like Drew but this was so boring & bad.

The chapters were not done chronologically which really annoyed me. Her chapters dealt with different topics. So she kept jumping back and forward in time and I had no idea which Drew we were dealing with. There was innocent child Drew, working child Drew, messy teenage Drew, wild child Drew, sensible Drew, working Drew, single Drew, Mommy Drew and more that I can't remember. She would tell a story (always about the most random things) and I would have no idea what age she was/what period in her life she was at and it was hard to put things into perspective. Her chapters also focused on really random things. A lot of the topics were pointless to be honest whether they were random things like a chapter on making pancakes one morning or whether they were dedicated to someone. I don't mind reading about how much someone loves someone else but so many of her chapters were about someone else and not Drew herself.

She also didn't make herself out to be a good likeable person in my opinion. It was like in books where authors sometimes say something like "Jane was so funny and charming and likeable and girly" but the author doesn't really show how Jane is all these things and so the reader is left thinking "well, you say she's all these things but I don't see any examples". I think Drew has such a charm and that translates really well when she is in films but it didn't translate well in this memoir. That or she's a fabulous actor who can act charming. She seemed likeable to me before reading this but now I'm not so sure.

I was desperate to finish this and I just wanted it to be over. There was hardly any drama in this. I expected a lot more from Drew about her love life and her wild times but there were only teeny tiny snippets. I was not satisfied. I think Drew wanted to be quite private with this but in my opinion you need to be comfortable with sharing more about your life with your readers or what is the point in writing a memoir about your life? I feel like I got tiny little glances into her life and so I am really disappointed with this book. I would not recommend this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“To realize that we can be conditioned to believe that things are one way, and then later be set free to understand they can be different."

“No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you, and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail.” [From Eugene O'Neill]. OH AND I CRIED LIKE A LITTLE BABY AT THIS CHAPTER.

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
What a perfect way to kick off June! I love Drew Barrymore - her enthusiasm and charisma is contagious and this audiobook was fantastic! (I highly recommend the audiobook because Drew’s narration is freaking amazing!)

This is a collection of stories about Drew’s life. The one nit picky thing I have to say is that since these stories aren’t told in any kind of chronological order, they kind of feel random and all over the place, but that’s just me. I would’ve liked a more constructed storyline to follow.

But wow Drew’s narration had me laughing out loud at times, I forget how funny she is! She has such a warm personality and I spent most of my time listening to this smiling. I loved her stories about how she became a mother and how she feels like she was born again the day she had her daughter, and I loved getting more insight on her childhood and how she was always in the spotlight.

Yes, the writing isn’t the best, it’s actually pretty bad - but with Drew narrating the audiobook it’s not as big of an issue as it would’ve been if I was just reading the words on a page! I just really adore Drew Barrymore and I adored this audiobook. 💕

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read, but a very mixed bag of stories.

[Amit · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 ⭐

GENRE - MEMOIR

PAGES - 276

Now this book has a story. I bought this book in Kuwait in 2017 and shifted to Singapore in 2018 for Masters and during that period I never had the time to read this beautiful book and my roommate in Singapore, Olivia had taken this book from me to read and returned it to me after reading with a sweet little note.
I finally read this book in 2024.

ABOUT THE BOOK - I was reading the Almanac of Naval Ravikant and to my surprise I got absolutely bored of it!! I picked up this book to give me a breath of fresh Air!!😂

Absolutely loved the Book, I first came across Drew Barrymore when I saw 50 First Dates way back in 2007 and absolutely loved her and Adam Sandler.

Drew has been absolutely candid about herself in this book. It has been her honest effort to thank all those who have been important in her life journey as well as highlight the pivotal events of her life.

In each of the chapters she has spoken about all those important people and events and acknowledged the role of shaping the women she is today.

A very inspiring and empowering read.
Thankyou 🙏👍🙂

[My_Strange_Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

#mystrangereading Wildflower by Drew Barrymore ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (2.5 stars) I listened to the audiobook and oh my goodness, Barrymore is freaking hilarious as a voice actress. I appreciate that she tells you right up front what this book is--its not deep, not a memoir, not a complete story but instead small snapshots into her life. I enjoyed it, but struggled with good long it was. It just goes on and on and on which killed it for me. If you like her as an actress, you probably will enjoy this but be warned it quite long.

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a non-fiction/Biography Memoir. I listen to the audiobook, and I really enjoyed this book. I love Drew Barrymore, and this book was all about Drew's life. I found this book moving.

[Deborah Cottrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful child star who shines

I choose this rating not only because I knew any Drew wrote would be awesome. But I awestruck on how she made it out of the Barrymore family, that had such tragedies,t to become this awesome,wonderful,soulful woman. This book brought me closer to understanding who she is and how she became a great mother, wife, actress,director, writer and own her own successful production company. A MUST READ, NAMASTE to this wonderful woman who tells her story with respect to her family's tragedies.

[Wendy MacKnight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so I love Drew and I expected that she would be charming and sweet in this book and she is, but it is a difficult read in places. Some of the stories are actually kind of dull and while there is a thread running through this book - emotionally abused and neglected girl works harder than anyone else and is insecure and wants to be loved - her editor should have helped her sort some of these out more. Drew is the ultimate success story, and she has a tale to tell, about the difficulty of shaking off insecurity and I would have liked to have seen that explored more. I think she could really help other women. And I think she does, but this book lacks a focus for me.

[Holly in Bookland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some chapters I liked better than others but one thing remains true, I have & will always be a fan of Drew Barrymore.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed many of Drew Barrymore’s films throughout the years. I even decided that she would be the one to portray me in a movie about my life. When I saw she had a book out, I was definitely interested in reading it, so I did what I do with most celebrity memoirs: I listened to the audio version.

Drew is a delight to listen to from beginning to end. Her voice is friendly and easygoing. She’s able to laugh at herself and make her listeners feel like they’re in on the joke. Her stories range from childhood acting experiences to her dogs to her global travels to love and family to working with Adam Sandler, etc. She even details a crazy incident involving an RV at a gas station in the middle of nowhere on her way to New Orleans. I enjoyed her love letters to her daughters and how she’d get choked up while reading them out loud. And I love that she gave Jill Kargman a wonderful shout-out (she was married to Jill’s brother, which means they got to hang out a lot. I’m still not sure who I’m jealous of more!).

I enjoyed learning more about Drew. I love how she’s come out on top after her rough childhood and teen years. She is a kind and giving woman who inspires me to dream big and take charge of my destiny. And now I really need to watch Miss You Already!

Warning: Do not listen to the audio version with children around.

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always liked Drew Barrymore and thought she was a quirky person. I'm glad I got to listen to this book with Drew reading it. I learned so much about her and the struggles she went through as a child actor, becoming an emancipated adult at the age of 14 and not knowing how to do anything including laundry and now as a Mom. She is a beautiful soul and I like her even more knowing what kind of person she is, is the person I thought she might be. I think she would be a lot of fun to hang out with and swap stories.

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Drew Barrymore so I just knew I would love this book and I absolutely did! It was so interesting to get an insight into what made her into the person she is today. I liked that it was a total retelling of her life from start to finish and was just bits and pieces of stories from here and there. My only complaint is that they weren’t in chronological order so I got a little confused in the timelines. Other than that though I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

[Katy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Imagine finding a 150 page note in a high school that one girl wrote to another girl, full of sentences with multiple exclamation points for emphasis. Kinda like that.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little tidbits about her life. I really like her on “Santa Clarita Diet.”

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Drew's book :) I just gobbled it up.

She's just so easy to listen to, so laid back, free spirited, wild, funny, and outgoing.

She believes in astrology, being yourself, laughing is the best doctor, independence.

It was interesting to see her relationships with Cameron Diaz, Steven Spielberg, Adam Sandler and her husband.

I never knew she was apart of a movie production company called Flower Films! She has major girl power :)

I didn't know that she loved her dogs and children sooooo much :)

I liked her story of when she went to India.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not really a autobiography or a memoir but a set of short stories of memorable moments in Drew Barrymore's life. Some are interesting and some I've heard more than once. I was actually watching David Letterman on the night she climbed on his neck and showed her breasts off to him as a birthday present.

You feel sorry for her and her lost childhood. You applaud Steven Spielberg for stepping in and providing a father figure. You admire her apparent lack of bitterness towards her parents although it creeps in now and again and really why shouldn't it? Still she has chosen a path of gratitude and not bitterness which in itself is a wonderful lesson.

It's bitter-sweet at the end as she exalts her marriage and in-law family and the reader knows the marriage is over. All in all, spending time with Drew Barrymore is worth the afternoon it took to read this.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

”Let us all be like them and defy tradition, and yet create our own traditions at the same time. Let us all be wildflowers!”

Celebrity memoirs have always fascinated me, because it’s a chance for stars to tell their own side of the story without any interference from the press or paparazzi. They have control over what’s being shared and what they prefer to keep private. Drew Barrymore’s memoir (?) is no exception.

To be honest, I haven’t seen many of Drew Barrymore’s films. I refuse to see E.T. because E.T. creeps the fuck out of me with his shriveled raisin appearance (no judging). I’ve heard good things about Ever After and Never Been Kissed, but have yet to make the time to see them. And from what I know about Drew herself, she seems like a down to earth person, if a little hippyish.

Instead of one big, long, memoir, Drew’s book is spread out over certain events in her life, written in short vignettes. This is a very hard concept to execute well, and in Ms. Barrymore’s case, it fell mainly flat. Some of the stories were funnier than others (Domestic Bliss, Dear Olive, and Dear Frankie were my favorites), but most of the other vignettes were just “meh”. They weren’t events that I was particularly dying to know about.

Drew herself seemed like a pretty cool person, if I do say so myself. Of course, I heard the rumblings about her tough childhood and numerous falls from grace at such a young age. But in her book, I found her to be a very sweet, mother earth type person. I imagine if I did meet her in person, she’d be one of those people who would greet me like a long lost friend or relative.

I would’ve given this book a three stars just for the decent enough stories, but there was one overarching flaw that prevented that three star rating from happening.

The writing was atrocious.

When a celebrity writes a memoir or any other type of book, there’s usually a ghostwriter behind the scenes to clean up after their mistakes and make it pretty, so to speak. To my knowledge, Ms. Barrymore didn’t have a ghostwriter. And if she did have one, they ought to be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of writing to be published.

Put as kindly as possible, the overall general writing is something I would expect out of a second or third grader. For example, there were a lot of sentences like this...

”Joanie and David moved out when I was around four or five. I was sad.”

And this...

”I am the Seagull. That’s my nickname.”

I could see a six, seven, eight year old writing something like this. Or something you’d see in a Dick and Jane storybook. I didn’t expect this to be in a memoir written by a fairly intelligent adult with an editor and publisher looking over it.

**For the record, I read the sentences to my mom and dad to see if they could guess the age of the writer. They estimated between six and eight years old as well.**

Furthermore, some of the sentences in this book just didn’t make any sense at all, or were grammatically incorrect.

”For starters, I will have so many thousands of dinners with my kids.”

I had to read this sentence about five times before I was finally getting what she meant.

”’Girls want to do what boys do without losing the idea that they want love at the end of the day! They also love each other as women and they are stronger together. They want to kick ass and have fun.’”

This could’ve easily been condensed into one sentence, in my opinion. From a non-writer’s perspective, it just sounds awkward to read and speak aloud,

”Now I feel like a woman. A mom. I own a cheese board!”

So because you own a cheeseboard, you’re an adult. At that rate, I should’ve been an adult at around age seven, when my family took the plunge and bought a cheeseboard...

So was this book interesting? Somewhat. I liked very few of the stories, to be honest. I would only recommend this if you’re a die-hard Drew Barrymore fan.

[Sabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute. Fans of Drew would appreciate it the most. The incidents feel authentic and the writing's nice.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very ambivalent about this book. I don’t usually find celebrity biographies that interesting, and this is one of the better ones.
There are several stories that need much more detail. For instance, her emancipation or her 18 months in rehab. Yes, it’s poorly written, but remember this is a girl who didn’t know her elbow from her skin at 7 years of age. You wonder what the studio school taught in 3 hours a day. I am sure she knew all about hair and makeup.
The layout is very confusing.

[Gina *loves sunshine* · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this on audio and Drew narrates it herself which makes the story as cute and bubbly as she is! A really fun collection of stories about her adventures as a child actor, a business partner, a friend, a mom. Big gushes about her love for Spielberg, Adam Sandler, Her business partners, her daughters and her husband and in-laws....and her love for flowers :)

[Jess | thegreeneyedreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars - I listened to the audiobook of #Wildflower by #DrewBarrymore over the course of two days. While I enjoyed this book, I think I would have liked it a lot better not in audiobook. This is a really odd thing for me to say because until now I have always preferred listening to memoirs read by their authors. However this was an exception.

Audiobook critique: I felt like Drew overdid the theatrics in reading this one. Every time there was a scream (which was fairly often), she literally screamed— loud.in.my.ear. I have loved seeing and hearing her in interviews, but I couldn’t wait for this book to be over because of her voice and the theatrics. I almost stopped listening around part 4 of the audiobook, but I made myself finish it.

Book content: As for the content of the book itself I enjoyed it. I found Drew’s life interesting. She did come off a bit out of touch at times, which could be expected given her celebrity status. However, I was a little let down because I thought she would be very down to earth like she has appeared to be in recent late night tv show interviews. She didn’t come across majorly out of touch, but a little and maybe that was due in part to how she dramatically read the book. It’s hard to separate my feelings between the two. I wasn’t a big fan of the way the timeline jumped around. I couldn’t get a real sense of when everything was happening the way I could have if it would have been completely linear. It jumped back and forth between her childhood and adulthood to pre kids to post kids. I empathized her for her difficult childhood and relationship with her mother. This part of the book was very interesting and deep. However, her teen years were less relatable. She used a valley girl type accent when she spoke of her privileged mentality as a teenager, but it felt like she didn’t completely lose it when she told stories of adulthood. It just made it hard to follow.

Overall I enjoyed learning more about her, but I definitely liked the beginning of the book more than the end. It’s worth reading, but it wasn’t amazing. #jpbookreview

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drew is such an inspiration. I have grown up with her and loved her my entire life. A lot of people will be disappointed that this is not some kind of tell all, but that's exactly why I love it. Each short chapter is a love letter, and Drew and the word love go hand in hand. There's no dirt in here, only love. I can relate to her so easily (the chapter about her dogs had me bawling). You can tell the book was written BY her (unlike the last one) it's totally in her voice. That Sherman Oaks valley girl voice I have too. You have my heart Budgie.