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You'd Be Paranoid Too if Everyone Was Out to Get You: A Collection of Personal Stories and Insights
Awsten Knight is in a band called Waterparks. Whether or not you know that is beside the point, what you need to know is that he speaks the truth about some very important things. Since his band has rocketed to success he has been around the world and back again, and he has brought back some very keen observations and insights that will be incredibly beneficial to your life. If you want an honest take on how things really work, as seen through the eyes of an early twenty-something musician with impeccable taste in sunglasses and a forever color changing mop adorning his top, look no further, this book is for you.
You'd Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out to Get You) differs from other musician's autobiographies in that Awsten Knight has decided to take his fans along for the ride with him on this one. Having the unique ability to speak to people on a real level is one of the things that sets Awsten apart from other frontmen-and in his debut book, Awsten has woven personal tales of life and love in with a barrage of real unanswered questions. Dealing with toxic people, learning to love yourself, and waging war on an evil monopolistic mega-corporation are merely a few of the topics you will delve into when you look inside this young visionary's mind beyond the thoughts that usually make up 280 characters.
You'd Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out to Get You) differs from other musician's autobiographies in that Awsten Knight has decided to take his fans along for the ride with him on this one. Having the unique ability to speak to people on a real level is one of the things that sets Awsten apart from other frontmen-and in his debut book, Awsten has woven personal tales of life and love in with a barrage of real unanswered questions. Dealing with toxic people, learning to love yourself, and waging war on an evil monopolistic mega-corporation are merely a few of the topics you will delve into when you look inside this young visionary's mind beyond the thoughts that usually make up 280 characters.
368 pages, Unknown Binding
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
October 28, 2019
A highly entertaining collection of stories and essays that fans of Awsten/Waterparks are sure to enjoy.
The book has a great range of stories--we get a lot about Knight's childhood and teenage years, growing up in Texas; there's a section on dating, where we get one of the most absurd stories in the entire book, detailing an incredibly unfortunate "date" (if you want to call it that) Knight went on, which I'm sure will be a lot of people's favorite part of the book.
And of course there are plenty of tales about the band, especially with its initial creation and early days up through the Entertainment era, which was wrapping up when this book was written. These are some of the book's most interesting essays, gaining insight into the process of founding the group and the journey the boys have been on to reach the heights they've gotten to today.
As anyone who's listened to his music knows, Knight can deftly tell a story, and each one in this book is written with precision and his very specific brand of humor. It's difficult to talk about too much without ruining the joy of discovery fans will have with this, but rest assured that if you're a fan, you're not gonna want to miss this essential new piece of the Waterparks canon.
You'd Be Paranoid Too is funny, strange, insightful, and most of all: personal. Everything we expect from and love about Awsten Knight.
The book has a great range of stories--we get a lot about Knight's childhood and teenage years, growing up in Texas; there's a section on dating, where we get one of the most absurd stories in the entire book, detailing an incredibly unfortunate "date" (if you want to call it that) Knight went on, which I'm sure will be a lot of people's favorite part of the book.
And of course there are plenty of tales about the band, especially with its initial creation and early days up through the Entertainment era, which was wrapping up when this book was written. These are some of the book's most interesting essays, gaining insight into the process of founding the group and the journey the boys have been on to reach the heights they've gotten to today.
As anyone who's listened to his music knows, Knight can deftly tell a story, and each one in this book is written with precision and his very specific brand of humor. It's difficult to talk about too much without ruining the joy of discovery fans will have with this, but rest assured that if you're a fan, you're not gonna want to miss this essential new piece of the Waterparks canon.
You'd Be Paranoid Too is funny, strange, insightful, and most of all: personal. Everything we expect from and love about Awsten Knight.
May 22, 2021
I'm half expecting this book to be written in all caps
Edit 5/22/21: I finally read this. There was an entire page and a half talking about piss. 5/5 would recommend.
Edit 5/22/21: I finally read this. There was an entire page and a half talking about piss. 5/5 would recommend.
November 6, 2019
I got stabbed here. The food was fresh and drinks were tasty but I got stabbed here. Would consider going back.
March 5, 2021
I don’t typically write long reviews, but I feel like this book deserves to have reviews that aren’t just people saying “stream FANDOM”.
I really enjoyed this book. Obviously, it was fun to learn more about Awsten and the band’s background. However, I enjoyed this book for another reason. I feel like there aren’t enough books written about people in their early to mid-20s just trying to live their lives. That’s such a weird (and specific) age bc you’re essentially an adult who’s received little to no training for how to be an adult. This book perfectly encapsulates that. It was helpful to hear about someone else’s experiences (both good and bad). I also found it intriguing to read the perspective of someone who didn’t graduate college. I feel like those perspectives often get lost in new adult/young adult literature.
I’d recommend this book based on both the content and its readability. When I read the first couple pages, I worried that the casual tone would get tedious, but I found myself pleasantly surprised. By the end, I’d say the tone kept me more engaged with the narratives. Another bonus, there is quite a bit of information and insight on the music industry.
I also feel the need to include this quote from one of the Q&As.
What do you look for in a girl?
…I want whoever I date next to have nothing to do with music. It’d be cool if they weren’t involved with entertainment of any kind, at all. A private, low-key librarian is the damn goal.
As someone who is a private, lowkey librarian: Yo, Awsten hmu
I really enjoyed this book. Obviously, it was fun to learn more about Awsten and the band’s background. However, I enjoyed this book for another reason. I feel like there aren’t enough books written about people in their early to mid-20s just trying to live their lives. That’s such a weird (and specific) age bc you’re essentially an adult who’s received little to no training for how to be an adult. This book perfectly encapsulates that. It was helpful to hear about someone else’s experiences (both good and bad). I also found it intriguing to read the perspective of someone who didn’t graduate college. I feel like those perspectives often get lost in new adult/young adult literature.
I’d recommend this book based on both the content and its readability. When I read the first couple pages, I worried that the casual tone would get tedious, but I found myself pleasantly surprised. By the end, I’d say the tone kept me more engaged with the narratives. Another bonus, there is quite a bit of information and insight on the music industry.
I also feel the need to include this quote from one of the Q&As.
What do you look for in a girl?
…I want whoever I date next to have nothing to do with music. It’d be cool if they weren’t involved with entertainment of any kind, at all. A private, low-key librarian is the damn goal.
As someone who is a private, lowkey librarian: Yo, Awsten hmu
November 17, 2019
I didn't know what to expect when picking up this book. I bought it mostly because it's more content from Awsten Knight and I'd gladly support his artistic endeavors. I didn't expect this book to partially be a self-help book providing solid advice in several categories (anxiety, relationships, and fronting a band in particular) as well as a collection of anecdotes from Awsten's life.
For anyone familiar with Awsten's Twitter persona, you might expect this book to be loud and scattered, but his writing here feels more personal and dialed-in (if you do want loud though, don't worry, there's a whole chapter waiting for you). Occasionally while telling a story, his train of thought will occasionally derail and go elsewhere, but this feels genuine and adds a layer of authenticity to the book.
A pleasant surprise in this book are the Q+A sections, where Awsten takes questions users submitted on ASK.fm and replies to them. Sometimes his responses are snarky, sometimes they're good advice, and other times they lay out what may be the most convoluted plan to go to sleep that has ever been put to paper.
Overall, I would recommend this book, definitely to fans of his band, Waterparks, and also to people who want an engaging and humorous read that never lulls. Awsten's first foray into writing novels rather than songs was a pleasure to read and I would definitely be interested to see if he decides to write a follow-up one day.
For anyone familiar with Awsten's Twitter persona, you might expect this book to be loud and scattered, but his writing here feels more personal and dialed-in (if you do want loud though, don't worry, there's a whole chapter waiting for you). Occasionally while telling a story, his train of thought will occasionally derail and go elsewhere, but this feels genuine and adds a layer of authenticity to the book.
A pleasant surprise in this book are the Q+A sections, where Awsten takes questions users submitted on ASK.fm and replies to them. Sometimes his responses are snarky, sometimes they're good advice, and other times they lay out what may be the most convoluted plan to go to sleep that has ever been put to paper.
Overall, I would recommend this book, definitely to fans of his band, Waterparks, and also to people who want an engaging and humorous read that never lulls. Awsten's first foray into writing novels rather than songs was a pleasure to read and I would definitely be interested to see if he decides to write a follow-up one day.
October 28, 2019
@papajohns somethings weird about my pizza :(
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2019
STREAM FANDOM💚🍊💚
January 9, 2020
I really enjoyed reading this! Awsten's writing style is very much that of a storyteller's, and it was very interesting to learn so much about his experiences and perspectives regarding a range of different subject matters. The book is so authentically Awsten and I'd love to read more from him!
February 20, 2020
To be honest, I haven't been a fan of his band Waterparks for very long. There are lots of things I don't quite understand about the band and the fans. Like the tooth bat. Fans giving gifts from the sparkly Claire's shelves, to dead bats and the two nightmarish dolls that Awsten named Charcol and Bambi. And wtf is up with the minions? Perhaps I don't want to know. Anyway, it wasn't until the end of June 2019 I started listening to the band. I love the band for their creativity and originality in their sound, and the deeply personal and honest lyrics Awsten sings. When I first heard TANTRUM my reaction was "YAASS!! GET IT!!" It was refreshing and exhilarating to hear someone belt out everything that makes them angry, to the point that they were actually name dropping people in their songs. They sing about toxic friends, bad work relations, their screaming fans, and on the more melancholy songs, their exes. These guys are honest and real and I love that in any form of artistic expression. So when I heard that Awsten was coming out with a book, I didn't have to think twice about it, I knew I wanted to read it.
Awsten's book isn't written in the traditional format. While a large portion of it is narratives from his most embarrassing moments in his early teen days of being in a band to the end of a recent relationship that inspired some of his lyrics off his most recent album, he also includes Q&A sessions he had saved from Askfm.com where he gives fans band advice, relationship advice, how to recognize and deal with toxic friends and partners, and excellent hair care tips for the consistently color changing hair stylists. The book is one part biography, one small part advice giving, and another part of whatever he wanted to put in. (In case you skipped over it, go read the copy right page.)
There was so much about this that blew me away. To start, the narrative was awesome. He knew exactly how to craft a scene and plant you right along with him. He makes you feel every awkward moment, every hilarious incident, every frustrating set back, and every heart break he has felt. One that got to me personally was his chapter about discovering there was a tumor in his knee. My heart completely sunk and I cried out "noooooo!!!!" Even though it ended up being benign (yay!), he still had to have a procedure done on it that set him back for months. I understood why he felt that desperate need to have it removed ASAP.
I think what makes this book feel truly special is that he gives his readers the opportunity to live inside his mind for a little while. He doesn't sugar coat anything. He doesn't try to turn the hard or sad situations into punch lines. He gives his readers those raw and bitter truths that he needs to write, while remaining as kind and respectful to every one as much as he can. To put it plainly, he tells it like it is.
One of my favorite parts of the book was the non-ending. He states that he didn't have an ending planned for it. By not writing an ending, he is telling the reader that he isn't done learning and growing. He's learned SOME things from his experiences, but he hasn't quite closed other chapters for himself. He's still processing them and figuring out how to move on with them. He actually writes out "I don't really feel any better after writing this." He mentally isn't where he hoped he would be.
The reality with mental illness is there aren't happy endings. You don't wake up one day and feel better for the rest of your life. It's a constant life long healing process that is filled with many ups and downs. There are good days when you feel on top of the world, and there are bad days where you feel like you're at rock bottom again. You have to deal with it and that's a really hard thing for anyone to accept. The battle doesn't end, just as Awsten didn't write an ending to his book. He's still experiencing, learning, growing, and healing as his own human being, like any of us are with our own traumas and mental illnesses. We are all simply trying to move forward.
Awsten's book isn't written in the traditional format. While a large portion of it is narratives from his most embarrassing moments in his early teen days of being in a band to the end of a recent relationship that inspired some of his lyrics off his most recent album, he also includes Q&A sessions he had saved from Askfm.com where he gives fans band advice, relationship advice, how to recognize and deal with toxic friends and partners, and excellent hair care tips for the consistently color changing hair stylists. The book is one part biography, one small part advice giving, and another part of whatever he wanted to put in. (In case you skipped over it, go read the copy right page.)
There was so much about this that blew me away. To start, the narrative was awesome. He knew exactly how to craft a scene and plant you right along with him. He makes you feel every awkward moment, every hilarious incident, every frustrating set back, and every heart break he has felt. One that got to me personally was his chapter about discovering there was a tumor in his knee. My heart completely sunk and I cried out "noooooo!!!!" Even though it ended up being benign (yay!), he still had to have a procedure done on it that set him back for months. I understood why he felt that desperate need to have it removed ASAP.
I think what makes this book feel truly special is that he gives his readers the opportunity to live inside his mind for a little while. He doesn't sugar coat anything. He doesn't try to turn the hard or sad situations into punch lines. He gives his readers those raw and bitter truths that he needs to write, while remaining as kind and respectful to every one as much as he can. To put it plainly, he tells it like it is.
One of my favorite parts of the book was the non-ending. He states that he didn't have an ending planned for it. By not writing an ending, he is telling the reader that he isn't done learning and growing. He's learned SOME things from his experiences, but he hasn't quite closed other chapters for himself. He's still processing them and figuring out how to move on with them. He actually writes out "I don't really feel any better after writing this." He mentally isn't where he hoped he would be.
The reality with mental illness is there aren't happy endings. You don't wake up one day and feel better for the rest of your life. It's a constant life long healing process that is filled with many ups and downs. There are good days when you feel on top of the world, and there are bad days where you feel like you're at rock bottom again. You have to deal with it and that's a really hard thing for anyone to accept. The battle doesn't end, just as Awsten didn't write an ending to his book. He's still experiencing, learning, growing, and healing as his own human being, like any of us are with our own traumas and mental illnesses. We are all simply trying to move forward.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2020
ok i love waterparks. and i thought this book was really well done, but a lot of the q+a sections seemed like filler. there was some actual good advice in there, but some of it wasn’t so good. and while the book was interesting, i don’t see myself reading it in full again, maybe just the part about the music industry.
December 23, 2019
First of all I have to state that I received and began reading this the morning after seeing Knight's band, Waterparks, live and deciding I want to sell all my belongings and all my family's belongings to dedicate my life to the band and that he is my mildly famous person that I don't know soulmate and I was born to listen to Turbulent live and could now die at any moment and be totally cool. It colored my reading experience I'm sure. I've now hit my post concert depression and can discuss this a little less frantically. Except for a couple hour break to drag my exhausted-from-rocking-too-hard ass to therapy, I couldn't stop reading it.
It's a collection of personal stories and Q&A segments with fans and when I first heard it was happening and that that was the concept, I was like "at least it's not a novel about straight people I guess???" which was rude of me, I know. But I wanted it anyway because I'm a Big Fan! So go me! (Got it from a friend that I pushed the band on. Limited edition came with a very cute paper ouija board and I wanted it even though I'm afraid of those. It's sold out in physical form but not ebook so get it 2DAY. ANYWAY.) I kind of expected it to be like cute Waterparks facts because I know that's what a lot of Stans want but it was a lot lot more. After being a fan for about two years I've come to know two things about Awsten Knight as a person. He is hilarious and he is kind. The book was just 368 pages of comedy and kindness underneath every story and opinion.
Basically my favorite thing in the world is young people loving music. I'm a pretty fucking shitty musician and I don't do much with this passion but it's basically all I care about. I've been active in the kpop fandom for over a decade because of the happiness it brings people and the life changing (and saving) relationship between fans and artists. And much of this book is written for-- and by, in the Q&A portion-- young people who love music. Knight talks about his life in its entirety from birth (Chapter 2, which is exclusively "Nothing mattered and I shit on myself constantly. Next chapter.") until 2016, which is full of struggles as a musician trying to get his footing and being a weird teenager doing embarrassing and unwise shit along with probably more traumatic stuff like mental and physical problems, bullying, and really really bad romantic partners. I found a lot of things in it were things I wish I could tell teens, tell my younger self, and it just warmed my heart. I even did a little cry or two or may have cried after finishing just from feeling all that.
Some of the very important advice here for you that can't or won't read it
-Go to therapy
-Don't go to college for shit you don't need to for your career it's really expensive and useless if you don't want to be there
-But don't give it up unless you know that's really what you want and that it's right
-Do Not talk to band guys
-If your school is not doing anything about you being physically bullied, sue them
-Respect people's time
-Eat ass
-Men are stupid and also evil
-"Don't take dating advice from someone who can't maintain a long-term relationship. Don't take artistic advice from someone whose work you don't respect. Don't tell your secrets to someone who gossips and tells you other people's secrets. You get the idea."
-Help your incredibly drunk friend even if he ruins your favorite Britney Spears t-shirt
-There's loads more really important stuff I know I'm forgetting
-You Can Do This
-Go to therapy
ALSO I TOTALLY LIED. There's a third thing about Awsten Knight that I know and really really admire. Which is kind of bullshit because I'm the same so actually fuck me :/// He's incredibly honest and probably overshares. It's a big part of what got me into the band, his lyrics aren't over the top dramatic bullshit- which is my favorite if it's good! But it is often really really not good. I know anyone reading this has seen me plead to listen to Waterparks and is not listening to Waterparks but... listen to Waterparks... His honesty and probably oversharing is what makes the book for me. There's a lot of moments where I was like "Oh I should check if fans got mad about this on twitter" because these kids get mad at EVERYTHING. Today a teen I don't know bitched at me on twitter because I said not to be assholes to fat people. But the stuff was really good for them to hear and I hope they take it in. Especially a chapter on social media and how garbage nonsense it is. Stop competing for woke points and think about things that actually matter because there are a lot of things going on with Celebs and musicians that need to stop immediately. Today I also saw the beloved Parxies talking about a barefoot crowdsurfing frontwoman was insensitive or something for... being barefoot...
One of my favorite parts was just his discussion of God. I hate God and love talking about it. It's not as much God itself but what people have done and continue to do and make you feel because of it and Knight says that he "thinks religion is a distraction from God." Because isn't it? Art, community, charity, these things that many religions are supposed to be about... aren't, really. At least from what I know and have seen. Live ur life, more power to u, whatever makes you happy that isn't giving money to the biggest pedophilia ring of all time or being a bigot murderer freak, but there's so much shame and stress surrounding it that I am just so over it!! I think I need to go back and finally post all those Demian quotes and get all crazy on here about God. I'm basically saying You'd Be Paranoid Too by Awsten Knight is Demian by Hermann Hesse 2. First person book about slightly abnormal young white men doing whatever slightly abnormal young white men do? Same shit. In a Q&A portion I'm pretty positive he literally says "You too, have mysteries of your own. I know that you must have dreams that you don't tell me. I don't want to know them. But I can tell you: live those dreams, play with them, build altars to them. It is not yet the ideal but it points in the right direction. Whether you and I and a few others will renew the world someday remains to be seen. But within ourselves we must renew it each day, otherwise we just aren't serious."
And the rest of the chapter is about ghosts because he's obsessed with ghosts because aren't we all?
There's a story about the time Knight decided he wanted to look naked in his driver's license and spent an entire day making that happen, a date with someone forever nicknamed McDonald's Trash Can Girl that seems so impossibly nightmarish that there's no way it's not real, some Real Demon Shit, and something that is perfectly explained in it's chapter title, "That Time My Best Friend Almost Died Because We Took Boner Pills in Little Rock, Arkansas: A Shame Story." It's actually much worse than it sounds, boys are truly unhinged and should never be unsupervised.
Even with all the wild youth stories and constant use of swears, maybe pass this along to a young person that could use the feeling of someone on their side. While sometimes quite frank and pretty goofy, I am truly not lying about the kindness. A lot of these lessons are things I've learned (or started to learn) already but encouraging words about self worth and saving your own life are never a bad thing to hear. Anyway, thank you for reading my review. Today was a really good day.
It's a collection of personal stories and Q&A segments with fans and when I first heard it was happening and that that was the concept, I was like "at least it's not a novel about straight people I guess???" which was rude of me, I know. But I wanted it anyway because I'm a Big Fan! So go me! (Got it from a friend that I pushed the band on. Limited edition came with a very cute paper ouija board and I wanted it even though I'm afraid of those. It's sold out in physical form but not ebook so get it 2DAY. ANYWAY.) I kind of expected it to be like cute Waterparks facts because I know that's what a lot of Stans want but it was a lot lot more. After being a fan for about two years I've come to know two things about Awsten Knight as a person. He is hilarious and he is kind. The book was just 368 pages of comedy and kindness underneath every story and opinion.
Basically my favorite thing in the world is young people loving music. I'm a pretty fucking shitty musician and I don't do much with this passion but it's basically all I care about. I've been active in the kpop fandom for over a decade because of the happiness it brings people and the life changing (and saving) relationship between fans and artists. And much of this book is written for-- and by, in the Q&A portion-- young people who love music. Knight talks about his life in its entirety from birth (Chapter 2, which is exclusively "Nothing mattered and I shit on myself constantly. Next chapter.") until 2016, which is full of struggles as a musician trying to get his footing and being a weird teenager doing embarrassing and unwise shit along with probably more traumatic stuff like mental and physical problems, bullying, and really really bad romantic partners. I found a lot of things in it were things I wish I could tell teens, tell my younger self, and it just warmed my heart. I even did a little cry or two or may have cried after finishing just from feeling all that.
Some of the very important advice here for you that can't or won't read it
-Go to therapy
-Don't go to college for shit you don't need to for your career it's really expensive and useless if you don't want to be there
-But don't give it up unless you know that's really what you want and that it's right
-Do Not talk to band guys
-If your school is not doing anything about you being physically bullied, sue them
-Respect people's time
-Eat ass
-Men are stupid and also evil
-"Don't take dating advice from someone who can't maintain a long-term relationship. Don't take artistic advice from someone whose work you don't respect. Don't tell your secrets to someone who gossips and tells you other people's secrets. You get the idea."
-Help your incredibly drunk friend even if he ruins your favorite Britney Spears t-shirt
-There's loads more really important stuff I know I'm forgetting
-You Can Do This
-Go to therapy
ALSO I TOTALLY LIED. There's a third thing about Awsten Knight that I know and really really admire. Which is kind of bullshit because I'm the same so actually fuck me :/// He's incredibly honest and probably overshares. It's a big part of what got me into the band, his lyrics aren't over the top dramatic bullshit- which is my favorite if it's good! But it is often really really not good. I know anyone reading this has seen me plead to listen to Waterparks and is not listening to Waterparks but... listen to Waterparks... His honesty and probably oversharing is what makes the book for me. There's a lot of moments where I was like "Oh I should check if fans got mad about this on twitter" because these kids get mad at EVERYTHING. Today a teen I don't know bitched at me on twitter because I said not to be assholes to fat people. But the stuff was really good for them to hear and I hope they take it in. Especially a chapter on social media and how garbage nonsense it is. Stop competing for woke points and think about things that actually matter because there are a lot of things going on with Celebs and musicians that need to stop immediately. Today I also saw the beloved Parxies talking about a barefoot crowdsurfing frontwoman was insensitive or something for... being barefoot...
One of my favorite parts was just his discussion of God. I hate God and love talking about it. It's not as much God itself but what people have done and continue to do and make you feel because of it and Knight says that he "thinks religion is a distraction from God." Because isn't it? Art, community, charity, these things that many religions are supposed to be about... aren't, really. At least from what I know and have seen. Live ur life, more power to u, whatever makes you happy that isn't giving money to the biggest pedophilia ring of all time or being a bigot murderer freak, but there's so much shame and stress surrounding it that I am just so over it!! I think I need to go back and finally post all those Demian quotes and get all crazy on here about God. I'm basically saying You'd Be Paranoid Too by Awsten Knight is Demian by Hermann Hesse 2. First person book about slightly abnormal young white men doing whatever slightly abnormal young white men do? Same shit. In a Q&A portion I'm pretty positive he literally says "You too, have mysteries of your own. I know that you must have dreams that you don't tell me. I don't want to know them. But I can tell you: live those dreams, play with them, build altars to them. It is not yet the ideal but it points in the right direction. Whether you and I and a few others will renew the world someday remains to be seen. But within ourselves we must renew it each day, otherwise we just aren't serious."
And the rest of the chapter is about ghosts because he's obsessed with ghosts because aren't we all?
There's a story about the time Knight decided he wanted to look naked in his driver's license and spent an entire day making that happen, a date with someone forever nicknamed McDonald's Trash Can Girl that seems so impossibly nightmarish that there's no way it's not real, some Real Demon Shit, and something that is perfectly explained in it's chapter title, "That Time My Best Friend Almost Died Because We Took Boner Pills in Little Rock, Arkansas: A Shame Story." It's actually much worse than it sounds, boys are truly unhinged and should never be unsupervised.
Even with all the wild youth stories and constant use of swears, maybe pass this along to a young person that could use the feeling of someone on their side. While sometimes quite frank and pretty goofy, I am truly not lying about the kindness. A lot of these lessons are things I've learned (or started to learn) already but encouraging words about self worth and saving your own life are never a bad thing to hear. Anyway, thank you for reading my review. Today was a really good day.
Read
October 5, 2023i want to be passionate about things the way awsten is i love this bleach boy so much
(also i still don't believe awsten knows these many words)
(also i still don't believe awsten knows these many words)
November 27, 2024
"My ultra-suspicious brain only remembers what it wants to, but hey, you'd be paranoid too if everyone was out to get you."
I have never enjoyed an auto-bio so much in my entire life omg. This book is a collection of ridiculous yet true stories, Q&As, life advice, hilarious anecdotes and everything in between. There's nothing I love more than a good story teller and Awsten is a fantastic story teller; this book had me laughing so hard at certain parts that I literally had to put the book down until I stopped!
When I went to the Fandom Tour this past December I was so ready to purchase this book but was more than a little sad when they completely sold out within the first few shows and I had lost my opportunity to read it. I tried requesting it from multiple libraries which all emailed me later saying their collection departments denied the request, so in the end I had to wait until the book was finally restocked and damn this was definitely worth the wait! The price was a little high but I was thrilled to support this project because the heart that went into making this book was evident in the pages; Awsten gives a raw and unfiltered look into the music industry and mixes it in with hilarious stories leading up to the creation of Waterparks and I adored every word of it.
The one disappointing aspect of this book was that it wasn't written in all caps (I was highly tempted to do my review in all caps), but I'll still give it five stars ig whatever 🙄
"If any of you ever decide I'm not a complete sweetheart, eat my ass, because check this out.."
I have never enjoyed an auto-bio so much in my entire life omg. This book is a collection of ridiculous yet true stories, Q&As, life advice, hilarious anecdotes and everything in between. There's nothing I love more than a good story teller and Awsten is a fantastic story teller; this book had me laughing so hard at certain parts that I literally had to put the book down until I stopped!
When I went to the Fandom Tour this past December I was so ready to purchase this book but was more than a little sad when they completely sold out within the first few shows and I had lost my opportunity to read it. I tried requesting it from multiple libraries which all emailed me later saying their collection departments denied the request, so in the end I had to wait until the book was finally restocked and damn this was definitely worth the wait! The price was a little high but I was thrilled to support this project because the heart that went into making this book was evident in the pages; Awsten gives a raw and unfiltered look into the music industry and mixes it in with hilarious stories leading up to the creation of Waterparks and I adored every word of it.
The one disappointing aspect of this book was that it wasn't written in all caps (I was highly tempted to do my review in all caps), but I'll still give it five stars ig whatever 🙄
"If any of you ever decide I'm not a complete sweetheart, eat my ass, because check this out.."
January 9, 2023
written with the same quirkiness as a wattpad fanfiction. there were some entertaining parts but i also ended up skipping over quite some chapters, however i also highlighted some quotes so… not sure how to feel. i do still really like him as a person though, so that’s good lol
Want to read
February 15, 2025awsten knight is the funniest guy alive and im just realizing this exists???
April 25, 2021
This book is genuinely one of my favorites of all time. I'm not one for biographies or "true" stories, but Awsten has a way of storytelling that feels like I'm having a real conversation with him. Not only can this book serve as a great source of entertainment (pun not intended), it also is a really good place to go for advice. I found myself relating to a lot of Awsten's experiences without having lived through any of them myself, and it's that kind of immersion that kept me reading.
You'll laugh a lot, (probably) cry a lot, and more likely than not have something to take away from this book that you can apply to wherever it is you're at with your own life journey. I can't recommend it enough, so if you find you have the opportunity to read this, do it. And do it cover to cover.
You'll laugh a lot, (probably) cry a lot, and more likely than not have something to take away from this book that you can apply to wherever it is you're at with your own life journey. I can't recommend it enough, so if you find you have the opportunity to read this, do it. And do it cover to cover.
January 6, 2020
great book. highly recommend but i'd highly suggest listening to waterparks (his band) before reading this book. also if you're cool and read the book you'd get my username joKE (if it shows up) let me translate into parxie: GREAT BOOK. STAN OTTOPARKS. WHO'S AWSTEN? IDK HIM LOL. ANYWAYS UH STREAM FANDOM. HA HA OK THANKS.
ITS WATERPARKS..... LIVE FROM THE ROOF,,, HA HA HAAAAA
otto is very chaotic. ok bye now. read the book thanks.
ITS WATERPARKS..... LIVE FROM THE ROOF,,, HA HA HAAAAA
otto is very chaotic. ok bye now. read the book thanks.
January 15, 2020
Funny, entertaining, a little bit odd, but some solid advice. Not formatted like a normal book, which I liked.
June 11, 2020
It was really cool being able to see how Awsten sees the world!
April 16, 2024
Awsten Knight has been my celebrity crush since late 2020, so when I found out this book had an ebook edition, I became about 15 dollars poorer. I needed to know what was in this mysterious and quirked up book about a not so mysterious yet just as quirked up frontman of one of my favorite bands of all time- Waterparks.
This book is formatted in chapters, but some chapters are Q and A where he got some questions from fans and answered them. Some chapters are stories or funny anecdotes, but some chapters are fans asking for advice. Personally, I wouldn’t seek out advice from lead singers of pop punk bands because, chances are, they do not know how to “be more mentally stable” or “drop toxic friends”, but that’s just me. It’s interesting to hear his advice, but it’s a little strange for him to be giving out this life advice as a 27 year old guy who does not know nearly enough to make this advice objectively good. And that’s not to knock Awsten, I think he is knowledgeable in, say, the music industry, so take his advice about that stuff, but in my extremely humble opinion (this is my book review, after all), he doesn’t need to be giving out advice on how to make friends in high school. That’s just not his forté, and while I do think he knows about some of this stuff, his advice is no better than anyone else’s. People who ask him these questions, though, will listen to him because he’s an icon in their eyes, not because they agree with his advice.
There were some things I wish was in the book, or if they were in the book, I wish they were made more clear. I’ve always wondered where the name Waterparks came from, and I was hoping someone would have asked that in the Q and A section. I also wish he spoke more about his religious journey, because a huge part of the IP era has to do with his connection to religion. I do get if that’s personal, but also if you are writing a book about yourself, I want to hear it all. I was hoping for more of a story when it comes to meeting the other members of Waterparks, Geoff and Otto (and how the Otto being a serial killer bit came about. I mean, it is a bit, right?).
All that being said, it was still really fun to read. It’s written in the same style that he talks to his audience at shows, which I think was really silly and made it seem more like a conversation rather than an actual book. I really enjoyed seeing that he knew some of the other bands that I know, too. When he said he went backstage for Scary Kids Scaring Kids during Warped, I sat up in my bed thinking “wow, I didn’t know people actually heard of them before!” The stories that he tells started off kind of boring, but that’s because everyone’s life is kind of boring until around high school. And even then, if we’re comparing silly high school endeavors to going on a national headliner tour for the first time, those funny moments when you’re a teen age merely moments, not chapters. I really wish that with the restock of the book, he added more about his recent albums, because my favorite eras (Fandom and Greatest Hits) haven’t happened at the book’s publication date. But that’s asking for a lot, and I understand that. But I wish that the book extended past 2018 because I’m sure there’s a lot more stories he could tell about that. Nonetheless, I’m happy that we, the parxies of the reading community, have been blessed with Awsten’s beautiful writing skills.
This book is formatted in chapters, but some chapters are Q and A where he got some questions from fans and answered them. Some chapters are stories or funny anecdotes, but some chapters are fans asking for advice. Personally, I wouldn’t seek out advice from lead singers of pop punk bands because, chances are, they do not know how to “be more mentally stable” or “drop toxic friends”, but that’s just me. It’s interesting to hear his advice, but it’s a little strange for him to be giving out this life advice as a 27 year old guy who does not know nearly enough to make this advice objectively good. And that’s not to knock Awsten, I think he is knowledgeable in, say, the music industry, so take his advice about that stuff, but in my extremely humble opinion (this is my book review, after all), he doesn’t need to be giving out advice on how to make friends in high school. That’s just not his forté, and while I do think he knows about some of this stuff, his advice is no better than anyone else’s. People who ask him these questions, though, will listen to him because he’s an icon in their eyes, not because they agree with his advice.
There were some things I wish was in the book, or if they were in the book, I wish they were made more clear. I’ve always wondered where the name Waterparks came from, and I was hoping someone would have asked that in the Q and A section. I also wish he spoke more about his religious journey, because a huge part of the IP era has to do with his connection to religion. I do get if that’s personal, but also if you are writing a book about yourself, I want to hear it all. I was hoping for more of a story when it comes to meeting the other members of Waterparks, Geoff and Otto (and how the Otto being a serial killer bit came about. I mean, it is a bit, right?).
All that being said, it was still really fun to read. It’s written in the same style that he talks to his audience at shows, which I think was really silly and made it seem more like a conversation rather than an actual book. I really enjoyed seeing that he knew some of the other bands that I know, too. When he said he went backstage for Scary Kids Scaring Kids during Warped, I sat up in my bed thinking “wow, I didn’t know people actually heard of them before!” The stories that he tells started off kind of boring, but that’s because everyone’s life is kind of boring until around high school. And even then, if we’re comparing silly high school endeavors to going on a national headliner tour for the first time, those funny moments when you’re a teen age merely moments, not chapters. I really wish that with the restock of the book, he added more about his recent albums, because my favorite eras (Fandom and Greatest Hits) haven’t happened at the book’s publication date. But that’s asking for a lot, and I understand that. But I wish that the book extended past 2018 because I’m sure there’s a lot more stories he could tell about that. Nonetheless, I’m happy that we, the parxies of the reading community, have been blessed with Awsten’s beautiful writing skills.
February 5, 2020
4.5
I have really hard time writing reviews on non-fiction books but I will try my best.I'll start with a long rambly story of how I became a fan of Waterparks cause that is what led me here, I doubt anyone is going to read this particular review, but just in case you have been warned.
I've known of them for a while I think, way back when I was actually on tumblr I remember seeing them on my dash a lot for some reason, probably from the music blogs I followed at some point and I decided to check them out (I found about Halsey much the same way back even before Badlands) and I remember seeing that weird Scott Pilgrim inspired video ( I now know this was Gloom Boys) and I remember thinking this is weird and forgot about it, and then I was spammed again for their video of Blonde on tumblr and decided to check that out as well and I though it was ok and then forgot about them. Now that must have been like when those came out so probably two years ago. Around that time I stopped going on tumblr as well, so that was that on that. And then fast-forward to the end of last year, I follow AltPress and RockSound on facebook I see a lot of shit about bands I don't listen to and I remember seeing an article that was like band reactions to the MCR reunion (YAY, me who wrote the review on MCR's biography you probably didn't see that one coming) and Waterparks were the ones that said that they tried to get MRC tickets and cancel their own show but didn't get tickets and I thought that was hilarious and forgot about it again. Soon after that I believe they released their new album which I was constantly being fucking spammed about on facebook between AltPress and RockSound, so one day at work in mid December last year I thought I wanted some new music and decided to check out that thing that is constantly being thrown at me and I think I listened to FANDOM 3-4 times that day and thought some songs were cool, I think I liked {Reboot} best on initial listen but then life took a crazy turn and well I forgot about them, are y'all seeing the fucking pattern here. And then we come to when I actually became a fan, after the holidays back at work I opened spotify again for the first time in like three weeks and FANDOM was at the top at recent plays so I got back into it and boy did I fall hard this time around. This happened in like a week. I listened to all their songs and I was inlove with their music, I have legitimately not felt this exited and passionate about a band's whole music (not just like a single song) since the great emo renaissance of 2016. This legitimately led to me making an insane half-baked last minute decision that I want to go their concert in London a week from when I made that decision so I book everything in an hour and went and saw them live, all this in the span of like three weeks from starting to listen to them to seeing them live in one of the most crackhead plans I've made in recent years. It was absolutely amazing! 10/10 would recommend, act on that insane last minute plan. I love going to concerts so fucking much and am finally in a position to be able to and boy am I happy about it! I got so many coming up this year!
So if anyone is still reading this bullshit, hi, you have made it to the review portion of this review. (Yall I mostly use goodreads to record my own thoughts on books, to be able to look back on later so excuse the unprofessional way I go about this, I know I'm the only one reading it and my audience is imaginary, also I'm not illiterate I'm just bad at typing FYI) So after I fell so hard about their music I found out about Awsten's book and figured why not, I've read Pete Wentz's book and loved it, same for the MCR biography. I'm still very knew to them I don't get a lot of the things their fandom goes on about, like what is a toothbat and why is that their brand, but anyways I got the book.
The book's goals are to entertain and advise as Awsten says and I was very entertained. I admit the advice, while I do think would be great for his younger fans, I myself am almost as old as him so I have either come to those conclusions myself the hard long way as him (I feel there is a that;s what she said joke somewhere in there) , or are just not applicable. His story of dropping out of college and pursuing music and his advices on that are great for a lot of people, and were quite interesting to read about. But I already got the masters degree, I have already been working in my field for two years and despite some drawbacks (as Awsten too says there are bad parts to anything you chose to do no matter how much you love and want it) I can't imagine doing something else, or more like I can , but I am not sure if anything else I will enjoy as much as being an architect/visual artist. Anyways, back to Awsten, we are not here to talk about my life. He keeps it very real and honest and that is amazing. I do think fans of him and the band would love this book and I too enjoyed reading it. I finally finished it on the plane ride back from seeing them live and honestly I've been wondering what to write in this review since then, because the last week and half (when I've been reading this book) has felt like a fever dream because of all the crazy shit I did and that happened to me/around me. And that made gathering my thoughts on the book hard.
Definitely recommend for fans to give it a chance. Entertaining,fun and fast read.
PS: Yo Awsten I may not be a private low-key librarian, but I am a private low-key architect and have jack shit to do with the entertainment industry, so hit me up :P
(its a joke guys don't kill me)
PS2: God fucking help me, I'm this close to going back on my bullshit and back to my colourful hair that I finally got rid of six months ago, after literal years of having multiple colors on my head and his fucking highlighter hair isn't helping me keep my promise to keep my natural hair much longer than said six months.
I have really hard time writing reviews on non-fiction books but I will try my best.I'll start with a long rambly story of how I became a fan of Waterparks cause that is what led me here, I doubt anyone is going to read this particular review, but just in case you have been warned.
I've known of them for a while I think, way back when I was actually on tumblr I remember seeing them on my dash a lot for some reason, probably from the music blogs I followed at some point and I decided to check them out (I found about Halsey much the same way back even before Badlands) and I remember seeing that weird Scott Pilgrim inspired video ( I now know this was Gloom Boys) and I remember thinking this is weird and forgot about it, and then I was spammed again for their video of Blonde on tumblr and decided to check that out as well and I though it was ok and then forgot about them. Now that must have been like when those came out so probably two years ago. Around that time I stopped going on tumblr as well, so that was that on that. And then fast-forward to the end of last year, I follow AltPress and RockSound on facebook I see a lot of shit about bands I don't listen to and I remember seeing an article that was like band reactions to the MCR reunion (YAY, me who wrote the review on MCR's biography you probably didn't see that one coming) and Waterparks were the ones that said that they tried to get MRC tickets and cancel their own show but didn't get tickets and I thought that was hilarious and forgot about it again. Soon after that I believe they released their new album which I was constantly being fucking spammed about on facebook between AltPress and RockSound, so one day at work in mid December last year I thought I wanted some new music and decided to check out that thing that is constantly being thrown at me and I think I listened to FANDOM 3-4 times that day and thought some songs were cool, I think I liked {Reboot} best on initial listen but then life took a crazy turn and well I forgot about them, are y'all seeing the fucking pattern here. And then we come to when I actually became a fan, after the holidays back at work I opened spotify again for the first time in like three weeks and FANDOM was at the top at recent plays so I got back into it and boy did I fall hard this time around. This happened in like a week. I listened to all their songs and I was inlove with their music, I have legitimately not felt this exited and passionate about a band's whole music (not just like a single song) since the great emo renaissance of 2016. This legitimately led to me making an insane half-baked last minute decision that I want to go their concert in London a week from when I made that decision so I book everything in an hour and went and saw them live, all this in the span of like three weeks from starting to listen to them to seeing them live in one of the most crackhead plans I've made in recent years. It was absolutely amazing! 10/10 would recommend, act on that insane last minute plan. I love going to concerts so fucking much and am finally in a position to be able to and boy am I happy about it! I got so many coming up this year!
So if anyone is still reading this bullshit, hi, you have made it to the review portion of this review. (Yall I mostly use goodreads to record my own thoughts on books, to be able to look back on later so excuse the unprofessional way I go about this, I know I'm the only one reading it and my audience is imaginary, also I'm not illiterate I'm just bad at typing FYI) So after I fell so hard about their music I found out about Awsten's book and figured why not, I've read Pete Wentz's book and loved it, same for the MCR biography. I'm still very knew to them I don't get a lot of the things their fandom goes on about, like what is a toothbat and why is that their brand, but anyways I got the book.
The book's goals are to entertain and advise as Awsten says and I was very entertained. I admit the advice, while I do think would be great for his younger fans, I myself am almost as old as him so I have either come to those conclusions myself the hard long way as him (I feel there is a that;s what she said joke somewhere in there) , or are just not applicable. His story of dropping out of college and pursuing music and his advices on that are great for a lot of people, and were quite interesting to read about. But I already got the masters degree, I have already been working in my field for two years and despite some drawbacks (as Awsten too says there are bad parts to anything you chose to do no matter how much you love and want it) I can't imagine doing something else, or more like I can , but I am not sure if anything else I will enjoy as much as being an architect/visual artist. Anyways, back to Awsten, we are not here to talk about my life. He keeps it very real and honest and that is amazing. I do think fans of him and the band would love this book and I too enjoyed reading it. I finally finished it on the plane ride back from seeing them live and honestly I've been wondering what to write in this review since then, because the last week and half (when I've been reading this book) has felt like a fever dream because of all the crazy shit I did and that happened to me/around me. And that made gathering my thoughts on the book hard.
Definitely recommend for fans to give it a chance. Entertaining,fun and fast read.
PS: Yo Awsten I may not be a private low-key librarian, but I am a private low-key architect and have jack shit to do with the entertainment industry, so hit me up :P
(its a joke guys don't kill me)
PS2: God fucking help me, I'm this close to going back on my bullshit and back to my colourful hair that I finally got rid of six months ago, after literal years of having multiple colors on my head and his fucking highlighter hair isn't helping me keep my promise to keep my natural hair much longer than said six months.
November 29, 2022
"Also I wash my ass." A brilliant finish to a brilliant book.
No like seriously this book is so good I highly recommend even if you're not a parx fan because it's like partly self help partly like comedy? And partly just random bullshit.
I laughed, I cried, no seriously I sobbed at one point, I got incredibly frustrated with him because he's an idiot, but all of it was fully worth it.
10/10 will be reading again.
No like seriously this book is so good I highly recommend even if you're not a parx fan because it's like partly self help partly like comedy? And partly just random bullshit.
I laughed, I cried, no seriously I sobbed at one point, I got incredibly frustrated with him because he's an idiot, but all of it was fully worth it.
10/10 will be reading again.
January 17, 2025
after months of delaying ending this book because i did not want it to end, since it's awsten's birthday i decided today would be the perfect day to finish it. reading this was both miserable and a blast, it was like sitting down and having a conversation with your favourite person in the world from night until dawn about everything that has ever happened to you and i absolutely adored every second of it. i'm so lucky to exist in the same time as this man and be able to experience his art.
March 6, 2025
i don’t want to talk about why it took me so long to read this book, but i loved every minute of it. awsten knight has been my favorite singer for about 6 years now and i’ve seen him do so many amazing things. seeing him get this vulnerable was so entertaining and uniquely him. his perspective is one that has always interested me
January 2, 2022
i loved it. 10/10
May 21, 2025
I didn't know it was possible for me to love someone even more than I already did <3
August 10, 2024
5⭐️
at least 50% of this book felt like i was scrolling through awsten’s twitter which was great (lowkey expected the whole thing to be written in all caps)
at least 50% of this book felt like i was scrolling through awsten’s twitter which was great (lowkey expected the whole thing to be written in all caps)
January 11, 2024
finally got around to reading Awsten’s book and i really loved it. the separation between stories from his life and the Q&A stuff worked really well and i thoroughly enjoyed reading it!
i loved reading about the early days of parx and more specific stuff about their origin that i didn’t know previously. it was so interesting to hear about Awsten’s childhood and growing up in Texas. even when Awsten was touching on more sensitive subjects he still managed to make so many parts funny and silly.
great book to kick off my 2024 reading list. luv Awsten forever<33
i loved reading about the early days of parx and more specific stuff about their origin that i didn’t know previously. it was so interesting to hear about Awsten’s childhood and growing up in Texas. even when Awsten was touching on more sensitive subjects he still managed to make so many parts funny and silly.
great book to kick off my 2024 reading list. luv Awsten forever<33
November 4, 2024
written by the most handsome, funny, and rich man ever. Buy this rn lil bro. even if u have to sell ur kids. do it or ima touch u. its so worth it. also go stream call me beep me by Waterparks - or their whole discography if u into that kinda shii
-stay freaky-
-stay freaky-
Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews