I live for a good memoir, they're truly one of my favorite genres. I am a Toaster. I have followed Jackie and Claudia on social media for years, and been a part of their facebook group before it was shut down. I listen to the The Morning Toast every day on my commute home from work and always laugh so much. All that being said, this book was........not good. It did not live up to the hype, and beyond just not being good, it honestly put a bad taste in my mouth for someone I genuinely never had an issue with.
The writing itself is mediocre at best. Many of the chapters read like school essays desperate to reach a word count. They go on FOREVER and talk in circles when honestly, a point could could have been made in 5 pages instead of 14.
As far as content goes, it all felt very surface level. Even the moments that felt genuine and vulnerable were quickly ruined by a terrible cliche, insensitive joke, or most commonly, a cringey name drop of a celebrity she met once and now claims as a best friend. (If I was Joe Jonas or Sophie Turner reading the book, I would be creeped out. Honestly WHAT was that?? It wasn't funny. Just weird.) Aside from talking about her family, there wasn't much substance. Honestly, even the parts about her family were all tied back to bragging about herself.
The content could have been better communicated if she had more experience with reading in general. As a Toaster, I have listened to many episodes where she boasts about NOT reading, books are boring, etc. I did find it very interesting that she chose to write a book while being a self-proclaimed book hater. Her sister Jackie actually loves reading, so it surprised me that Claudia couldn't just stay in her lane for once and let Jackie have a "thing".
My final thoughts: this book made me sad. Her life seems so empty of things that really matter. She is very proud of the fact that she's wanted to be "famous" her whole life, and she believes she has achieved it. It's all so shallow, and really just irrelevant. I wanted to shake her at so many points while reading and tell her that there's soooo much more to life than chasing the approval of people. I know that her relationships with her sisters are genuine, and I wish they would make her feel secure enough to drop the loud-mouthed, self-obsessed act. I choose to believe that there is MUCH more to Claudia than this book had to offer.