Review: All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher

Title: All I Know Now
Author: Carrie Hope Fletcher
Edition: Sphere, 2015

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis

We all know that growing up is hard to do, and sometimes the only thing that makes it better are the reassuring words of someone who has walked that bumpy road just a few steps ahead of you and somehow ended up as a fully-functioning adult. Carrie Hope Fletcher is that person.* Thanks to her phenomenally popular YouTube videos, Carrie has become an 'honorary big sister' to hundreds of thousands of young people who turn to her for advice, friendship and, most of all, the knowledge that things will get better. Carrie has created a safe and positive space for young people to connect and share their hopes and concerns online, and now she will share her most personal thoughts and experiences in her first book, ALL I KNOW NOW. Part memoir, part advice guide, it will include Carrie's thoughts on some of the topics she's asked about most regularly: bullying, body image, relationships and perhaps the scariest question of all: what does the future hold for me? With warmth, wit and a sprinkling of hard-won wisdom, Carrie will provide the essential tools for growing up gracefully ...most of the time. *Although she did recently post a video about how to pee in a onesie. So the definition of 'adult' is a bit flexible here ...

Review

I've been watching Carrie's videos for a while now and actually only just realised that there's only a one or two year age difference between us. This means that I've read All I Know Now at the age she was when she wrote it.

For me, it wasn't about looking to Carrie for advice, although she gives it in abundance, it was more about finding out about the things she believes in and the journey she's made to get where she is. Having watched her videos, I already knew I admired her – her success, her outlook on life – and I wanted to know more. So when my housemate turned up with a copy of her book I knew it was time to read it. 

The beginning didn't seem particularly helpful to me at first, since I'm no longer a teenager, but I soon found that every chapter had something to offer that applies not just to young people, or even to adults, but to life in general. And as the book went on, the issues and situations became more and more universal.

The chapters I enjoyed most were the ones about dreams, and achieving those dreams, and remembering to be happy, and that it's okay to change your mind, or go in a different direction. Those chapters were the ones that inspired me the most.

I can't fault this book. The advice is good and solid and she offers it so sincerely and humbly with a million references thrown in. It really feels like it's her 'wonderings' which she just so happens to be chatting about. I've never read anything like it. It's a handbook for teenagers written by someone whose teenage years are not too far behind her, someone who doesn't belittle the problems that teenagers face, and it's written really well.

Favourite Quote
(It's not exactly words of wisdom, but it made me laugh!)

"When Lily died trying to save her son, the love she had for Harry was so strong that the trace it left behind protected her son and prevented him from being killed. Of course, the magical world of our buddy HP is a little (OK...a lot) different from ours and the shrapnel left behind from our life experiences probably won't help us when a crazy person tries to impale us with a twig he found in the park that he claims to be the Elder Wand."