Just finished Simply More by Cynthia Erivo, and I’m torn!
I gave it 2.5/5 ⭐️⭐️.5, right in the middle
It’s half a memoir half a self-help book. One I like and one I… don’t as much. Especially for a person with a life like Cynthia Erivo’s!
I believe Erivo has a valuable and powerful story to tell. She is a tremendously successful person who truly built herself from the ground up. She came from a low-income household with a single mother. She’s faced adversity in being a Black, queer woman with big dreams and an outspoken voice.
There is a sense of vulnerability that makes it feel that the reader is truly being let in. You can feel the maturity and the lessons learned grow through the narrative.
The flaw, from my perspective, is that this book reads like it was meant to be just a memoir.
The flow of a gorgeously written narrative is consistently cut off by Erivo explaining what to do or what to think about.
She gives little room for the reader to explore the way the stories make them individually feel. She hands exactly what she wants the reader to take away on a platter, as if not trusting them to find those messages in her story themselves.
I do not believe that any of the things Erivo promotes are bad, but some of them feel forced upon the reader as opposed to naturally brought forth by the stories that are entirely capable of doing so.
It’s not that I believe a memoir or personal story shouldn’t address the reader directly or ask specific questions, but this book does it in a way that feels unnecessary or repetitive.
As I said before, I found much of Erivo’s story truly fascinating. I just wish there was more of it. I think it would be elevated with the removal of certain paragraphs and questions, and instead replaced with extended explanations of the powerful real life experiences that shaped the philosophy Erivo carries today.
