Making a Scene
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Description
A “poignant, frank, and intimate” (The New York Times) memoir by actress Constance Wu about family, love, sex, shame, trauma, and how she found her voice.
Growing up in the friendly suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, Constance Wu was often scolded for having big feelings or strong reactions. “Good girls don’t make scenes,” people warned her. And while she spent most of her childhood suppressing her bold, emotional nature, she found an early outlet in community theater—it was the one place where big feelings were okay—were good, even. Acting became her refuge, and eventually her vocation. At eighteen she moved to New York, where she’d spend the next ten years of her life auditioning, waiting tables, and struggling to make rent before her two big breaks: the TV sitcom Fresh Off the Boat and the hit film Crazy Rich Asians.
Here Constance shares private memories of childhood, young love and heartbreak, sexual assault and harassment, and how she “made it” in Hollywood. Raw, relatable, and enthralling, Making a Scene is an intimate portrait of the pressures and pleasures of existing in today’s world.
Book Information
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It took me longer to finish this book than I had planned, but I managed in the end. Making a Scene by Constance Wu tells the story of the actress’s life, how she grew up, and how her encounters with different people shaped her. She also talks about her experiences with sexual harassment and shares the trauma that came from it. What really stood out to me was the note the book carried about belonging. The feeling of not really fitting in because you come from a different background. I especially liked the part where she writes about not wanting people to think her parents are stupid just because they have an accent. Her parents are highly educated, and she talks about her father’s academic background in particular. That theme appears often in literature or in the stories of immigrant children who say their parents are intelligent and well educated in their own language, but when they move to another country and struggle with the language, others start treating them as if they’re less smart. They are not. They just can’t always express their intelligence the way they want to. I also found it interesting that Wu included the story of her parents’ marriage. I am not entirely sure why she chose to end the book by focusing on that, but I think she wanted to show that her parents’ lives as immigrants were not easy. Maybe it also shows that she now has the freedom to love differently, to marry for love, or to face pain in her own way, because her mother didn’t have the same chance in her time or environment. Overall, I thought the book was good. I wouldn’t read it again, and I don’t have any personal connection to the author, but I was curious after reading the summary. I have to admit that I was quite bored in the beginning and again toward the end, where I found myself skimming through some parts. Her story interested me, and it touched me, though not because I’ve had similar experiences. Still, much of it left me feeling indifferent, except for the parts about her parents and her identity as the daughter of immigrants. Oh, what I also found remarkable about the writing style was that in some parts she chose to write out scenes or dialogues between herself and other people in the form of a screenplay, which highlighted her theatrical background even more. I liked that a lot. I would have enjoyed it if she had used that style more often. It appeared less frequently than I would have liked.
2.5/5 There are two essays/chapters that were really really good. Especially the later one where Wu talks about her experience on Fresh Off The Boat, the harassment by a producer and the aftermath was so good with a punch or an exclamation point of an ending. I was so ready to end this book. Imagine my surprise when I still got one and a half hours left in the audiobook. The stories that followed were all over the place and it took all of me to finish that. The structure in general was also something I struggled with because there was none? Past, present, a few stories from childhood, then we are at college, then young adulthood and childhood again... I couldn't see the connection of the chapters. The narration of the audiobook by Constance Wu was very good though!
Description
A “poignant, frank, and intimate” (The New York Times) memoir by actress Constance Wu about family, love, sex, shame, trauma, and how she found her voice.
Growing up in the friendly suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, Constance Wu was often scolded for having big feelings or strong reactions. “Good girls don’t make scenes,” people warned her. And while she spent most of her childhood suppressing her bold, emotional nature, she found an early outlet in community theater—it was the one place where big feelings were okay—were good, even. Acting became her refuge, and eventually her vocation. At eighteen she moved to New York, where she’d spend the next ten years of her life auditioning, waiting tables, and struggling to make rent before her two big breaks: the TV sitcom Fresh Off the Boat and the hit film Crazy Rich Asians.
Here Constance shares private memories of childhood, young love and heartbreak, sexual assault and harassment, and how she “made it” in Hollywood. Raw, relatable, and enthralling, Making a Scene is an intimate portrait of the pressures and pleasures of existing in today’s world.
Book Information
Posts
It took me longer to finish this book than I had planned, but I managed in the end. Making a Scene by Constance Wu tells the story of the actress’s life, how she grew up, and how her encounters with different people shaped her. She also talks about her experiences with sexual harassment and shares the trauma that came from it. What really stood out to me was the note the book carried about belonging. The feeling of not really fitting in because you come from a different background. I especially liked the part where she writes about not wanting people to think her parents are stupid just because they have an accent. Her parents are highly educated, and she talks about her father’s academic background in particular. That theme appears often in literature or in the stories of immigrant children who say their parents are intelligent and well educated in their own language, but when they move to another country and struggle with the language, others start treating them as if they’re less smart. They are not. They just can’t always express their intelligence the way they want to. I also found it interesting that Wu included the story of her parents’ marriage. I am not entirely sure why she chose to end the book by focusing on that, but I think she wanted to show that her parents’ lives as immigrants were not easy. Maybe it also shows that she now has the freedom to love differently, to marry for love, or to face pain in her own way, because her mother didn’t have the same chance in her time or environment. Overall, I thought the book was good. I wouldn’t read it again, and I don’t have any personal connection to the author, but I was curious after reading the summary. I have to admit that I was quite bored in the beginning and again toward the end, where I found myself skimming through some parts. Her story interested me, and it touched me, though not because I’ve had similar experiences. Still, much of it left me feeling indifferent, except for the parts about her parents and her identity as the daughter of immigrants. Oh, what I also found remarkable about the writing style was that in some parts she chose to write out scenes or dialogues between herself and other people in the form of a screenplay, which highlighted her theatrical background even more. I liked that a lot. I would have enjoyed it if she had used that style more often. It appeared less frequently than I would have liked.
2.5/5 There are two essays/chapters that were really really good. Especially the later one where Wu talks about her experience on Fresh Off The Boat, the harassment by a producer and the aftermath was so good with a punch or an exclamation point of an ending. I was so ready to end this book. Imagine my surprise when I still got one and a half hours left in the audiobook. The stories that followed were all over the place and it took all of me to finish that. The structure in general was also something I struggled with because there was none? Past, present, a few stories from childhood, then we are at college, then young adulthood and childhood again... I couldn't see the connection of the chapters. The narration of the audiobook by Constance Wu was very good though!