I love Laura chinn. I wish her show had more seasons. She is so talented and funny and clever- she makes you wish you were her bestie. She is honest and isn’t afraid of the cringe. Love love love her

Laura’s life was wild growing up — Scientologist parents, no western medical treatments, living by herself as a teenager in Florida, etc. — but she writes about her past with a lot of honesty and compassion to her younger self and her friends.

Based on the (only briefly skimmed) book summary, I was expecting a funnier, more lighthearted book; maybe along the lines of Jenny Lawson. Instead, the author’s attempts to write a “hilarious” book (per the book summary) had her trying to add humor to some really horrible situations which I just found disconcerting. I mean, once someone introduces the fact that their popular, athletic, handsome, teenage brother has gone blind from a brain tumor, I CAN’T THINK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE. But even after his diagnosis, there was so much of the story where he was barely mentioned. I couldn’t help it - after reading that, I was like, “Who gives a f*#£ about your new job? your broken wrist? jello wrestling? WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOUR BROTHER?!?! Perhaps I failed to see the humor. I don’t know. Maybe it was just me.
There were a couple of other things that didn’t jibe quite right with me, as well. The book was told mostly chronologically, but sometimes it seemed to jump around randomly, making it a little confusing as to what happened when and how old the author was at particular times.
There were also minor discrepancies, nothing huge, but enough that I noticed them, and which started me questioning authenticity. For example, at one point, the author writes about how she spent all of her teenage time partying. Later in the book, she writes about her teenage evening jobs, which took up all of her time. How can both of these be true? She writes about how she was taking college courses, but due to personal struggles, started dropping more and more courses “each semester” until she was only taking one class. But according to her own timeline, she could have only been taking college classes for, like, two semesters. Small things, but irritating, nonetheless.
Oh yeah, and I absolutely hated the dog part.
Overall, I liked it, but I think some better editing was needed, and the writing itself could have used a little more polish.
Thanks to #netgalley and #hachettebooks for this #ARC of #acne in exchange for an honest review.

"Acne" by Laura Chinn is one of the only books out currently that gets self-deprecating honesty and life realizations right without being over the top or pretentious.

In this memoir, it's obvious that Chinn is a natural storyteller, having a knack to turn tragedies into wine through her musings and realistic point of view. Basically, if something is f'ed up, Chinn doesn't sugarcoat it — she'll explain in 20 different ways why it's f'ed up and go down every dirty rabbit hole possible with it.. And the best part? She all ties everything that's happened in her life back in with her acne. Seems impossible and I know it doesn't make sense right now but trust me, it does.

If you're like me and you appreciate a memoir that doesn't force you to dig for deeper meanings or has an air of self-importance, you'll absolutely love this one.

This was such a fascinating memoir. It's heartbreaking and fun and relatable in ways you'd never expect. I highly recommend it!

Thanks to Hachette for the copy to review.

Chinn’s memoir is truly the first time I have ever felt seen in a book. She describes her first pimple, “At that moment, I had no clue how much that little zit was going to change my life. I didn't realize it was a pus-filled canary warning me that a shitstorm of acne was on its way.” She could not have summed up my experience at 10 years old any better. I can still close my eyes and see that moment.

Trust me, you don’t need to have lived with acne to appreciate this amazing book. Chinn writes so candidly about her experiences growing up as a biracial kid with divorced Scientologist parents, and having a brother with brain cancer. She does not hold back as she tells us how she coped with it all through some self destructive behavior.

What shines throughout this book is Chinn’s humor. She is so damn witty and smart and her ability to laugh at herself makes everything so relatable. Acne is about so much more than acne and there is a lot packed into these pages, but they are all very much worth turning.

This was not what I was expecting. It was so much better. Laura Chinn's story is heartbreaking but she tells it in a really funny and interesting way. It was hard to read about some parts of her life and it made me cry on more than a few occasions, but it was totally worth the time. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't know what to expect from this memoir. I received it from Netgalley and thought it sounded interesting. It was amazing! Laura Chinn tells her story in her own way and it is so much more than dealing with cystic acne. There are a lot of terrible things that happened to her, but she manages to find humor in life. This was a relatable book and a surprise from what I originally thought. Definitely check it out if you like memoirs.

Author Laura Chinn is a comedy writer professionally, so maybe she exaggerated her excessively lax upbringing story, what with all the pre-teen drinking and smoking, the outright fraudulism on her resume. I hate when those kinds of situations are made light of, but Chinn redeems herself with the amazing job she does of likening her extreme childhood to something that can be remedied with self-care and self-valuing.

I like that she points out that "entertainment feeds this idea that women are sexual objects and not only is it okay to grab them and talk dirty to them without permission, but they love it," because she writes for TV and is in a position to correct that kind of nonsense. I hope she does that. I haven't watched a full episode of her new show Florida Girl, and don't see that wrong being righted from the trailers I have seen. There were plenty of other fallacies that she does address in Acne: superficiality, narcissism, otherness, and paternalism just to name a few.

WOW! I wasn't expecting this!
I actually had no idea who Laura Chinn is when I requested the book. I simply loved the title and cover and the topic was sure to be an interesting one (and a personal interest of mine). Even though the title includes 'a memoir,' I wasn't prepared for the depth of this autobiography. I thought this would be a funny book about all the methods the author took to perfect her skin. More comedy sprinkled with cringe-y (but relateable) true stories about less-than-flawless skin in a world that demands perfecty skin. This was DEEEEEEP. This author has lived 99 lives in such a short time. Loved the ending.

A page-turning memoir filled with brutal openness and ending with lots of hope, inspiration and a message of love. I loved the bit of humor throughout as well. All around an engaging read.

Not at all what I expected- and so much more. Chinn's journey through life has been more turbulent than most of ours. She's biracial with parents who didn't do much parenting, even before they divorced, Her brother dies of brain cancer, She's partied too much and lived a lot. And through it all she coped with cystic acne. She's cautious. I think about Scientology, and she does do a bit of self help in the later pages but this is generally a no holds barred and humorous look at her life. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Thank you to Hachette Books for my NetGalley ARC in exchange for an honest review! I heard amazing things about this memoir from my friends, so I had to check it out!

Pub date: 7/19/22
Genre: memoir
In one sentence: Laura Chinn looks White and her last name sounds Asian, but she's half-Black and half-White, and this is her story of self-discovery and self-acceptance.

It's always a good sign when a book makes you audibly laugh. Unfortunately, I happened to be reading this one on a plane, and I got some weird looks from my fellow passengers - but it was worth it!

Laura had an unusual childhood essentially raising herself. She grew up fast, smoking cigarettes at 11 and dropping out of school at 15. Characterizing these years is her stubborn cystic acne and her varied efforts to get rid of it. Laura does a great job reflecting on her past in various ways - making fun of her silliness, correcting her past slut-shaming ways, and shaking her head at her many close calls. Her experiences may not be universal, but she connects them to wider themes of coming of age, femininity, and beauty. I loved her candidness and humor!

One warning before you read: this is not a nonfiction book about acne - the author just uses her acne as a way to discuss her life. So you should not expect to learn about the biology behind acne beyond her individual experience.

If you enjoy memoirs, you should definitely pick this one up!

So well written ! A memoir with moments that are so shocking at times but written in a way that made me chuckle because of the way the author tells their story. I love anything Scientology and this did not disappoint adding nuttiness to the nutty stuff I already knew. Despite the author getting into the details of the experiences she lived through, I didn’t feel a depth that I wanted. It was a lot of stories without the heart to bring it together. That said, I am glad I read this one and thank Hachette Books for the advanced copy!

Acne is an earnest memoir with doses of comedy woven throughout. Chinn shares stories from her eventful (and tough) childhood/ adolescence/ early adulthood and shows us how her skin's changes during each phase impacted her lived experience. This was a bit of a slow burn, with a dive into pseudoscience at the end. But Chinn really successfully walked the sincerity/humor line for me. In that way, I enjoyed her storytelling.

I was really interested in this memoir, because I can relate to struggling with acne. For me, it was somewhere in the middle with this. It wasn't horrible- but I wouldn't rant and rave about it either. Kind of a run of the mill story to be honest, and as someone who used accutane and worked in a medical office- I wish she had done her research about the drug and included that information.

New fave memoir! I loved this book about a somewhat tragic upbringing with a lot of comedy thrown in. Laura Chinn is biracial and grew up mostly in Florida to divorced parents. We learn about her absent/ unstable parents, her bad girl friends, and her wild ride through school. There were parts that I laughed out loud and others where I was really moved. I didn’t know who Laura Chinn was before but I’m a total fan girl now!

A memoir seemingly about the toll acne has on a person, but turns out to be so much more. This book follows the life of author Laura Chinn throughout her life in Los Angeles and Clearwater, Florida. We are taken through and detailed life in L.A. and Clearwater, how it was growing up, her family, and the other people around the author that made up her young adult life. We are also shown the effects of having acne during pivotal times in your teenage years, causing extreme self-esteem issues. This memoir is easily relatable as the authors perfectly explains what acne means for a person and how disheartening it can be.

While going in not thinking this was going to be an emotionally exhausting book, I was wrong. There are many instances of grief and painful losses that were very heartbreaking and difficult to read about. You are not only given the feelings someone with acne have, the environment of growing up as a Scientologist in the Capitals, but also having to deal with the loss of those closest to you. This definitely could be a lot for some people, but I found it to be a beautifully written and an important read for me personally.

Absolutely wonderful book about a biracial woman in America, weaving throughout the psychosocial impacts of a skin disease.

I want to thank NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can honestly say I am SO surprised! I love this book. I had high hopes but low expectations and can genuinely say this book is so much better than anticipated.

The book is raw and honest in a light hearted way. I found the writing to be easy to follow and naturally flowing.

My main issue with the book - the real reason I gave it a 4/5- is because I feel like at times it dragged on and was lengthier than needed.

I usually don’t enjoy biography’s all that much but I loved how authentic and interesting the authors life was. I find it funny that Scientology was included because it made the story funnier to me.

Ultimately I would recommend this book to people who have no to not struggles with acne but with struggled to figure out who they were.