Making a Scene is a powerful memoir about being an Asian woman in Hollywood and the lack of support it affords you. I appreciated the honest portrayal of her struggles and path through depression. This is an amazing book for any fans of Wu.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As I just mentioned in my last review of Steve-O’s newest memoir, I love memoirs and celebrity memoirs are an especially fun genre. Celebrities are so fascinating purely because they are subjected to fame and I find their insight truly entertaining. However, I was unfortunately disappointed again by this collection of essays by Constance Wu.

I’m not sure if the format just isn’t for me in general or if it was specifically the way Wu used this format. Her essays were all over the place chronologically and it was hard to keep track of exactly where in her life some stories were taking place. I would have preferred it to be in chronological order but maybe that’s just me.

I hate giving a bad review to a memoir because they are so personal it feels like I’m giving a bad review of the person or their life but as someone who reads a lot it’s really just about how the book made me feel, and this one just did not hit the mark for me. Some essays were ok. Her first essay was a relatable love story of an important relationship in her life. I enjoyed her stories about how she got into acting as a child the most. The best part of reading is being able to escape so as someone who has never performed I was most intrigued by her writing about community theater, auditions, and acting school. But Wu really didn’t reveal too much of the life of an actor. She didn’t even really speak about Crazy Rich Asians, which is really the only way I knew about her.

I knew she had tweeted something that got her into trouble but I have never watched the show Fresh Off the Boat which is what the drama was centered around. Wu does speak about the complicated feelings she had while working on the show which definitely shed some light on the incident. But I just looked up her actual tweets and Instagram comments and I have to say I’m really surprised by them. I can understand where she was coming from based on what she shared in the book but that still doesn’t make it ok to publicly blast the show in such a negative way. Wu knows she made a mistake and needed more space to explain herself which is clearly what she wanted to do in this book.

Some other essays just did not interest me at all. There is one about her high school job or the various cars she has driven which is a typical celebrity plea that she is so down to earth and just like everyone else. I constantly felt like she was trying to act like she was too cool for fame but it just came off wrong. I didn’t like her as much as I hoped I would, and by her I mean her narrative, voice, and tone portrayed in this book, not her as an actual person.

My other favorite essay was the last one about her parents. This is the stuff I genuinely like to read about people, their families and upbringings and complicated relationships. I wish she would have talked more about her own experience as a mother but it may have been too new for her or she deliberately chose not to talk about it for her child’s sake. Either way, I felt this last story was her strongest and wish the other essays would have been more like this one.

All in all, I wished I would have enjoyed this more than I did but as a serious celebrity memoir it was not very compelling. I think Wu has an interesting and unique perspective but it wasn’t portrayed as much as I would have hoped.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for an ARC of this book.

Making a Scene by Constance Wu

Constance Wu, star of Fresh Off the Boat and Crazy Rich Asians, brings an enjoyable memoir in essays in Making a Scene. While the writing is mostly mediocre, Wu showcases a great sense of humor and is highly relatable throughout. The child of immigrant parents from Taiwan, Wu had a suburban upbringing in Richmond, Virginia, getting involved with theater because of her own passion for it at an early age, which her parents supported. She reached her fame through hard work and talent, working waitressing jobs, falling in and out of love, moving from apartment to apartment, and auditioning relentlessly.

Wu speaks candidly about rape and sexual harrassment and addresses her public Twitter breakdown and subsequent mental health issues with grace and self-awareness. Wu apologizes for mistakes she's made that have hurt others and stands up for herself against those who have used their power to hurt her.

The book takes some time to hit its stride, with stronger essays like Making a Scene and Unfinished Mansions appearing in the second half of the book. There are some essays that didn't really land with me and didn't quite connect to the life lesson it purported to have taught her. But the stronger essays are really strong, and with those, I couldn't stop turning the pages.

More writing experience or increased editing could have tightened up the feel of this memoir, in which there wasn't always a through thread tying the essays together and there were moments of telling, not showing. Overall, I think fans will definitely enjoy this memoir, and those who haven't heard of Wu will still find a lot to enjoy and relate to here.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC!

Constance Wu has gone through so much, and this is her story for the world to hear. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

Notable lines:

“There will always be people who don’t get it. You don’t make art for them, so why make your choices a reaction to their ignorance?”

“So time, and everything that happens in it, is probably where you find real love. Forgiveness is somewhere in there too.”

This memoir was not exactly what I expected. It is written in essay form and not in any particular order. It is not a full biography, however it was more than I expected. Her essays were written honestly and seemed completely genuine and heartfelt. She shares essential moments from her early life growing up in her very friendly suburban neighborhood in Richmond Virginia to her rising fame and unexpected fall! Wu is transparent and her vulnerability shines through the pages of this book. She writes very honestly about her mistakes and shortcomings. She shares so many personal moments including her experiences with sexual harassment, rape and mental health issues. This made her story relatable. I hope she continues to make a scene and I look forward to seeing her continue to prosper! Whether you are a fan or not I believe you will enjoy this read!

Calling all Crazy Rich Asian fans!

Making a Scene is a memoir by Constance Wu, a star in the TV sitcom Fresh Off the Boat and the movie Crazy Rich Asians. In this novel, Constance gives readers a peek into her life experiences from her first job to her brushes with Hollywood sexual harassment to her Twitter moment.

This book consists of essays. Some of them are better than others. Personally, I really loved the story about her rabbit.

However, I wished that Wu would have utilized a ghost writer like Jennifer Robertson did in Bitcoin Widow.

Wu had the foundations of a great story, but the formatting just did not work. The book was structured around these very long paragraphs with very little dialogue. Making a Scene would have been better if the dialogue was punched up a bit.

The large paragraphs really got to me. Recently, I have been reading about how to write Instagram captions. One of the tips is to only have 2 or 3 lines together or else, the reader is overwhelmed and will skip over them. I will fully admit that I felt overwhelmed with these paragraphs. I would have really enjoyed the book much better if the paragraphs were broken down into smaller chunks.

Please keep in mind that I read Making a Scene on an eReader. I would be really curious to listen to the audiobook of this. I especially love celebrity audiobooks!

If I was purchasing this for a friend who didn’t believe in audiobooks, I would purchase a printed copy and a special bookmark which has a transparent center. This allows the reader to focus on one line at a time and helps keep the eye from wandering. You bet that is how I got through A Suitable Boy.

The other thing I think a ghost writer would have helped with is the saying, “It is better to show than to tell.” In Making a Scene, I felt that there was a lot of telling going on. For example, in one essay, Wu describes her relationship with her neighbors. She states that they attended all of her plays and chorus concerts. It would be more compelling if she described looking around for someone, and then exhaling a breath she didn’t know she was holding when she saw her neighbors, knowing that someone was supporting her.

She also wrote an essay about her first job in a bakery. Part of the job involved sitting at the bread table and making conversation with the team. I wanted to know the details of the conversations, even a little dramatization would have helped me connect more to the story.

Overall, Making a Scene is decent but I think that I would have enjoyed the audiobook more.

*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

I loved Constance Wu in FOtB and Crazy Rich Asians and I knew I wanted to preorder this book as soon as I saw her announce it. I thoroughly enjoyed "Making a Scene" and will be preordering it for my shelf.

An honest memoir that reads like someone telling a story in the best way. I'd like to believe anyone can find something to relate to, and Wu is refreshingly candid. Her essays have a wide range of emotions, from very real anger and heartbreak to joyful moments.

An honest, unflinching, in-depth look at Wu’s life. The subjects and timeline vary, but each story had me hooked!

Constance Wu's memoir Making a Scene is told in a series of non-chronological essays. I'm sure a lot of people will want to know about her experience on FOTB and subsequent controversy when she was ready to leave the show to pursue other opportunities (and did so rather clumsily.) That's in here, but so are a lot of personal and vulnerable stories of her childhood, dating life, and experiences as a young actor. The book is not a tell-all, which makes it feel somewhat restrained at times. Wu doesn't get into her film experiences, the nitty gritty of the Twitter drama, or her current life particularly since 2019. That aside, I enjoyed the stories of the people in her hometown of Richmond, VA, and her parent's story to be heartbreaking and wonderful.

Reading this set of essays felt like rifling through a teenager’s diary. It was vulnerable, indulgent, disjointed. She discussed past boyfriends and heartache, her childhood in Richmond and love of those early days in community theater, and gave occasional glimpses of her home life.

I think a reader hoping for Wu’s tales of Hollywood glitz and glam will be disappointed, but as a fan of memoirs in general, I really enjoyed it. By the end, I felt like I had a better understanding of Constance and I liked what she had to say

Constance Wu who is a wonderful actress shares with us her world her life the oups and downs.Sharing her relationships with her family especially the distance between her and her younger sister during their teen years that was difficult to heal.The story of her awful teacher who accused her of plagiarizinga paragraph in an essay she was particularly proud of having written the harm a cruel teacher can inflict.There is so much in this book her personal life her acting.I was really drawn in to her essays her world.#netgalley #scribners

A good book, interesting stories. I am a fan of Fresh Off the Boat and of Crazy Rich Asians. The author doesn't really talk about either of those experiences.

I’ve found that celebrity memoirs go in one of two directions: (1) I worked so hard and am so amazing that it was inevitable that I succeeded, or (2) my life is so extremely wonderful and here are a bunch of stories that you couldn’t possibly relate to.

This was refreshingly neither. This is a set of short stories (it’s not a sequential narrative or a full autobiography) of Constance Wu’s life, often focusing on pivotal moments that shaped who she is. Wu is very honest about her mistakes and shortcomings, and the language itself is candid and unembellished.

I loved the stories that focused on her relationship with her parents, particularly her mom.

Wu’s vulnerability and candor made this a great collection of stories. Her writing style isn’t quite what I prefer (this was a little more like a blog than a book), but I’m sure others will find it refreshing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner!

I love a good memoir, especially when it's by an actor that I admire and enjoy their work. Constance Wu quickly shot to fame for the hit ABC show 'Fresh Off the Boat,' as well as the hit movie 'Crazy Rich Asians.' While the success of a tv show can be great, it can also not be great for actors who are wanting to branch out. After being told FOtB was renewed, Wu decided to tweet and speak her mind, and while I completely understood where she was coming from, I definitely do not think the backlash she received was truly warranted. The entertainment industry is still harder on women than it is on men, not to mention on women who are POCs. Constance lays out her frustration in the pages of 'Making a Scene' and how the pressures from life and needing to be the people pleaser type took a toll on her mental health.

While there are some very heartbreaking chapters in this memoir, there are also many stories of friendship, family, and the joy of stepping into a career that she loves. The stories about her relationship with her sister E really hit close to home for me, while also making me remember fun times I had with my younger sibling.

This book, while full of many great stories, felt like it was scraping the surface of Wu's life and experiences. I hope she continues to write and document her life and journey in the entertainment industry, while exploring her familial bonds and how they formed her as a person today. Yes, there are some salacious details in the book, but this reads like a casual conversation between friends and was very enjoyable. Wu has such a great voice throughout and I hope we get more books from her!

Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC. 'Making a Scene' hits shelves October 4, 2022.

I am a fan of Constance Wu's films - Crazy Rich Asians and Hustlers are two recent favorites. She's absolutely a compelling actress and I love to see a fellow AAPI in major starring roles. Her book, however, fell a bit flat for me. I respect her writing and some of the tales she described were vivid and relatable, as we are about the same age. It went a little too into the weeds for me when discussing the actor's process and I felt lost. Her family history was also interesting and I learned a lot about her. I will also note that the novel does not reference the recent news of her suicide attempt following a Twitter backlash. As someone who has been bullied and suffered at the hands of people on social media, I would have loved to hear about what she went through and how she emerged from that horrible situation and persisted as an actor, mom and public figure. Three stars for me.

I always set my expectations for celebrity memoirs too high and end up disappointed. I was looking forward to this after finally watching Crazy Rich Asians and FOTB this year, but most of these essays were just things I wasn’t really interested in. Wu pulled back the curtain into some of the darker, more insidious parts of Hollywood, which was jarring but it’s nice that she’s finally getting to tell her story. I don’t think she’s the strongest writer but she seems to be a nice person.

WHAT a stunning, incredible piece of work. A memoir for the time and the ages. Wu deftly navigates her life, her career, her roles.

This book looked interesting because the cover looks nice and she is from my hometown. I didn't finish this book unfortunately. I could not muster the interest. Maybe her fans will enjoy it but for people who don't know who she is ???

I received this as an eGalley from NetGalley.

This was fine? I don't know if I didn't like it because the essays were all unlikeable in subject or if Constance herself was unlikeable?