As a child of the ’90s and a huge fan of pop music I, of course, loved the Spice Girls. After loving Melanie Brown’s (aka Scary Spice) memoir, Brutally Honest, I decided to give the other Melanie’s a go. Mel C’s memoir Who I Am is a much different read, it takes more of a traditional approach to the celebrity memoir in its content and structure.
Who do you think you are?
Now, don’t mean to start on a negative but Who I Am has my pet hate of celebrity memoirs, which is spending FAR too much time on what they think are amusing anecdotes form their childhood but are actually quite boring reminiscence of things that just don’t shape the story of what we are really interested in. In this instance: behind the scenes of the Spice Girls.
Born in Liverpool in 1974, I appreciate that Mel C did have a tough time as a child when her parents divorced but she does delve into way too much unnecessary detail about her youth. She spends about 3 chapters on her pre-teen years, she literally tells us her GCSE grades, how much she earned in her first job, exact address of every house she has lived in…
Personally, my attention spiked when she gets to her college days – she moved to London and attends Doreen Bird College in Sidcup, South East London, an area I know well, so it’s wild to hear Mel C talking abut the high street in such an affectionate way.
Spice up your life
So, while I found my attention waning a bit, as I was listening to the audiobook, I just put the speed a bit faster until we FINALLY get to the chapter where we get the Spice Girls details.
Obviously I was hoping there would have been more on the ins and outs of the Spice Girl dynamics, she barely even went into any detail about when Geri left, but does give enough so you get a sense of just how crazy their lives were when the band was huge. They were only really a group from 1996-2000, so it was all very rapid.
Too much
This is a very personal book too, it was sad to hear about all Mel’s internal struggles with her mental health and eating disorders. Showbiz is a tough industry and she really did have a crash course in her early 20s when thrust into the limelight.
Who I Am is narrated by Mel C herself, so I did really enjoy that element. It was great to hear her story and get an insight into life as a Spice Girl, and beyond.
- Audiobook narrated by Melanie Chisholm
- Running time: 13 hrs 36 mins
- Get your copy of Who I Am here;
- Published by Headline Welbeck;
- 432 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 