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A review by mssamanthanagel
Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton
5.0
I’m giving this book 5 stars because I went into this memoir thinking it would be a simple and entertaining book about a rich party girl, and it turned out to be more than that.
There were definitely those moments - chunks of this book read like Alexis Rose from Schitts Creek recalling tales of all her famous best friends and extravagant adventures of being wealthy. And, there were many, many moments that made me clutch my chest and feel such deep sorrow for her as a child, teen, and young adult.
Paris is nothing if not absolutely resilient, and her story is so full of being beaten down (sometimes literally) over and over and over again, and her getting up each time and fighting back. Hearing the horrific tragedies that she went through, that I had known nothing about, made me feel like I know her as a person, not just as the “that’s hot” woman in pink.
Of course, this memoir is dripping in white, wealthy privilege, though she mentions this multiple times. Do I think she’s a perfect role model and entirely unproblematic? No. But is she a resilient, caring, woman who is trying to make tangible changes in the world and speak out about things that would be easier to stay silent about - some of which include her own “errors”? Yes! And for that, I deeply admire her and respect her.
Something I loved was her explanation of her high femme style and attitude - when she was being horrifically abused and kept against her will, she would think about her dream life of sparkles, dogs, friends, and fun parties. It also encouraged me to look into my own femmephobia; she talks about how she adopted the baby voice out of a trauma response during what she went through, but putting the “dumb blonde” character aside, she was given a hard time for being hyper feminine, and I fully played into the disdain for her because of that. In reality, her embracing that super feminine side of her expression and creativity was her taking back her power and making up for lost time that she should have had as a teenager and child.
I listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend, because you can hear the range in her voice, and it’s written very much in speaking voice, so the audiobook feels more natural.
There were definitely those moments - chunks of this book read like Alexis Rose from Schitts Creek recalling tales of all her famous best friends and extravagant adventures of being wealthy. And, there were many, many moments that made me clutch my chest and feel such deep sorrow for her as a child, teen, and young adult.
Paris is nothing if not absolutely resilient, and her story is so full of being beaten down (sometimes literally) over and over and over again, and her getting up each time and fighting back. Hearing the horrific tragedies that she went through, that I had known nothing about, made me feel like I know her as a person, not just as the “that’s hot” woman in pink.
Of course, this memoir is dripping in white, wealthy privilege, though she mentions this multiple times. Do I think she’s a perfect role model and entirely unproblematic? No. But is she a resilient, caring, woman who is trying to make tangible changes in the world and speak out about things that would be easier to stay silent about - some of which include her own “errors”? Yes! And for that, I deeply admire her and respect her.
Something I loved was her explanation of her high femme style and attitude - when she was being horrifically abused and kept against her will, she would think about her dream life of sparkles, dogs, friends, and fun parties. It also encouraged me to look into my own femmephobia; she talks about how she adopted the baby voice out of a trauma response during what she went through, but putting the “dumb blonde” character aside, she was given a hard time for being hyper feminine, and I fully played into the disdain for her because of that. In reality, her embracing that super feminine side of her expression and creativity was her taking back her power and making up for lost time that she should have had as a teenager and child.
I listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend, because you can hear the range in her voice, and it’s written very much in speaking voice, so the audiobook feels more natural.