published: 2017
pages: 378
isbn: 978-1-5011-5556-7
read: 6/19 to 7/3 2017
isbn: 978-1-5011-5556-7
read: 6/19 to 7/3 2017
rating: love this man! love this book!
book: 24 of 29 for 2017
"in life, you can choose to cry about the bullshit that happens to you or you can choose to laugh about it.
i chose laughter."
pg 2
Superstar comedian and Hollywood box office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.
The question you’re probably asking yourself right now is: What does Kevin Hart have that a book also has?
According to the three people who have seen Kevin Hart and a book in the same room, the answer is clear:
A book is compact. Kevin Hart is compact.
A book has a spine that holds it together. Kevin Hart has a spine that holds him together.
A book has a beginning. Kevin Hart’s life uniquely qualifies him to write this book by also having a beginning.
It begins in North Philadelphia. He was born an accident, unwanted by his parents. His father was a drug addict who was in and out of jail. His brother was a crack dealer and petty thief. And his mother was overwhelmingly strict, beating him with belts, frying pans, and his own toys.
The odds, in short, were stacked against our young hero, just like the odds that are stacked against the release of a new book in this era of social media (where Hart has a following of over 100 million, by the way).
But Kevin Hart, like Ernest Hemingway, JK Rowling, and Chocolate Droppa before him, was able to defy the odds and turn it around. In his literary debut, he takes the reader on a journey through what his life was, what it is today, and how he’s overcome each challenge to become the man he is today.
And that man happens to be the biggest comedian in the world, with tours that sell out football stadiums and films that have collectively grossed over $3.5 billion.
He achieved this not just through hard work, determination, and talent: It was through his unique way of looking at the world. Because just like a book has chapters, Hart sees life as a collection of chapters that each person gets to write for himself or herself.
“Not only do you get to choose how you interpret each chapter, but your interpretation writes the next chapter,” he says. “So why not choose the interpretation that serves your life the best?”
The question you’re probably asking yourself right now is: What does Kevin Hart have that a book also has?
According to the three people who have seen Kevin Hart and a book in the same room, the answer is clear:
A book is compact. Kevin Hart is compact.
A book has a spine that holds it together. Kevin Hart has a spine that holds him together.
A book has a beginning. Kevin Hart’s life uniquely qualifies him to write this book by also having a beginning.
It begins in North Philadelphia. He was born an accident, unwanted by his parents. His father was a drug addict who was in and out of jail. His brother was a crack dealer and petty thief. And his mother was overwhelmingly strict, beating him with belts, frying pans, and his own toys.
The odds, in short, were stacked against our young hero, just like the odds that are stacked against the release of a new book in this era of social media (where Hart has a following of over 100 million, by the way).
But Kevin Hart, like Ernest Hemingway, JK Rowling, and Chocolate Droppa before him, was able to defy the odds and turn it around. In his literary debut, he takes the reader on a journey through what his life was, what it is today, and how he’s overcome each challenge to become the man he is today.
And that man happens to be the biggest comedian in the world, with tours that sell out football stadiums and films that have collectively grossed over $3.5 billion.
He achieved this not just through hard work, determination, and talent: It was through his unique way of looking at the world. Because just like a book has chapters, Hart sees life as a collection of chapters that each person gets to write for himself or herself.
“Not only do you get to choose how you interpret each chapter, but your interpretation writes the next chapter,” he says. “So why not choose the interpretation that serves your life the best?”
MY THOUGHTS
that's a long ass synopsis.
guys, I'm in a reading drought. and i think i just broke up with my library for a bit because i just returned 4 books that i renewed several times but didn't even crack open. some that i REALLY wanted to read.
it's okay. sometimes breaks are needed to better a relationship.
B got me this book at Costco because really, a Costco trip for us isn't complete if a book, he does not buy me? (idk wtf i just said. you know what i meant.)
I LOVE KEVIN HART!!!!!
I've loved him for a good minute.
i know i don't know him personally but for some reason I've always gotten a good vibe off him.
like he's worked for his shit and he hasn't let it get to him.
know what i mean? no? just me?
oh, well.
anyway, i loved this book.
he starts from the beginning of his career to now (because as he states, it's not anywhere near over for him).
he covers all the basics; from how his parents met to how his mother raised him, how he grew up and those rules his mother set up for him, shaped him to be the man he is now and also set his worth ethic in motion. how he met the mother of his children and their troubled relationship to how he met his now wife, Eniko.
how his first job is the reason he is now where he is.
how how struggled from the very beginning to get to where he is now.
what i loved about this book (and honestly about him as well) is how honest and positive he is.
he even says it. he could have had a shitty attitude towards life because of his upbringing but he chose to brush it off.
it already happened and there's nothing that you can do about it so why give it more power by letting it continue to bother you?
LOVED THE MESSAGE throughout this entire book!
seriously, pick it up.
i could go on talking about forever about why i loved this book but i think the one thing that anyone who reads it can take from it is how your attitude towards your craft and your commitment is what gets you to where you are trying to be.
and i know that DUH! its a given but it's VERY refreshing to hear it with such a positive attitude.
it's not to say that there weren't parts where it wasn't dark for him because they were, but he never let them get him down. they weren't a burden in the end; they always were and will continue to be lessons for him
even though i love it all, i have to say that my fave part is definitely his drive to work with Nike when he was a shoe salesperson only to have it come full circle to working with Nike as the first comedian ever.
this guy is doing it all!!!!
as you can tell, i basically flagged up the whole book!
and while i usually just flag however, this time i tried sticking to a legend.
red: paragraphs that hit a spot. paragraphs that i want to remember down the line.
yellow: things to look up. (such as his movies and other things)
blue/green: "quotes" per say. ....i ran out of blue so i had to switch over to green.
so ill try to leave you with a few of my faves...
"I suppose that's my first family lesson: what's here today may be gone later today. Nothing is permanent." pg 9
"at times, life is random if not downright stupid." pg 51 // "growing up is a strange thing." pg 99
"your friends may love you, but the problem is that they love you as you are. you play a role in their lives that they've gotten used to, so they don't always want you to change. most of them think their job is to keep you humble and in your place." pg 102
"every experience is a potential life lesson. even if you don't appreciate it at the time, each struggle in the present is preparing you for something else in the future. " pg 221
"life is not about the result -- we all have the same outcome in the end. life is about the effort you put into it." pg 250
and finally,
" its okay to fail. it's not okay to quit." pg 373
i loved this book so much.
its up there next to the Amy Poehler book, Yes Please.
SO GOOD!!!
get a copy and let me know what ya think!
thanks for reading.
#lesreads on IG
*i finally learned how to sign up for affiliate links so if ya buy a copy from amazon, i get some sort of percent.
thanks for feeding me basically!...if i even did it correctly.
OH! and on books posts, it will always only be (at least for now) linked at the synopsis like it always has.
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