Note to Self by Conner Franta Review

I remember watching the video trailer for this book when it came out in 2017, and was enamored by the artistry of it. I was so inspired, and although I read his first book/memoir, Work in Progress at the time, I was unable to pick up Note to Self upon release because the library was my only source of books, and it was too popular to get ahold of. So when I found this at a secondhand store, I was jolted back into my early teenage years, when I had held Franta and his writing in high regard as inspiration for my own writing journey. 

While I was expecting his “highest of highs and lowest of lows” (I still remember those lines from the trailer giving me shivers) to be vivid, revelation worthy, shocking, or even twisted, a sort of glimpse into Franta’s mind and soul, but I received anything but. I was extremely disappointed by how shallow and soapbox-y his compiled observations were. On the back cover, he boasts that the book will contain him “spilled out on paper," but the three hundred pages were rambles of unremarkable commentary and thoughts on how harmful technology is for our generation, the importance of living in the current moment now more than over, and finding yourself. I will say that he included some personal insight into handling his mental health which I appreciated, these were the only seemingly meaningful and truly profound moments. But the occasional disconcerting use of all caps, excessive punctuation, and self-aware comments in parentheses about how self indulgent he probably sounded was far more harmful to the reader experience. I expected him as a twenty-five year old to be far more mature in his memoir style of writing. There were some lines that made me briefly reflect on my own experiences, but nothing particularly thought provoking or lasting in its impact. I suppose that I cannot be one to judge whether or not this was him baring his soul and deepest thoughts to the world, I just did not expect this to solely consist of the ramblings of a quirky millennial intermixed with VSCO-esque photography.