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Photo credit: the legendary Jawn Rocha
To start off, yes, I am a Waterparks fan so I may be a little biased, but I also genuinely love reading books and this one is honestly one of my favorites, not just because it was written by THE Awsten Knight. In You’d Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out to Get You), Knight takes the reader on a journey by incorporating stories about his life that may seem wildly unrealistic, but they’re experiences that actually happened and have contributed to his learning throughout his childhood and adolescence. One minute you may be laughing your head off, and the next, you could be uncontrollably crying because of how detailed Knight describes his intimate feelings of heartbreak and failure. However, this book isn’t solely an autobiography; Knight provides insightful advice about growing up, dating, school, and of course, music, interwoven with fans’ questions that he has answered through a platform called Ask.fm, and a few photos for visual supplements.
A main section of the book involves Knight discussing how he started Waterparks. I enjoyed hearing about his journey because some people don’t understand how much work it takes to be a musician. Sure, it can seem like a glamorous life of making money from music and touring the world from the outside, but you have to conquer so many obstacles to get to the point where you want to be. Knight talks about the countless struggles he faced along the way, including how he started multiple bands that ended up falling out, how he used to hand out flyers and burned physical copies of his music to anyone who would give him a chance, and how he taught guitar lessons to make enough money to do what he loves (including a funny anecdote about how he suffered by teaching two of the worst students, but you’ll have to get the book to learn more about them). I could feel Knight’s passion and emotion through his imaginative and metaphorical writing style, and I appreciate him choosing to share his vulnerability to millions of strangers in hopes of inspiring them through his advice based off of personal experiences.
Overall, You’d Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out to Get You) is a unique and profound work of art, not only made for Waterparks fans, but to anyone who appreciates helpful life advice and LOTS of humor. Knight says in this book that its purpose is “to entertain, and to give advice,” both of which he successfully achieves.
The book's first run of copies has sold out, but keep checking here for when it restocks or buy the ebook version!
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