Follow Me (A Memoir in Challenges) by Ricky Dillon

Published by Simon and Schuster on 7th June 2016
Genres: Adolescence, Biography & Autobiography, Contemporary, Non Fiction, Special Interest, Young Adult
Pages: 279
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Goodreads


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In this inspiring and hilarious memoir, YouTube star Ricky Dillon gives you an exciting look into his personal life and reveals the ins and outs of being a young star online.

I should probably start this review by pointing out a few things.

1. I don’t really watch YouTube. I use it for K-Pop music videos and for learning how to fix a leaky taps without having to call a plumber.
2. The YouTube personalities I’ve seen on TV shows like The Amazing Race tend to irritate me. I’m always hoping they will get eliminated early so I don’t have to see them anymore. And
3. I’m not twelve.

I say this so you know I’m well aware I’m not the target audience of this book. And I do think my limited exposure to YouTube stars and being a lot older than the target demographic coloured how I viewed it.

Follow Me is a fun little book where Ricky Dillon talks about himself and his life as a YouTube star. He breaks the book up into different sections with each part being further divided into little anecdotes about love, health, family and fun.

He talks about his childhood, friends, family and just how awesome it is to be a YouTube personality.
You also get to see many photos of him with balloons, tinsel and other props which I don’t exactly get the relevance to…

It’s well presented. There is definitely that cute, pre-teen kind of vibe to both the stories and the photos.

And then there are the dares. After every little anecdote Ricky presents two dares to his readers. These dares are another reason why I felt like I was not the target audience. They’re cutesey little things like hugging random strangers, toilet papering houses or making music videos where you lipsync to popular songs. I just can’t imagine anyone actually doing these things unless they were a tween.

This book is VERY upbeat. Ricky talks about the importance to being fit and healthy and how great it is to have friends who share your interests. There’s plenty of YouTube personalities being name dropped all over the place so you know he’s rubbing shoulders with famous people.

Look – he seems lovely in a hyperactive adult stuck in a twelve year olds body. And this book feels like it would be perfect for young fans of his videos. There’s advice about being honest with one’s family and how important is it is to follow your dreams (even when your dreams lead to you dropping out of college and moving across the country to achieve fame. It worked for him. And for JD Salinger… who am I to judge?).

But there’s no real substance to this book. It’s mostly about how lovely it is to be him. And how great the YouTube personality circle is to be a part of. Cause everyone involved is just so lovely and they’re all friends. All of them. Everyone he mentions in his book is his best friend. Seriously… It’s just too sunshine and rainbows for my liking. I liked how positively he came across in all his stories. I really did. But I also think that he glossed over the more difficult times in his life. Or he’s just epic and lucky to have everything fall into his lap.

I think Follow Me would appeal to fans of his channel. He comes across full of energy and like he is probably a very nice person.

But as someone who has never seen his channel, reading Follow Me has left me still with no desire to watch his videos or listen to his music.