Marianne Power’s memoir, Help Me!, is a humorous account of her yearlong commitment to reading one self-help book per month. At 36, feeling stuck and disappointed with various aspects of her life, she decides to transform herself, inspired by the positive experience of the first self-help book she read at twenty-four.
Determined to prove that these books are an effective way to change a person’s life, Power follows their recommendations to the letter. She selects books from well-known authors, each tackling a different one of her fears or concerns. But is it really possible to truly change with this approach?
Power is determined to find out even if it turns her life upside down. Her experiment results in one unexpected situation after the next – sometimes funny, sometimes embarrassing and sometimes courageous. Along the way we meet Power’s family, always ready to give her valuable reality checks and her friends, who do their best to support her.
Power’s writing style is simple and genuine, making it easy to connect to her. Here’s a conversation the author has with her mother about conquering one of her fears:
“I just did a parallel park!”
“Does your book tell you to park?”
“No, it’s just about doing scary things; confronting your fears, and to me, parking is scary.”
Mom looked bewildered. She didn’t find parking scary. She could fit a truck on a postage stamp and would not make a big deal about it.”
If you’re unfamiliar with self-help books or looking to dip your toe into the genre, Help Me! is a perfect choice.
