Book Review// Joey Essex Being Reem

Being Reem- Joey Essex

I'm not ashamed to admit that I blooming love Joey Essex! He reminds me so much of my little bro Myles, from the hairstyle to the ridiculous questions, that I can't help but think he's absolutely adorable! Rich bought his autobiography as a Christmas present and it was such a lovely, funny book to read. 

Of course, Joey hasn't actually written the book himself but can I point out how well he acknowledges his ghostwriter: "I don't know why she's called a ghostwriter. She's not actually a ghost, she's a real person! Anyway, she's sat in my flat and drank the cups of coffee I gave her and I don't think ghosts like coffee". Now that is how to thank your ghostwriter! YouTubers take note...

Speaking of ghostwriters, Lucie Cave, the writer of Joey's autobiography, has done a truly remarkable job of maintaining his voice throughout the book. I wonder how much of it is made up of direct quotes from their conversations as his humour, friendliness and downright ridiculousness eeks out of every page. I am happy to confess that I laughed out loud on several occasions and, so you can understand what was so funny, I have taken the step of reproducing two of my favourite extracts:

On Christmas: "I went to church dressed as Rudolph once. I don't know why. Reindeers are funny, aren't they? I used to get them confused with dolphins. I couldn't remember which it was that Father Christmas drove around in the sky".

On his ideal girl: "No tattoos (unless it was of a Furby)"

Throughout the book, whether talking about the loss of his mum to suicide when he was ten, to getting arrested for fighting, his sweet nature is apparent. Yes, I know I just said he got arrested but he really does seem like a very genuine, lovely man. He may not be the most intelligent person in Britain but he certainly seems to have a heart of gold. Including some of his fan's tweets in the back of his book was a nice touch and I'm sure they were all delighted to see their names in there! 

Overall, I found this a hilarious, sweet autobiography. The only problem I had was with the references to other stars of TOWIE that were, understandably, written on the basis of readers knowing the show. Since I watched the first episode and gave up halfway through, I didn't know who half the references were about. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Joey's life.