Managing Expectations: ‘vital, heartfelt and surprising tales from life’ Graham Norton

Product Information

This book is memoir-ish. A tell-most. Largely because there's a lot I don't remember, and a lot that's not worth talking about. Many people know you as an actress, musician, and also as a podcast host. But how did you know you were a writer?

Managing Expectations: A Memoir - Minnie Driver - Google Books Managing Expectations: A Memoir - Minnie Driver - Google Books

Just before the release of her first book, Driver spoke to W over the phone, calling from her home in Malibu after a morning of surfing in the Pacific Ocean. She got into her writing process, her favorite authors, and whether or not she’ll write some more books in the future. My English teachers were the reason I became an actor. I started to understand plays and character through writing and reading an enormous amount. So I feel like I’ve always written loads, just not in this form. I’m a huge letter writer and journal keeper. I wrote music. When you are better known for something else, it feels like an adjunct, but it’s actually always been part of the centrifuge. Covid created a massive space for one to explore in that great pause. PJ Morton’s cover of “How Deep Is Your Love.” It is, dare I say it, as good as the Bee Gees’s version. It’s truly beautiful, so vibey and incredible. When I look at my life from the alleged halfway point, some patterns are revealed: one, that the story does not necessarily begin or end where it should; two, happy endings are overrated. And three, happy endings are almost never the end.It was such a long time ago, before Covid. I took my son to the Greek to see Bastille because he’s a really big Bastille fan. We were at the very front; it was my son’s first big concert. It was pretty great, but mostly because I was watching it through Henry’s eyes. The stories you tell of your childhood, growing up as a precocious child in England with your sister, your mom and her husband, and later visiting your dad in the Caribbean, were fascinating. You remember so many funny details, like your hilarious description of a flight attendant who helped you when you were a child traveling solo to Miami. How did you recall all of those little moments? A charming, poignant, and mesmerizing memoir in essays from beloved actor and natural-born storyteller Minnie Driver, chronicling the way life works out even when it doesn’t.

Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays - Minnie Driver - Google Books Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays - Minnie Driver -

I love stories. I have mostly told other people's but now, in telling my own, I realize how all our stories are connected by that great leveller of acclaim, loss, fortitude, and fortune: being human. Thank you so much. I definitely will write more. I’d really love to write a novel. I’ve broken the seal on this.

Will you write more books? I’m asking because I’m curious, but also because I’m pleading for you to write more. A dazzling 'tell-most' memoir: poignant and laugh-out-loud funny scenes from the life of actor Minnie Driver.