Binge by Tyler Oakley

Publisher: Gallery Books

Pub. Date: 2015

Genres: Memoir, Autobiography, Young Adult

Pages: 303

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Here comes another YouTube author! Tyler Oakley writes about his life in this collection of essays. Binge includes stories of his relationships, his YouTube presence, and other experiences.

After reading Dan and Phil’s first book, I saw Tyler Oakley’s Binge at Wal-Mart. I remembered seeing him a few times on their channels, but I had never watched any of his videos. Since I know very little about him, I figured it was a toss-up: I would either enjoy his book or dislike it. So, I borrowed it from the library in 2015.

I followed the order in the introduction: binge. I binged on the book until I finished the chapter about his secret relationship with a college friend. That essay is all-consuming. Then I set it down for a break. I ended up binge-watching Doctor Who and indulging in fan fiction. After that, I could not recapture the same interest in the book. My interest and emotions culminated in that essay. I think it would have been difficult to get back into had I continued reading the book the next day. Perhaps if I had been a fan to begin with, I would have been able to dive back in .

Because Oakley is a prominent LGBTQ+ voice, I expected substantial coverage about how he came to terms with his sexuality and how he deals with the bigots of the world. Oakley met expectations. For example, he described the relationship between himself and his homophobic parent.

I feel most of the interesting, funny, and serious chapters were all at the front and the less interesting were at the end. I relished the chapters about his childhood entrepreneurship, his relationship with Adam, of lists (“Disney Princes,” for example). Some other chapters, unfortunately, were uninteresting to me. It was good to read the honesty, discoveries, and humor.

I like the cover and the paper. The pages are made of some type of photo paper, which worked well for the many photos he included in the book. After a while though, I wanted to feel the page texture that is in most novels.

This book confirmed for me that it will probably hold your interest throughout if you are one of Tyler Oakley’s fans. If you are not one of his followers, do not take a break from it for more than a day or two. You will likely have a hard time getting back into it. But you will laugh as you read it.