The History of My Insanity by Trisha Paytas

If you've been an active participant within in the YouTube community anywhere from 2006 to the present, you're probably not a stranger to Trisha Paytas and her blndsundoll4mj channel – even if just to roll your eyes and move on about your day. Trisha is known for posting, shall we say, controversial videos about religion, politics, and sex using a “character” she’s created to ruffle some feathers. She’s a self-professed troll, but she’s so convincing at times it can still be hard to stomach.

I've spent a considerable amount of time both watching and avoiding her videos, as I think many others might also claim. However, after re-subscribing a couple weeks ago, I've settled on the opinion that, for the most part, I like Trish. Although a little vapid at times, I think she seems like a sweet person who genuinely wants to be a good daughter, friend, and sister. And, when not trying to upset everyone within an arm’s reach, she’s bubbly, fun and always looking for her next shopping trip – which, if you're like me, is always sort of interesting to see.

I picked up her “book” because it was cheap on Amazon (currently $3.99 on kindle, for anyone interested). For all her videos on YouTube, there’s not a lot of concrete, straight-forward information about her past, so I thought it would be something to satisfy my curiosity, if nothing else.  

First thing’s first, to me… this is a short story. There isn't a world where you should pay more than $4.00 for a “book” that only reaches up to 82 pages unless it’s coming from a highly sought-after author or celebrity. So, I'm not sure exactly where my opinion falls on this. On one hand, I applaud Trisha Paytas for keeping her books at a realistic cost. On the other hand, I feel we're somewhat cheated by being promised her life story and being handed something watered-down and vague.

Trisha has, to her credit, lived a very full and interesting life. Her relationship with her family, especially her (highly questionable) mother, is curious to me. She’s lived several places and actively sought what she wanted in life, and I think that’s something that should be commended, since so few people are willing to push themselves outside of their comfort zones.

That being said, many of the details of her book seem falsified, and she contradicts herself regularly within its pages. This is a theme between her books. Her “entirely true” sequel, The Stripper Diaries, starts off with an entry from 2006 that references Fifty Shades of Grey… a book published in 2011. Many of the things she claims have a blurred line: is it an exaggeration (no place for it in this type of book, but excusable) or is she making this up (more likely)? Her writing style reads exactly in the same voice she speaks – for good or bad, and, while she does give you a skeletal outline of her life, where she is, and how she got there, it is not what I would consider to be enough content for a memoir or biography. Her story lacks a certain meat that is required to be considered an entire success, and I came away feeling I knew very little more about Trisha except that she’s far more spoiled than I would have ever dreamed. I went in hoping to learn to like her more, and I found the opposite waited for me. 

It’s my hope that, much like her YouTube channel, much of her memoir is purposely blown up for effect, which would explain her inability to expand further on the details. It doesn't excuse the lack of material, but I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt. If you like Trisha Paytas’s YouTube channel, it isn't an expensive read (although that doesn’t account for any time you spend on it), so it may be worth it to you to pick up. It may give you (slightly) further insight into her past or her personality. With all due respect to Trisha, I doubt I will be reading it again or recommending other people read it for a first time.