Book Review: The Only Pirate at the Party (Lindsey Stirling)

Lindsey Stirling’s biography provides a unique view of an even more unique career as a dancing violinist, and her story is an inspiration to twenty somethings pursuing their own passions. Stirling’s biography is a myriad of short stories starting from childhood on. She wrote the book while on tour, and her sister Brooke helped her edit and gather pictures for the book. Stirling wrote the book for the same reason she records YouTube videos of her in a Zelda costume dancing: Lindsey Stirling is confidently her quirky self, and she hopes to inspire others to enjoy being themselves and pursue their passions.

Part one “The Childhood/ Developing Teenager Part” details her uniqueness as an adolescent. She always wanted to fit in, but she always found her crowd with those advocating for the whales or dressing as pirates. Her friends encouraged her to be herself and introduced her to the fun of film-making, and they proudly shared their videos with their school. She fell in love with the violin at a young age, and her parents fully supported her. As a teenager, she played in a band and even went on tour with her mom tagging along. When she won the Arizona’s Junior Miss talent contest with her dancing violinist routine, she knew she would always be on the stage.

Part two, “The ‘I Want to Make It So Bad I’ll Sell My Soul’ Part, Mixed with a Little ‘Why Do I Keep Failing?’” chronicles college life for Stirling and her rise in fame. Nothing is off the table- she is open about her faith as a Mormon, the struggles as a performing artist, and her battle with anorexia (or as she says, living with ED, aka eating disorder). Stirling struggled with her self-identity, but held onto her faith throughout her battle. Being self-conscious does not help when you are auditioning for America’s Got Talent, either. Despite her difficulties and losing the TV contest, Sterling had a supportive family and a faith that got her through. After the show, she put everything towards recording her music and making a start on YouTube.

Part three, “The Part Where I Try to Tell Entertaining Stories about Being an Entertainer” takes up the last half of the book. She covers all of the questions you may or may not have had about Stirling’s life as a celebrity: what she wants to tell fans, what it’s like touring with a bunch of guys, how she picks her clothes, and her interactions with celebrities. She ends the last few chapters about how she mended things with herself and her sister Brooke- her eating disorder threatened their relationship, and recently she was able to find out how to love herself and bring her family members back into her life.

Stirling’s moxy is something we can all learn from. When she was voted off America's Got Talent, she had some excruciatingly bitter reviews from the judges. It didn’t take long for her to start traveling from college to college playing in cafeterias for exposure, and became famous because of her YouTube channel where she was victim to plenty of anonymous internet trolls.

She is also a gal of values- she is a Mormon and has never hidden her religion nor been abrasive in her beliefs. She has never drunk or done drugs, and even has a humorous one page chapter dedicated to this promise.

She is also funny. For instance, Stirling humorously described middle school and how boys were more interested in girls with a push up bra than a girl dressed up like a cowgirl with "authentic chaps with ash on the pants." Her humor can be likened to Zooey Deschanel on New Girl. She dresses happily in whatever she likes, does not hide her love of animals, and is the sole woman living amongst all boys on a confined tour bus.

Despite the intrigue of a dancing violinist writing a biography, the beginning was a bit difficult to get into. Her struggles in middle class were difficult to relate to (I know that her dad had car problems, but her parents were able to afford private music lessons and instruments for three children at the same time). Each person has their own struggles, but Stirling wants to inspire her audience with the rags to riches story, but her dragging rags story only made me disinterested.

Then the ending was a bit stretched as well. Part 3 was filled with antics of meeting celebrities, her junky car, traveling clothes, dating, PMS, and finding a stylist. My list does not cover everything in that third section, and I am sure I even bored you with it. The third section outweighs the first two, so for being an autobiography, she focuses primarily on the last three years of her life instead of the previous twenty-five.

I would recommend this book for any twenty-something that is struggling with identity or career issues. Stirling had a very unique career path that had a few lucky breaks but much more sweat involved that I think anyone can learn from. Her audio book does make you miss the fun pictures, but you do hear her read it aloud, and she even laughs at some of her stories and even breaks into a few tears.

I read The Only Pirate at the Party  by Lindsey Stirling (ISBN 1501119176) on Overdrive (a free app through your local library), but you can purchase the book on Amazon for $12.79 here.