Every college student uses YouTube for something or another. Seriously everyone. Whether the website be used for makeup tutorials, gaming, vlogs, shopping hauls, or “How-To” videos, there are videos that will interest anyone. One of the most untraditional and enticing series of videos is called My Drunk Kitchen. What would a college student want more than to watch someone get drunk and cook (okay, I didn’t say cook WELL)? The answer is nothing! Besides to perhaps do it themselves.

The creator of MDK on the channel MyHarto,  Hannah Hart quickly became a partner of YouTube with millions of subscribers and started having celebrities as guests on her show, including comedian Sarah Silverman and fellow YouTuber Tyler Oakley. Loved by what seems like the whole world, Hart decided to write a “tell-all” book sharing herself with the world. Released on the Oct. 18, “Buffering” made its debut. Hart claimed her reason for writing the memoir was that she did not want to feel like she was keeping secrets from her fans any longer.

Many of Hart’s fans and those who know of her already know that she is a lesbian. The memoir was expected to contain a good amount of details on that fact and on her journey so far since Hart reiterated multiple times that she would be opening up on certain issues. However, Hart was inspirational in the sense that she did not want to make her sexuality a bigger deal by making it a massive section of the book, since it was just a simple fact about herself. I think that is great encouragement to anyone who reads her memoir so that it is understood that sexuality should not be shameful or surprising. It is a part of Hart’s everyday life, and that is exactly how she depicts her stories.

Instead of what fans had anticipated, Hart penned stories that centered around her ultimately rough upbringing. A critical part of it was Hart’s own mother, Annette, who suffered from severe mental illness. Mental illness is something that is, in most cases, not taken seriously. Especially in Annette’s case. She was passed off as just “out there,” or “having one of those days.” Hart learned how to live with a relative with intense schizophrenia while taking care of her infant sister during times when her mother was incapable of caring for them. Annette, who could not keep her thoughts in one place, would leave their house so filthy that the two sisters ended up having to be taken away from the home. She would often leave the girls unattended and sometimes would say deranged things that made no sense and scare the girls senseless.

Hart’s story of deep personal problems is scary, inspiring and heartbreaking all in one read. I don’t want to give away the whole story of how Hart grew from her sadistic coming-of-age tale, but it is captivating through and through. It is hard to imagine how one could thrive and succeed quite so much, but she makes it easy to understand. Although the book is filled with great puns and seems like you are listening to Hart talk on her MDK channel the entire time, it is a book that can help many people who have gone through similar things.

Hart is never once negative about her past or her future. That is what makes this book a fantastic read for college students. She uplifts and appreciates her own college education throughout her writing and tells her readers and fans how she carried on with life even when things went beyond disastrous for her. I think everybody should take the time to read this book, MDK fan or not. The reason for that being, Hart made it truly believable that it is possible to rise from the ashes and become everything any broke, regular college student could imagine being. Even a YouTube star who drinks and cooks for entertainment!