In 2014 Rosie Waterland shot to internet fame with her Bachelor recaps on Mamamia. In 2015 at age 28 she published her memoir, “The Anti Cool Girl”. Waterland already at this point has had a big life. She grew up with a mother and father struggling with different substance difficulties. Mum with alcohol, her father with other substances. Waterland shares openly about both parents substance difficulties, including finding her father passed and being removed from custody of her mother along with her fellow sisters, including childhood sexual abuse. Later on Waterland shares further different personal mental health difficulties with spending time in an Australian mental health institution, difficulties with eating disorder, attempts on her life and more. 

In 2015 when this memoir was published was a clear 5 star to me. It hit all the feminist points - particularly the reference and some fun pointing at Cosmopolitan magazine and the discussions around weight. Nearly 10 years on I view this book differently to how I believe I would’ve viewed this book as myself in 2015 and how I likely expect Waterland would possibly view herself.

It’s always interesting in rereading books that show a reflection of society at its time in retrospect. In particular when you’ve lived through those certain time periods. Would I expect I would’ve viewed society similarly to then? Am I using a more modern and better critiqued lens? I’ll never know now reading this 2015 memoir in 2024. But overall, I think its ultimate perspective at the end stands above that of its time.