Go Big or Go Home - The Journey Toward the Dream by Scotty Mcreery with Travis Thrasher ~ Review

Publisher's Description:  
It was just a simple singing competition that would be fun to audition for. Who knew what kind of doors it might open for a sixteen-year-old from Garner, North Carolina.

 Go Big or Go Home is the story of a kid with country songs in his soul. The special thing with Scotty McCreery, however, is that he has this God-given ability to sing those tunes the exact way they should be sung. Daring to enter the limelight at such a young age, Scotty finds himself embraced by the nation, and even overseas, as he competes on "American Idol". This is his journey from his North Carolina roots to winning America’s most popular singing competition and launching a musical career he had always dreamt about.

 Go Big or Go Home narrates Scotty's journey from a kid imitating Elvis on the school bus to 30 million across America tuning in to see him win Season 10 of "American Idol”. Now as he completes his ground-breaking fourth album, Scotty shares a glimpse of where he came from and the impact his faith, family and friends have had on a humbled guy who keeps asking “why me?”


My Thoughts:  
I'll be honest here, I originally ordered this book for review so that I could give it to my daughter, who is a fan. I did watch the American Idol season that he competed on and eventually went on to win. And though I really enjoyed his work on American Idol, not being a big country and western fan myself, I didn't really keep up with his career after Idol. But I was struck by what a seemingly very mature teenager he was who really seemed to have a solid relationship with Lord and wasn't afraid to show it. And he really impacted me when he apologized for not sticking up for a younger person on the show when they had been dropped from a group. I thought that took a lot of guts for such a young person to do in an every man for himself competition.

 I really enjoyed reading Scotty's story. It's written in a very conversational tone, almost like having him sitting with you talking and telling his story. I loved reading about the faith in his family and how it has passed onto him and his deep love for his hometown in North Carolina. His story really starts with how he grew up with a love for Elvis and old time country music. His audition on Idol was not because he came up with the idea but because his mother solidly believed that God gives everyone giftings and it was the job of a parent to recognize them and do everything in their power to nuture those gifts and set the child onto the road of using them. I love how throughout the book he is very humble about his whole journey considering the great success he has already had at the ripe old age of 22. His realization that it is a blessing and that it could end at any time, and how thankful he is for what he's received is prevalent throughout his story. And his love for Jesus shines through without being preachy.

 While his story itself was a joy to read, I did wish the layout of the story was a bit different. Woven throughout the story is small framed comments from different fans or people in Scotty's life. While they also were interesting to read, they are interspersed randomly in the chapters and I did find that a bit distracting as you have to stop in the middle of whatever story he's telling to read it and then continue on or back up to it after said story or paragraph or chapter. I would have much preferred those at the beginning and/or end of each chapter.

 I would recommend this story to anyone who watched his journey on Idol or who listens to or knows his music today or anyone who likes a good autobiography. It really "fleshes" out the story of a very solid, very mature young man who just desires to serve the Lord with the gift he has been given.

 Thanks to BookLook Bloggers for a free copy of this book for my honest review. I was not required to give it a positive review and all opinions are my own.

 "Go Big or Go Home" is available for purchase here.