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Managing Expectations

A Memoir in Essays

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Managing Expectations

Written by: Minnie Driver
Narrated by: Minnie Driver
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$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends July 15, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

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A charming, poignant, and mesmerizing memoir in essays from beloved actor and natural-born storyteller Minnie Driver, chronicling the way life works out even when it doesn’t.

In this intimate, beautifully crafted collection, Driver writes and narrates with disarming charm and candor about her bohemian upbringing between England and Barbados; her post-university travails and triumphs—from being the only student in her acting school not taken on by an agent to being discovered at a rave in a muddy field in the English countryside; shooting to fame in one of the most influential films of the 1990s and being nominated for an Academy Award; and finding the true light of her life, her son. She chronicles her unconventional career path, including the time she gave up on acting to sell jeans in Uruguay, her journey as a single parent, and the heartbreaking loss of her mother.

Like Lena Dunham in Not That Kind of Girl, Gabrielle Union in We’re Going to Need More Wine and Patti Smith in Just Kids, Driver writes with razor-sharp humor and grace as she explores navigating the depths of failure, fighting for success, discovering the unmatched wonder and challenge of motherhood, and wading through immeasurable grief. Effortlessly charming, deeply funny, personal, and honest, Managing Expectations reminds us of the way life works out—even when it doesn’t.

Also included at the end of this audiobook is a conversation between Minnie Driver her friend Emma Forrest.

Entertainment & Celebrities Essays Celebrity Nonfiction Memoir Witty Funny

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This book is exquisitely written and narrated. If you pick it up, you are in for such a treat! I've always liked Minnie Driver as an actress and now I adore her as an author. Wow, what a multi-talented human.

Outstanding

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Lovely collection of essays by Minnie, read by Minnie herself. Fun to get to hear to book read as she intended it :)
Some beautiful commentary on grief that I think is helpful to anyone going through it.
Would definitely recommend listening to the conversation at the end of the book as well - just wonderful.

Would Recommend!

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I so loved this memoir - it brought me to tears and made me laugh out loud. And reminded me how much I always enjoyed Minnie Driver’s movies which I will definitely be watching again so I can spend more time with her. Fabulous audiobook that could have been longer!!

Heartfelt and real

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to be fair, I didn't finish this read. I found it melodramatic and difficult to get through. maybe I'm just not in a place in my life where I could enjoy this. I was hoping for something that was feminist, and had some advice for life, but could not get into the retelling of childhood from this particular perspective. not my thing, but maybe someone else would enjoy this. reads more as a narrative than essays.

not what I was hoping for

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