6 days ago
A different kind of memoir? Five fake Jacinda Ardern books, read and reviewed
Generative AI can do anything these days, including, it would seem, write the former prime minister's hotly anticipated memoir. Mirjam Guesgen dives into this curious new literary genre.
Jacinda Ardern's memoir, A Different Kind of Power, has been described by The Guardian as 'a strikingly different kind of political memoir' and 'often funny, compulsively readable and intimate' by The Listener. The Age reviewer, Jenna Price, said she'd cried twice by the time she reached page 60.
Excited to spend my evenings being let into the inner sanctum of Ardern's thoughts and hopes, I hurriedly opened my Amazon page to get my hands on a copy (yes, I have Amazon because I live in Canada and have succumbed to the wiles of capitalism).
But as well as being met by the expected black, white and fluorescent yellow cover, I came across half a dozen other versions of the book, all published around the same time as Power's release. Jacinda – or someone who looks vaguely like her –beamed at me from the covers, inviting me to glean the many facets of her life through these pages. I've never downloaded a veritable shelf of Kindle books faster.
What follows is my review of a selection of these works.
Jacinda Ardern Memoir: Navigating Different Kind of Power between Politics and Family
By Luiz Goncalves
'Who is Jacinda Ardern?' That's the question at the heart of this 'unauthorised memoir'. I'm not sure the author knows what memoir means but that's beside the point because, according to Goncalves, 'Ardern's story is one that needs to be told.'
By the end of the introduction, I can feel Goncalves' deep admiration for Ardern – in a kind of fake, robotic sense. He's writing this because he's moved by her story and wants to give us a fuller picture of her life.
Unfortunately, Goncalves doesn't deliver on his goal. The book reads like one of those terrible essays you wrote in high school, parsed with such choice phrases as 'another significant moment' and 'one memorable moment'. It feels like you're reading a resume, padded out by clichés.
Perhaps that's because this Luiz Goncalves, author, is either a roof inspector in Montreal, a Spanish and Portuguese lecturer at Princeton (unlikely), or a visually impaired runner.
I'll give it to Goncalves though, he does have a way of turning the most mundane occurrences into literary page-fillers. Take the time that Ardern noticed that someone had stolen from her school tuck shop (did this even happen? I don't know). He waxes lyrical about the incident for no fewer than two paragraphs and describes it as an example of Ardern's moral compass. '… ultimately … prioritizing justice over social popularity'.
My favourite chapter was the riveting one on her net worth. Don't be fooled, would-be reader! This isn't a recital of basic facts and figures. It's a way for the author to show you how her modest earnings are a testament to her career in public service.
Goncalves concludes by posing the question, 'What if there were 10 Jacinda Arderns, or even thousands?' (There certainly are around 10 fake books about her.)
Rating: 7 out of 10 large language models. Short and sweet. Not as short and sweet as Arderns Wikipedia page, which eerily has many of the same details…
Power With Kind Purpose: The Jacinda Ardern Story
By Amanda Humper (or Eleanor Riggs?)
I was nervous about Googling this author's name, which appears in the Amazon listing but not on the cover, for some reason, for fear of what might pop up. Thankfully there is no Amanda Humper, so I needn't have worried. But maybe it was Eleanor Riggs who wrote this book, as the cover would suggest…
Regardless of the author, I'm immediately drawn into this rendition of Ardern's story. The table of contents has been left completely blank, imbuing a sense of mystery into the whole thing.
Humper's (or is it Riggs'?) goal in writing this account is to 'provide a comprehensive, nuanced account' that 'avoids hagiography'. It certainly does that. The chapter on Ardern's first term is so detailed, in fact, it'll have you asking, 'is this a white paper or a novel?'. If you want a blow-by-blow breakdown of all political policies that Ardern was involved in, then this is the book for you!
The author does find space, however, for some colour in their storytelling. For example, the Whakaari/White Island eruption is described in gripping detail as 'a very significant event'.
They also do a good job of making sure you know just how important this long list of facts and biographical details is, by adding phrases like 'had a profound impact', 'shaped' and 'marked a significant milestone' in almost every paragraph.
A final interesting detail is that this memoir directly references Ardern's real 2025 memoir, stating that it 'cemented her power' – even though this book was published four days before the release of A Different Kind of Power.
Prime Minister Movie Guide: Jacinda Ardern's Journey Through Tragedy and Triumph
By Gregory J Edwards
The cover of this book is what prompted me to purchase and review it. It features a solemn-looking Ardern (eeerr…) covered with what appear to be strange news article headlines and photographs. The longer I look at the tortured faces and garbled words, the more scared I become.
This book starts off strong and it almost makes me feel like I'm reading a real book. I'm not sure where the movie part comes in though. I'm confused, but push on.
By page nine, the text reads, 'this makes the 2025 documentary Prime Minister more than just a chronicle of what happened'. Ah. This is based on the Sundance film released in January 2025. My fault.
Rating: 0 out of 10. Not ADKOP book.
Jacinda Ardern Biography (Biographies of the Famous)
By Famed History
I was excited to review this book because it's the latest instalment in a series of biographies that also includes other great leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Buffalo Bill. Surely this publisher knows what they're doing.
They really built my expectations, too. In the introduction I'm told that 'this is more than just a story' and to 'get ready to be touched, challenged, and uplifted'. Alright Famed History, let's go! I'm psyched.
And in a way, they deliver on this promise. This is certainly the most grandiloquent of the books I reviewed. Ardern is described as someone who 'saw people as individuals, not numbers' and 'a child who believed the softest voice could bring about real change'. Maybe these are the tear jerkers that Price mentioned?
But the emotive language isn't reserved for the fine print. Famed History has a way with words when it comes to chapter titles, with such greats as 'Dreams Beyond the Horizon' and 'A Leader in Lockdown'.
Every description in this book is cranked up to 110. Murupara, for example, one of the towns of Ardern's youth, is described in a way that makes it sound like 1970s Harlem (yes, I concede that there's been a history of gang violence there). In another section, Famed History describes Ardern's transition out of high school: 'While others looked for careers focussed on wealth and prestige, Jacinda looked inwards. Her calling was about purpose… she enrolled… to study communication.' The same goes for her journey through politics: [We're about half way through her political story at this point, having read about her numerous involvements in local and international politics] 'what followed was a story few could have predicted'.
With so much tension and drama throughout, you might wonder how such a book could end. Well, with a request by the author to give the book a good review if you liked it.
Rating: 9 out of 10 tear-sodden tissues.
Leading Quietly: How Jacinda Ardern Changed the World
By Gordon D Flyn
Since Prime Minister Movie Guide was a bust, I decided I needed to review one more Ardern memoir. Did I pick a lovely short read to ease my tired, Kindle-dried eyes? No, dear reader, I did not. I picked the longest book I could find.
How did this book fill double the amount of pages as many of the previous works? The answer lay in repetition and a seeming lack of any kind of chronology. It haphazardly jumps from a summary of how Ardern handled the Covid-19 pandemic on page 20 back to details of her birth on page 22.
In case you get reading whiplash, Flyn (with one n) makes sure to repeat everything at least twice, so you can piece the story together. He also conveniently bolds certain words and phrases throughout the book, and summarises key points of particular chapters with handy bullet-point lists. Confusion problem solved.
One thing that Flyn does well is providing detailed portrayals of Ardern's communication strategy (including how she used social media and other 'modern technology'); what it was like working in a coalition government; and reactions to her resignation from around the world – all areas the other books I read didn't touch.
Flyn also makes it very clear that this is not A Different Kind of Power. It's better. On page five he writes that this book seeks to answer a different set of questions. Questions like: how does a small town girl come to redefine global expectations?
In chapter nine, Flyn provides the reader with a review of ADKOP (a book within a book!) He once again reiterates that this biography will delve deeper than that other paperweight. Sadly, we're 91% through this book already, leaving little time for Flyn to deliver on his promise.
The book finishes with six pages of appendices, selected quotes, awards and further reading. In case these 126 pages weren't enough.
Afterword
I ran random sections of these books through ZeroGPT, an AI detection tool, and all were found to have been made by generative AI. Some were up to 98.7% AI-written.
These books are part of a growing slew of AI-generated books scamming would-be readers. They are released around the same time as a highly anticipated book and try to profit off the hype by getting people to download them accidentally.
My review of this phenomenon: another example of generative AI diluting and disrupting the media landscape. 0 out of 10.
