This book was ok. I really wanted to like it. I was very interested after the first chapter. There was a lot about his family and life growing up. I wanted more of that! What we get instead is what feels like a very cursory overview of his life in Hollywood. It generally follows a linear timeline, but he also goes off on tangents not infrequently so I felt a little whiplashed reading this book.
He talks a lot about his insecurities and like he was never “good enough.” I related a lot to this and appreciated how open he was about this. Even though I liked that he talked about this, I felt it became the focus of many of his stories and got tiresome to read about. There were also very specific stories inserted into the book that felt a little ‘braggy.’ Like the only point of telling the story was to show that he knew so-and-so. I think this probably goes back to some of his insecurities and imposter syndrome, but I wish his editor had helped reign in some of this a bit.
Lastly, I wish he had talked more about his dyslexia. I would have found it really interesting to read about how he overcame this and what that was like (and granted, I stopped reading this book half way through because I become bored, so it’s possible that he did get to this at some point, but when I stopped we were well beyond the timeline of when that would have linearly been addressed).
I don’t want to make it seem like I hated this book, because I didn’t. I just don’t think I was necessarily the demographic he was shooting for. I grew up watching episodes of Happy Days on Nick-at-Nite as a young child, but otherwise my most notable memory of his acting was on Arrested Development. I think this is a pretty standard celebrity memoir and if you grew up watching and following his career, this would appeal to you!
He talks a lot about his insecurities and like he was never “good enough.” I related a lot to this and appreciated how open he was about this. Even though I liked that he talked about this, I felt it became the focus of many of his stories and got tiresome to read about. There were also very specific stories inserted into the book that felt a little ‘braggy.’ Like the only point of telling the story was to show that he knew so-and-so. I think this probably goes back to some of his insecurities and imposter syndrome, but I wish his editor had helped reign in some of this a bit.
Lastly, I wish he had talked more about his dyslexia. I would have found it really interesting to read about how he overcame this and what that was like (and granted, I stopped reading this book half way through because I become bored, so it’s possible that he did get to this at some point, but when I stopped we were well beyond the timeline of when that would have linearly been addressed).
I don’t want to make it seem like I hated this book, because I didn’t. I just don’t think I was necessarily the demographic he was shooting for. I grew up watching episodes of Happy Days on Nick-at-Nite as a young child, but otherwise my most notable memory of his acting was on Arrested Development. I think this is a pretty standard celebrity memoir and if you grew up watching and following his career, this would appeal to you!