This is the best celebrity memoir I’ve ever read.
Now, I’m probably biased because I went into this already loving Craig Ferguson from watching him on The Late Late Show, but he did in his book everything that a book like this should do. He was funny, sincere, and his honesty is that of the ‘warts and all’ persuasion. In fact, showing those warts is the whole point of the book, which he opens by stating, concerning his son, “He will know from an early age that failure is not disgrace. It’s just a pitch that you missed, and you’d better get ready for the next one.” This isn’t just some book of unconnected stories by a famous name, contracted by a publisher to piggyback some moola off of their cultural cachet (although I have read and enjoyed books of that type before, notably Tina Fey’s and Amy Poehler’s). This is a book with a purpose–it says it right there in the title. And that automatically lends it something I always feel is missing from those other types of memoirs, an authentication borne from the need to tell a story.
The book is told (mostly) in chronological order, detailing from his birth in Scotland to poor, working-class parents, to his dropping out from high school, dedicating himself to being a rockstar and taking as many drugs as possible, finding his way into comedy (by way of punk rock and Peter Capaldi), through finally realizing his (literal) life-long dream of moving to America, and actually becoming American. And of course, the most affecting bits in all that had to do with his struggle with alcoholism, which he says “broke my heart and the hearts of too many others”, and with the relationship to all the women in his life. He writes most eloquently when he’s speaking about the ways loving these women (and being loved by them) changed his life.
And that’s the other thing about Craig Ferguson’s book, is that besides being funny and moving (and FUNNY), it’s also well-written. Truly. I didn’t know before reading this, but he’s actually written film scripts and even a novel (all of which he talks about in the book). The stories he was telling would have been interesting no matter what, but they became something special in the way that he told them. His prose was nothing fancy and was certainly irreverent, but it was unmistakably his. The man has style. If you’re going to write a book about yourself, write a book about yourself! And he does.
There’s too much in the book that I loved for me to mention all of it. Probably the best thing I can say at this point is that I was very happy when I could be in my car and listening to this, and when it was over, I wished it wasn’t. (P.S. Get the audiobook if you can–it’s fantastic. He reads it himself. Worth the price of admission just to hear him say ‘farty’.) When he ties everything all together at the end, he does get a bit sentimental, but it’s an earned sentimentality, and if there’s anyone who disagrees with the way he sees our country, I don’t want to know about it.
“America truly is the best idea for a country that anyone has ever come up with so far. Not only because we value democracy and the rights of the individual, but because we are always our own most effective voice of dissent….We must never mistake disagreement between Americans on political or moral issues to be an indication of their level of patriotism. If you don’t like what I say or don’t agree with where I stand on certain issues, then good. I’m glad we’re in America, and don’t have to oppress each other over it. We’re not just a nation, we’re not an ethnicity. We are a dream of justice that people have had for a thousand years.”
And now I shall leave you with one of my favorite Craigy Ferg moments. If you aren’t just so happy after watching that clip, I don’t even want to know, because knowing you are dead inside will just harsh my buzz.
(Also, I miss Secretariat.)
I’m always happy to discover new and enjoyable audio books, and since I always enjoy Craig Ferguson (not just because of his love of all things Doctor Who), this sounds really interesting to me. I shall get it on Audible right away.
Yay! You’re going to love it.
His reading of the book makes everything even better!
I listened to this on a cross country drive and loved it.
Oooh, this would have been a good road trip book. Would have eliminated my frustrating at having to leave the car and stop listening when I got to my destination.
I don’t have opportunities to listen to books on tape but I might need to carve one out to listen to this. The book sounds fantastic in it’s own right and everything is made better when Craig’s accent thrown in the mix.
If you get it on Audible, you can listen while cleaning or cooking or getting ready in the morning. You’d be surprised how fast you can get through a book that way.
Listening to audiobooks makes doing the dishes 800% more bearable, true facts.
@Alexis: Oh, and also, my library system has an app you can download and listen to books on your phone for free! Yours might too :)
@Amanda: I have actually been known to look for more dishes to wash so I could keep listening.
Haha, I’ve never gone quite that far because dishes are far and away my least favorite chore. I have tried taking up knitting though, because it seems wrong, no matter how much I want to, to just sit and listen without my hands doing something. My hold up is I’m not great at knitting so I have to think about it too hard and end up not paying enough attention to the book. I know if I practice more I’ll make it past that stage, but it’s at the frustrating stage right now.
And a world of YES to library audiobook apps. I listened to ~100 audiobooks last year and all of them were downloads from my library, it was beautiful.
I miss Craig each and every night. And I loved this book. I just might have to look for the audio book at the library, even though I own the hard copy of this.
Yes! Do it! His narration was half the fun.
getting over my fear of the audiobook has opened up all sorts of new possibilities. I really want to listen to Craig, especially since life seems empty without him on my television regularly.
You had audiobook fear??
Short answer: yes.
Long answer: Up to about 2 months ago I had never had a positive experience listening to a book in the car, since I was driving terrible, horrendous roads in either South Florida or North Jersey. You have to concentrate. All I could really handle was bad pop music or rock if I could find it. My commute has changed and is much more friendly, so listening in the car has turned out to totally be a thing I can enjoy when I’m not actively avoiding being killed on the interstate highway system. Also, I finally fixed some issues with my magic phone, and now have audible right there on my device to travel with me wherever, including cleaning or doing dishes.
Celebration all around, I guess!
Fantastic review, I agree with almost every word, especially the part about the audiobook being the best.
Also, Mr. Ferguson’s novel is well worth giving a go. I don’t remember specifics because I read it 5+ years and a LOT of books ago, but I remember it being surreal and lovely and dreamlike.
I definitely put it on my to-read list after he talked about it here.
I went through a phase where I read Craig’s book, Hugh Laurie’s book, a bunch by Ben Elton, and two or three by Stephen Fry all in a row. They were all a delight. Fry is the best writer (his re-telling of the Count of Monte Christo is so good), Laurie was the funniest (although Elton’s wit was sharp, it was so, so British), and Craig had the most heart. Parts of his book were really quite moving.
And then I went and watched 9000 episodes of Blackadder and The Young Ones and Jeeves & Wooster. #anglophile
I read the book and listened to the audio version separately because I apparently loved it that much. As much as I adored Tina Fey’s memoirs, there was such a brutal honesty and humor, not just prosthelytizing. I’ve listened to the chapter about his parents and the scene where he woke up above a bar on Christmas so many times. It just sticks with me. Plus—and this was long before he was the Doctor—bonus Peter Capaldi.