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@Barrie Summy
book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
I'm posting this early because I really want to participate and share about a great book I recently read.
The book I am reviewing this month is Love Life by Rob Lowe. I had previously reviewed Rob's first book Stories I Only Tell My Friends (here). I really enjoyed his first book but I think his second book is better. Before I went back and read my review, if you'd asked me about his first book I would have told you it wasn't an easy read but it was definitely worth reading. I couldn't remember specifically what made it a difficult read but when I read the review, I remembered. With the first sentence I was confused as to whether he was telling a story or whether someone was telling a story about him. Then once I got past that he seemed removed from the stories to where, in my head, he was narrating a E! True Hollywood Story vs. actually sharing stories with the readers.
In Love Life Rob seems to have worked out the writing issues I had with his first book. It's definitely more conversational with a feel that an old friend is sharing stories. I should mention that I read some of the reviews after I read the book and some people were disappointed that it wasn't a scandalous tell-all book. Others were disappointed that it didn't discuss more of his romantic encounters. Fact told, I thought it would have more romance stories based on the title and I don't think he discusses romance in this book outside of his love affair with his wife, I'm actually okay with that - they weren't needed.
Now, about the writing . . . in the beginning he told a couple of stories where he chose not to share names. I don't remember the stories being scandalous or particularly embarrassing for anyone so I didn't get why the names weren't shared. I kind of felt like if he wasn't going to share the names, he shouldn't have included the stories. These were at the beginning of the book and concerned me that it was going to be a long, hard read if he did that with all his stories but I needn't have worried. There's also a passage towards the end of the book (next to last chapter I think) where he starts talking about his wife. It seems like an incoherent, rambling that has no point. It stops suddenly and the next chapter starts. It was kind of weird. Other than that, I had no issues with his writing.
As for the stories he shares . . . it's funny because as I was reading it, I knew I wanted to review it and kept thinking "I'll share this in the review". I thought that enough times that if I shared everything I liked about the book and found funny, I would basically be retelling his entire book, in my own words. :)
Having said that, I do want to touch on a few that deserve mentioning. The first one I'll mention has to do with his time in rehab. He was in rehab with a famous athlete (whose name he changed in the story to protect his anonymity). During his stay, the athlete had a major break through that Rob shared. It was beautifully told. It was powerful and gut-wrenching . . . I was crying as I read it. That said, I felt it wasn't his story to tell. Now, I do understand WHY he told it because it had such an impact on Rob and has a lot to do with why and how he maintains his own sobriety but I still feel it was inappropriate for Rob to share that particular story.
But the stories that were his to share . . . he tells this hysterical story about how he wants to create a memory for his kids, all while having a little fun at their expense. His family and his sister-in-law and her family all took a vacation up the west coast in an RV. Rob thinks it will be funny to tell them stories about Bigfoot and create a "sighting" for the kids. He's gotten a Bigfoot costume for it and everything. Only, when the time comes things don't go quite as he had planned. For example, he hadn't tried on the suit before and it was a really tight fit. He had to rub up against the trees to secure the velcro on the back of the suit that closed it up. The eye slits were no where near where his eyeballs were so he was flying blind. Best of all, his oldest son (about 7 at the time) realized it wasn't really Bigfoot and thought it was some college person trying to scare them so kicked him in an area no man ever wants to be kicked in. I was laughing so hard as I read the story that I had to put the book down several times while I collected myself again to read the next misfortune awaiting Rob. I barely touch on it here. Priceless.
Personally, I've always considered Rob to be a movie star. I know he's starred on The West Wing (which I've never seen), Parks and Recreation (which I've also never seen) and Brothers and Sisters (which I have seen) but I thought of those as one-offs that he's done while I guess I thought he was waiting for suitable movie scripts. In this book he talks about series that he's done that I had no idea about (and for reasons I'll go into a little here). Did you know he was offered the part that Patrick Dempsey got in Grey's Anatomy? At the time he had a verbal agreement to star in a show titled Dr. Vegas. Nothing had been signed though so he could've done either at that point. He talked to people and thought about it, it would seem in great detail. He felt that on the surface Grey's Anatomy had the better script but conceptually, Dr. Vegas had much more potential. Grey's Anatomy was going to be broadcast on the flailing ABC network who hadn't successfully launched a drama in more than a decade. Dr. Vegas was going to be aired on a network that had a longstanding success rate with dramas. He decided to go with Dr. Vegas, which never made it to air. Meanwhile, Grey's Anatomy just wrapped its 10th season.
He also did a show called Lyon's Den. The first script was fantastic. Great concept, great potential. Then, when he talks about the second script I have an image in my head of him calling the writers asking if they'd sent him the wrong script because it doesn't go with what they started in the first script. He doesn't say anything remotely like that in his book, it's just how I imagine it in my head. Anyway, he voices his concerns but ultimately does what he's told, against his better judgment. By the time the show actually airs, they've filmed 6 episodes. I didn't know this but apparently one hour shows get ratings feedback per half hour so that they can see if viewers turned in because of who was on the show and whether they were able to keep the audience through the second half hour. Because of this they know after the first show that they didn't keep the viewers interested and the show is pulled. BUT, they've contracted to film 13 episodes so they have to keep filming for a show that's not only been cancelled but is no longer even airing. What this does, however, is allow them the freedom to really get creative with the last few shows. Rob goes into detail about how they ended the series and I, again, put down the book so that I could see if I could rent the series from Netflix. Unfortunately they don't have it but I may find it somewhere else.
In the end, I felt that Rob opened up a lot more in this book and shared more of who he is. I really feel like I know him better than I did before - and I like him better for it. His love and devotion to his family is very evident in this book. If you're looking for a scandalous type tell-all book, this isn't it. But if you're looking for an enjoyable, laugh-til-your-sides-hurt book, I think you'll really like this one. I highly recommend it.
The book I am reviewing this month is Love Life by Rob Lowe. I had previously reviewed Rob's first book Stories I Only Tell My Friends (here). I really enjoyed his first book but I think his second book is better. Before I went back and read my review, if you'd asked me about his first book I would have told you it wasn't an easy read but it was definitely worth reading. I couldn't remember specifically what made it a difficult read but when I read the review, I remembered. With the first sentence I was confused as to whether he was telling a story or whether someone was telling a story about him. Then once I got past that he seemed removed from the stories to where, in my head, he was narrating a E! True Hollywood Story vs. actually sharing stories with the readers.
In Love Life Rob seems to have worked out the writing issues I had with his first book. It's definitely more conversational with a feel that an old friend is sharing stories. I should mention that I read some of the reviews after I read the book and some people were disappointed that it wasn't a scandalous tell-all book. Others were disappointed that it didn't discuss more of his romantic encounters. Fact told, I thought it would have more romance stories based on the title and I don't think he discusses romance in this book outside of his love affair with his wife, I'm actually okay with that - they weren't needed.
Now, about the writing . . . in the beginning he told a couple of stories where he chose not to share names. I don't remember the stories being scandalous or particularly embarrassing for anyone so I didn't get why the names weren't shared. I kind of felt like if he wasn't going to share the names, he shouldn't have included the stories. These were at the beginning of the book and concerned me that it was going to be a long, hard read if he did that with all his stories but I needn't have worried. There's also a passage towards the end of the book (next to last chapter I think) where he starts talking about his wife. It seems like an incoherent, rambling that has no point. It stops suddenly and the next chapter starts. It was kind of weird. Other than that, I had no issues with his writing.
As for the stories he shares . . . it's funny because as I was reading it, I knew I wanted to review it and kept thinking "I'll share this in the review". I thought that enough times that if I shared everything I liked about the book and found funny, I would basically be retelling his entire book, in my own words. :)
Having said that, I do want to touch on a few that deserve mentioning. The first one I'll mention has to do with his time in rehab. He was in rehab with a famous athlete (whose name he changed in the story to protect his anonymity). During his stay, the athlete had a major break through that Rob shared. It was beautifully told. It was powerful and gut-wrenching . . . I was crying as I read it. That said, I felt it wasn't his story to tell. Now, I do understand WHY he told it because it had such an impact on Rob and has a lot to do with why and how he maintains his own sobriety but I still feel it was inappropriate for Rob to share that particular story.
But the stories that were his to share . . . he tells this hysterical story about how he wants to create a memory for his kids, all while having a little fun at their expense. His family and his sister-in-law and her family all took a vacation up the west coast in an RV. Rob thinks it will be funny to tell them stories about Bigfoot and create a "sighting" for the kids. He's gotten a Bigfoot costume for it and everything. Only, when the time comes things don't go quite as he had planned. For example, he hadn't tried on the suit before and it was a really tight fit. He had to rub up against the trees to secure the velcro on the back of the suit that closed it up. The eye slits were no where near where his eyeballs were so he was flying blind. Best of all, his oldest son (about 7 at the time) realized it wasn't really Bigfoot and thought it was some college person trying to scare them so kicked him in an area no man ever wants to be kicked in. I was laughing so hard as I read the story that I had to put the book down several times while I collected myself again to read the next misfortune awaiting Rob. I barely touch on it here. Priceless.
Personally, I've always considered Rob to be a movie star. I know he's starred on The West Wing (which I've never seen), Parks and Recreation (which I've also never seen) and Brothers and Sisters (which I have seen) but I thought of those as one-offs that he's done while I guess I thought he was waiting for suitable movie scripts. In this book he talks about series that he's done that I had no idea about (and for reasons I'll go into a little here). Did you know he was offered the part that Patrick Dempsey got in Grey's Anatomy? At the time he had a verbal agreement to star in a show titled Dr. Vegas. Nothing had been signed though so he could've done either at that point. He talked to people and thought about it, it would seem in great detail. He felt that on the surface Grey's Anatomy had the better script but conceptually, Dr. Vegas had much more potential. Grey's Anatomy was going to be broadcast on the flailing ABC network who hadn't successfully launched a drama in more than a decade. Dr. Vegas was going to be aired on a network that had a longstanding success rate with dramas. He decided to go with Dr. Vegas, which never made it to air. Meanwhile, Grey's Anatomy just wrapped its 10th season.
He also did a show called Lyon's Den. The first script was fantastic. Great concept, great potential. Then, when he talks about the second script I have an image in my head of him calling the writers asking if they'd sent him the wrong script because it doesn't go with what they started in the first script. He doesn't say anything remotely like that in his book, it's just how I imagine it in my head. Anyway, he voices his concerns but ultimately does what he's told, against his better judgment. By the time the show actually airs, they've filmed 6 episodes. I didn't know this but apparently one hour shows get ratings feedback per half hour so that they can see if viewers turned in because of who was on the show and whether they were able to keep the audience through the second half hour. Because of this they know after the first show that they didn't keep the viewers interested and the show is pulled. BUT, they've contracted to film 13 episodes so they have to keep filming for a show that's not only been cancelled but is no longer even airing. What this does, however, is allow them the freedom to really get creative with the last few shows. Rob goes into detail about how they ended the series and I, again, put down the book so that I could see if I could rent the series from Netflix. Unfortunately they don't have it but I may find it somewhere else.
In the end, I felt that Rob opened up a lot more in this book and shared more of who he is. I really feel like I know him better than I did before - and I like him better for it. His love and devotion to his family is very evident in this book. If you're looking for a scandalous type tell-all book, this isn't it. But if you're looking for an enjoyable, laugh-til-your-sides-hurt book, I think you'll really like this one. I highly recommend it.
