Book Review Club - December 2021 - The Boys

 This month I will be reviewing three books.  Here I will be reviewing The Boys by Ron and Clint Howard.

I've always liked Ron Howard.  I haven't held Clint Howard in much regard though.  My opinion has kind of been that Clint got his career by being in Ron's movies.  Reading this book though I came to realize that Clint had his own career as a child actor.  The difference was, after a brief stall, Ron's career continued into his teens while Clint outgrew his "cute" child star self and from what was revealed in the book it does seem that with little exception that Clint has been riding Ron's coattails for employment.

That said, Ron was interested in directing from very early on in life.  While he didn't say this, I feel like a lot of the acting opportunities that came to Ron were won because he approached them from a "nothing to lose" attitude.  If someone didn't want him or if he felt they weren't treating him with respect or dignity he could walk away because his true dream was to be a director anyway.  He did a lot of short films growing up and learned camera angles as he went.  He was also like a sponge on set, getting to know crew members and what their jobs were, all while making good money.

They also told the story of their parents.  They truly came from loving and supportive parents that taught them compassion and respect.  That isn't to suggest that everything was always rainbows and unicorns but they led a good life, made a lot of money early in life but were pretty grounded despite all that.

The story is told by alternating between Ron and Clint (with an occasional "interruption" from the other one, in a cute way).  It is a sweet story about family, hard work and always being there for each other when needed.  There's also a lot about how Ron met his wife Cheryl.  I knew they married young but don't think I knew that they had already been together for years when they got married.  He fell in love quickly and that was it for him (she liked him a lot early on but to fall as hard as he did took more time).  A very sweet love story there.  :)

By the end of the book I had a much deeper affection and respect for Ron than I had before (and I really liked him before) but also came away with the opinion that I was also right about Clint.  He came across as an entitled jerk - even when he got to direct the narrative! - so my opinion didn't really change on him but very much improved on Ron.

Overall, I felt it was a very good book and would highly recommend it.  For more book reviews go to https://barriesummy.blogspot.com/index.html.