Kevin G. (sackett) reviewed on 7/4/2011 + 14 more book reviews

Very enjoyable memoir of the celebrity stripe. Alan Alda is smart and self depreciating in just the right balance while relating the early experiences (having been raised in the wings of a traveling burlesque show) and relationships (with a schitzophrenic mother and movie-star father foremost amongst them) that created him as the man and the actor he is today.

While his time on M*A*S*H is covered, and he sprinkles the narrative with tidbits here and there of how the cast of that show interacted with one another, this is NOT a behind-the-scenes tell-all, a recounting of his adventures on-set, nor a reflection of how the show affected his life during and after. Rather, it is a much more comprehensive look at the journey of his life through the reflection of his own mirror.

First, last and always a performer, this memoir is Alda's most personal performance: at times funny, at other times, achingly self-aware of how unfunny his desperate need to be funny could sometimes be. But at all times, aspiring to the noble effort of telling the story of who he is and how he became that way with as much accuracy as one can possibly achieve in the telling of one's own story.

Easy to read and as entertaining as a lively conversation, this memoir stands out from most of those who'd claim to compete by being revealing in what it says and in how it chooses to say it, as well as in what it fails to say and what it says by stopping just short of saying it.

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