amdamsgard's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
megansgc's review against another edition
5.0
Listened to Alan narrate his biography. First and foremost I applaud Alan for having the courage to tell his story, to lay his trauma bare for others to learn from. And he’s just brilliant in his telling. Hilarious at times. Raw and emotional the rest of the time. Highly recommended, but do listen to it if you can. His telling adds so much to it.
wanderaven's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly, I had very little knowledge of Alan Cumming before reading.
Which is strange, really, given my depth of interest in all things English/Irish/Scottish. But I've never watched The Good Wife and though he seemed familiar, I didn't pick this memoir up because of his celebrity but rather because of the synopsis.
I've my own reasons for relating to others who had difficult childhoods, and Cumming's story is one of those whose story tops (very easily topples) my own. His father was violent, unrepentant, confused, quite probably mentally ill.
I loved how this read quite like a mystery - he has the storytelling gift of weaving the past with the current events in his life, along with the details of a television program he was doing about his mother's ancestry and the discovery of his maternal grandfather's difficult life. There are a couple of mysteries along the way, including the details of his grandfather's death, and the details of a secret his father shares, making it compulsively readable.
I also listened to it on audiobook, which Cumming naturally narrates, making the experience even richer.
Which is strange, really, given my depth of interest in all things English/Irish/Scottish. But I've never watched The Good Wife and though he seemed familiar, I didn't pick this memoir up because of his celebrity but rather because of the synopsis.
I've my own reasons for relating to others who had difficult childhoods, and Cumming's story is one of those whose story tops (very easily topples) my own. His father was violent, unrepentant, confused, quite probably mentally ill.
I loved how this read quite like a mystery - he has the storytelling gift of weaving the past with the current events in his life, along with the details of a television program he was doing about his mother's ancestry and the discovery of his maternal grandfather's difficult life. There are a couple of mysteries along the way, including the details of his grandfather's death, and the details of a secret his father shares, making it compulsively readable.
I also listened to it on audiobook, which Cumming naturally narrates, making the experience even richer.
roseybot's review against another edition
5.0
I don't have the spoons to review this book properly. Maybe later.
xarolyn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
2.5
sarah_kurtz's review against another edition
4.0
Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This was another audiobook that I had hoped to read during #nonfictionnovember but had to place a hold on and didn’t receive it until December! It took me almost the entire month to read it due to the fact that the holiday’s made life a little crazy, but I’m glad I followed through until the end. 🎧
While I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, I didn’t know who Alan Cumming was until recently when we binge-watched ‘The Good Wife’. I fell in love with his character on the show and while researching about him and learning that he was gay, I decided I need to know more about him and immediately checked to see what books I could find! 🌈
This was an emotional re-telling of his life as a child and the trials and tribulations he experienced as an adult due to choices his family had made. I can’t say too much more as I don’t want to spoil the whole point to the memoir. Once again, as so many other memoirs I’ve read, I love getting to see someone famous in a new light - their flaws and all. 💜
If your’e someone who enjoys memoirs, I highly recommend this one to you!
#audiobook #allbooksaregood #memoir #nonfictionnovember #bookreviews #fourstarreviews #alancumming #notmyfathersson #booksaboutfamouspeople #lgbtqia #bookstagram #betterlatethannever #tryingtocatchupon2021bookreviews #onceuponapittsburghwizard #readwithsarebear
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This was another audiobook that I had hoped to read during #nonfictionnovember but had to place a hold on and didn’t receive it until December! It took me almost the entire month to read it due to the fact that the holiday’s made life a little crazy, but I’m glad I followed through until the end. 🎧
While I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, I didn’t know who Alan Cumming was until recently when we binge-watched ‘The Good Wife’. I fell in love with his character on the show and while researching about him and learning that he was gay, I decided I need to know more about him and immediately checked to see what books I could find! 🌈
This was an emotional re-telling of his life as a child and the trials and tribulations he experienced as an adult due to choices his family had made. I can’t say too much more as I don’t want to spoil the whole point to the memoir. Once again, as so many other memoirs I’ve read, I love getting to see someone famous in a new light - their flaws and all. 💜
If your’e someone who enjoys memoirs, I highly recommend this one to you!
#audiobook #allbooksaregood #memoir #nonfictionnovember #bookreviews #fourstarreviews #alancumming #notmyfathersson #booksaboutfamouspeople #lgbtqia #bookstagram #betterlatethannever #tryingtocatchupon2021bookreviews #onceuponapittsburghwizard #readwithsarebear
mandyist's review against another edition
5.0
This review first appeared on Addicted to Media.
I adore Alan Cumming. I adored him by the time we met him as Nightcrawler in X-Men 2 and I loved him as Desrae in The Runaway. There was no doubt when I learned he had narrated his own memoirs that I was going to rush out and listen to them.
Not My Father’s Son is the story of Alan Cumming’s life from his early days in Scotland to his success as a stage and screen actor. Mostly, it is the story of a small and vulnerable child and his abusive and violent father. Simply from the title of Cumming’s memoir, I knew that it would be this type of story and I hoped that Cumming would emerge triumphant at the end of the book but what I did not expect was his grace.
Throughout his memoir, Cumming relates the most harrowing of encounters with dignity and integrity, never putting his father down as such but never, ever apologising for his father’s actions.
As disturbing as it is at times, Not My Father’s Son is an inspiring and uplifting tale, the story of how one man emerged from an abusive background to find himself and choose his path. He also happened, along the way, to become one of the most loved of British stage and screen actors.
I give Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming a superb five out of five stars and would highly recommend listening to the audiobook version, narrated by Alan himself, on Audible.
I adore Alan Cumming. I adored him by the time we met him as Nightcrawler in X-Men 2 and I loved him as Desrae in The Runaway. There was no doubt when I learned he had narrated his own memoirs that I was going to rush out and listen to them.
Not My Father’s Son is the story of Alan Cumming’s life from his early days in Scotland to his success as a stage and screen actor. Mostly, it is the story of a small and vulnerable child and his abusive and violent father. Simply from the title of Cumming’s memoir, I knew that it would be this type of story and I hoped that Cumming would emerge triumphant at the end of the book but what I did not expect was his grace.
Throughout his memoir, Cumming relates the most harrowing of encounters with dignity and integrity, never putting his father down as such but never, ever apologising for his father’s actions.
As disturbing as it is at times, Not My Father’s Son is an inspiring and uplifting tale, the story of how one man emerged from an abusive background to find himself and choose his path. He also happened, along the way, to become one of the most loved of British stage and screen actors.
I give Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming a superb five out of five stars and would highly recommend listening to the audiobook version, narrated by Alan himself, on Audible.
lissalovestoread's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book after having already viewed the episode of "Who Do You Think You Are" that comprised a good portion of the overall story that Alan Cumming is telling in this book. So for me the book became a unique opportunity to hear more about his feelings in regards to being on the show. As a fan of the show and genealogy in general, this obviously made that half of the book very interesting to me.
It can be a concerning thing to delve into the unknown of our ancestors' past, but it must be absolutely terrifying to opt to unbox the horrors of one's own past, especially in such a public way;
and in this book Alan Cumming dives into both of these situations simultaneously. The "Then" portions cover his childhood with his father, while the "Now" chapters discuss the episode of the television show. And when the weight of the issues he is dealing with threaten to become too much, he repeatedly points out his love, affection, & gratitude towards his mother, brother, & husband, immediately creating a sense of balance between the pain of the past and the good that he has in his life today; which, for me, made a huge difference, than if he had focused only on the difficulties of his own past and of his grandfather's past.
It can be a concerning thing to delve into the unknown of our ancestors' past, but it must be absolutely terrifying to opt to unbox the horrors of one's own past, especially in such a public way;
and in this book Alan Cumming dives into both of these situations simultaneously. The "Then" portions cover his childhood with his father, while the "Now" chapters discuss the episode of the television show. And when the weight of the issues he is dealing with threaten to become too much, he repeatedly points out his love, affection, & gratitude towards his mother, brother, & husband, immediately creating a sense of balance between the pain of the past and the good that he has in his life today; which, for me, made a huge difference, than if he had focused only on the difficulties of his own past and of his grandfather's past.