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felicereviews's review against another edition
1.0
Im sorry Eddie. I enjoyed getting to know you and wanted to like the book better but I didnât care for the length of time spent on atheism. Im fine that you dont believe. I hope its fine with you that I do.
ktbug1217's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
cluckingbell's review against another edition
3.0
Probably longer than it needed to be, possibly exacerbated by the fact that I listened to the audiobook, where he added additional "footnotes" to the text as he went (i.e., over and above what seemed like fairly lengthy published footnotes), which made for an endearingly conversational audiobook but was also a little like listening to the director's commentary in concert with one's first viewing of a movie, and it bounced around in time so much that it was difficult to latch on to a coherent narrative. This is something of a companion piece to a documentary I have not seen, which may or may not have contributed to my tepid response.
I was moved by his early childhood and interested in his career progression, but there was a huge chunk in the middle that I would be hard pressed to defend the necessity of (or even recount immediately after finishing). I'd probably only recommend this to the die-hardiest of Eddie Izzard fans.
I was moved by his early childhood and interested in his career progression, but there was a huge chunk in the middle that I would be hard pressed to defend the necessity of (or even recount immediately after finishing). I'd probably only recommend this to the die-hardiest of Eddie Izzard fans.
kyanitecourage's review against another edition
2.0
Trigger warnings for fatphobia, for disrespect of religion/belief in god, and subtle ableism.
Two and a half stars. And honestly, kinda being generous because Iâve adored Eddie Izzard for a long while. Rambling switches of subjects constantly and rather too much detail of day to day stuff, that ended up making it boring.
There are beautiful moments in this memoir, and hilarious moments. There is some real honest advice here. But overall, it was long and ramblings and didnât seem cohesive. We hear almost Izzardâs entire life. Which I wouldnât even be critical of if I felt that Izzard was putting her (using current pronouns, not the time of the book) heart into it. I definitely feel she shies away from revealing her most vulnerable self. I listened to the audiobook, which if you are interested in this book, I would in general recommend because it is Eddie Izzard giving a real voice, but then thereâs constant âfootnotesâ that leave the book feeling broken up. While sometimes theyâre interesting, other times is super boring. And thatâs the main issue that happens the whole way through. Thereâs just a lot of information about a personâs life that can be dull to others.
Izzard fights her way to get where she is. Sheâs persistent and gritty. Itâs impressive. But then I feel a little like she thinks everyone should be able to do anything, but theyâre too lazy. She straight up mocks the concept of god, so if that would offend you, perhaps donât read. She scorns sugary and fatty foods as the cause of various problems.
Much of the book is rambling without structure, switching timelines from childhood to adulthood for a footnote and back to childhood and on and on. There isnât a clear theme or message throughout it. Other than maybe determination and stamina and belief in yourself can get you where you want to be. But then the ending is nice. I donât believe Izzard to actually meant to offend anyone. Izzard wants people to care for each other. But Iâve come out of this lengthy memoir to still feel like I donât know her. I donât know her heart, which mostly felt very guarded.
If youâre looking for a deep dive into her gender identity, youâll not find much here. In summary, Izzard uses âboy modeâ and âgirl modeâ and understands that she has both and that theyâre important, but leaves it at that. The rest of the content about her being trans is in regards to trying to be a trans comedian or walking in the street trans.
Her work as a comedian, a dramatic actor, a marathon runner, and political activists are the heart of this book. She strongly identifies with the work she puts in her life. If thatâs youâre interested, you might want to check this out. If you were interested in the emotional growth of a human over the course of her life, youâll only find a little here.
Two and a half stars. And honestly, kinda being generous because Iâve adored Eddie Izzard for a long while. Rambling switches of subjects constantly and rather too much detail of day to day stuff, that ended up making it boring.
There are beautiful moments in this memoir, and hilarious moments. There is some real honest advice here. But overall, it was long and ramblings and didnât seem cohesive. We hear almost Izzardâs entire life. Which I wouldnât even be critical of if I felt that Izzard was putting her (using current pronouns, not the time of the book) heart into it. I definitely feel she shies away from revealing her most vulnerable self. I listened to the audiobook, which if you are interested in this book, I would in general recommend because it is Eddie Izzard giving a real voice, but then thereâs constant âfootnotesâ that leave the book feeling broken up. While sometimes theyâre interesting, other times is super boring. And thatâs the main issue that happens the whole way through. Thereâs just a lot of information about a personâs life that can be dull to others.
Izzard fights her way to get where she is. Sheâs persistent and gritty. Itâs impressive. But then I feel a little like she thinks everyone should be able to do anything, but theyâre too lazy. She straight up mocks the concept of god, so if that would offend you, perhaps donât read. She scorns sugary and fatty foods as the cause of various problems.
Much of the book is rambling without structure, switching timelines from childhood to adulthood for a footnote and back to childhood and on and on. There isnât a clear theme or message throughout it. Other than maybe determination and stamina and belief in yourself can get you where you want to be. But then the ending is nice. I donât believe Izzard to actually meant to offend anyone. Izzard wants people to care for each other. But Iâve come out of this lengthy memoir to still feel like I donât know her. I donât know her heart, which mostly felt very guarded.
If youâre looking for a deep dive into her gender identity, youâll not find much here. In summary, Izzard uses âboy modeâ and âgirl modeâ and understands that she has both and that theyâre important, but leaves it at that. The rest of the content about her being trans is in regards to trying to be a trans comedian or walking in the street trans.
Her work as a comedian, a dramatic actor, a marathon runner, and political activists are the heart of this book. She strongly identifies with the work she puts in her life. If thatâs youâre interested, you might want to check this out. If you were interested in the emotional growth of a human over the course of her life, youâll only find a little here.
kayto4's review against another edition
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this! I highly recommend listening to the audio rather than reading! (Although you won't see the pictures he references.) I was laughing outloud, sometimes listening intently, and found myself talking to me friends about it!
My only dislike was I felt there was a lot of jumping back and forth in his timeline. But again I also didn't have the physical copy to flip around and check dates. And only once or twice I felt it got a little repetitive, as if he had already told that story and then told it again.
But as a whole, I thought it was great! A whole lot of work has been put into his career! I felt he was very encouraging and thoughtful with how he wants us all to live and treat others.
Listen to the audiobook!!
My only dislike was I felt there was a lot of jumping back and forth in his timeline. But again I also didn't have the physical copy to flip around and check dates. And only once or twice I felt it got a little repetitive, as if he had already told that story and then told it again.
But as a whole, I thought it was great! A whole lot of work has been put into his career! I felt he was very encouraging and thoughtful with how he wants us all to live and treat others.
Listen to the audiobook!!
matttruss's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.5
An absolute delight of an audiobook. Honestly, don't even bother buying the dead tree edition, there is so much more to be heard in the audiobook and Izzard's reading and long, rambling, extra footnotes make it almost twice the book. Izzard's style is like a friend telling you a story and I loved the whole thing. Much like their stand-up, it's very conversational. Learning about Izzard's early life, breaking into the industry, their extreme feats of athletics, and their philosophy on life, the universe, and the flying turkey sandwich in the sky was so great. I bookmarked several passages to listen to again and again.
nanceoir's review against another edition
5.0
I've been a fan of Eddie Izzard's comedy for a while now, and I enjoy seeing him show up in TV and movies. I think he's got an interesting comedic voice, so I was of course excited to find out he had written an autobiography. And I was even more excited to see that there was an audio book that he narrates. Win-win!
And it really was. The audio book has a looseness to it that feels pretty conversational. Also, there are extra footnotes, exclusive to the audio book! This happens, basically, because he thinks of something he wants to add and does it. You even get live Wikipedia-ing and everything. ("End of longwindy footnote.") (Also, I never really thought about it, but I can feel unstated footnotes in a lot of Eddie Izzard's comedy.)
Basically, if you like Eddie Izzard and want to hear more about his life and his thoughts about things, you should check out this book, and particularly the audio book, because it's great.
And it really was. The audio book has a looseness to it that feels pretty conversational. Also, there are extra footnotes, exclusive to the audio book! This happens, basically, because he thinks of something he wants to add and does it. You even get live Wikipedia-ing and everything. ("End of longwindy footnote.") (Also, I never really thought about it, but I can feel unstated footnotes in a lot of Eddie Izzard's comedy.)
Basically, if you like Eddie Izzard and want to hear more about his life and his thoughts about things, you should check out this book, and particularly the audio book, because it's great.
mamalemma's review against another edition
4.0
Thoroughly enjoyable memoir with some great flashes of insight. The audiobook is particularly well worth it, as the author â who keeps cracking himself up â also canât help but provide commentary on his own book. He adds footnotes to his footnotes, and the audiobook has got to be at least a third more content than the printed book.
Izzard is a comedian, actor, transgendered person and charitable multi-marathoner (27 marathons in 27 days!). None of this, he says as he starts the book, makes him seem particularly interesting. I disagree; he is quite interesting. His life story and his insight into himself is engaging and has real depth. He has presented himself without decoration, and comes off as very human, with charm and foibles in equal measure; a quality not generally seen in memoirs, especially of those in the public eye. It is quite refreshing.
Since I listened to the book, I wasnât able to highlight quotes, but here are a few that really resonated with me:
âIf you think you canât do a thing, you will not be able to do it. If you think you can do something, then you have a chance of achieving it. Believing doesnât mean you will instantly be able to, but youâve got to believe that you can, otherwise you definitely wonât be able to do it. Iâve seen a number of people who I thought could do something brilliant and creative but they didnât seem to believe in themselves and therefore didnât, or couldnât, do it.â
âReal life is actually a lot of boring things with occasional spikes of interest.â
âStamina is the big thing you have to learn if you want to achieve success in any kind of career, but especially creative careers.â
âThe twenty-first century is a key century for us on this planet. Either we make a world, where all seven billion people have a fair chance in this century - or forget it. If we can't do this, I don't think we are going to make it as a species. Despair is the fuel of terrorism, and hope is the fuel of civilization, so we have to put more hope into the world than despair. Hatred and separation and building walls is not the way to progress. Going backward is not the way to go forward.â
Izzard is a comedian, actor, transgendered person and charitable multi-marathoner (27 marathons in 27 days!). None of this, he says as he starts the book, makes him seem particularly interesting. I disagree; he is quite interesting. His life story and his insight into himself is engaging and has real depth. He has presented himself without decoration, and comes off as very human, with charm and foibles in equal measure; a quality not generally seen in memoirs, especially of those in the public eye. It is quite refreshing.
Since I listened to the book, I wasnât able to highlight quotes, but here are a few that really resonated with me:
âIf you think you canât do a thing, you will not be able to do it. If you think you can do something, then you have a chance of achieving it. Believing doesnât mean you will instantly be able to, but youâve got to believe that you can, otherwise you definitely wonât be able to do it. Iâve seen a number of people who I thought could do something brilliant and creative but they didnât seem to believe in themselves and therefore didnât, or couldnât, do it.â
âReal life is actually a lot of boring things with occasional spikes of interest.â
âStamina is the big thing you have to learn if you want to achieve success in any kind of career, but especially creative careers.â
âThe twenty-first century is a key century for us on this planet. Either we make a world, where all seven billion people have a fair chance in this century - or forget it. If we can't do this, I don't think we are going to make it as a species. Despair is the fuel of terrorism, and hope is the fuel of civilization, so we have to put more hope into the world than despair. Hatred and separation and building walls is not the way to progress. Going backward is not the way to go forward.â
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
As usual with my read throughs of comedian biographies, what I love is the early time of struggle. And boy did Eddie Izzard struggle... There's a ton here on moving from group comedy to street performing to stand up, and all of it reinforces the idea that the fight to succeed is what made Izzard great. (It's surprising to see such discipline where his routines appear so off-the-cuff.) Izzard also covers his trip to realizing he's transgender and some of the consequences, his ultra-marathoning, and too little about doing comedy in different languages. It's a good read and better if you imagine Izzard reading it aloud.