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A review by spiffysarahruby
American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by Craig Ferguson
5.0
It took me a looooong time to get through this one, not because it wasn't engaging, but because I was listening to it on a PlayAway device while spending time on the treadmill, and you know how that goes... I'm glad I hopped back on the treadmill and stuck with this one to the end!
I have never really read memoirs before last year when I read "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland" by Patton Oswalt, and a revelation occurred to me: autobiographies by comedians are bound to be incredible because great comedians tend to also be great writers. Ferguson's book has helped to prove my theory, to me at least.
The book doesn't aim at comedy but is an honest-to-goodness, childhood miseries etc. to adulthood failures and successes autobiography. There are funny bits because, well Craig Ferguson is a funny guy (I particularly liked like the part when he talks about his adolescent fantasies about squeezing boobies together, because that's what you do with boobies, right?), and some sad moments such as his failed marriages and descent into alcoholism. His career really did bounce around for a long time and he did come to America like he dreamed of when he was a boy, and went back to Scotland, and came back, etc. eventually hitting the big time by becoming the host of The Late, Late Show in 2005.
I really did find the bits where Ferguson talked about how he was inspired by America, what it meant to him as a kid, and what it means to him now that he's adult and a U.S. citizen. Having the luck to be born here, you don't really think too much about what being an American means. At least I don't. It's just my state of being. I AM an American--ta da! However, I work in an adult literacy office and just over half our population is made up of ESL students, many who have the goal of becoming a citizen themselves. It never really occurs to me that becoming a citizen is ever more than a necessity (a legal one at that), but that changing your citizenship really does come with a new identity, and Ferguson explains this phenomenon very eloquently. By no means does he trade his Scottish heritage for a new American one though. I like how Ferguson put it when he wrote, "I am the child of two parents, and two countries. My mother put the blue in my eyes and my father gave me grit. Scotland made me what I am, and America let me be it."
I'm sure reading the book in the traditional sense is just fine, but I'd highly recommend getting a hold of the audio version. Ferguson reads it himself and does an excellent job.
I have never really read memoirs before last year when I read "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland" by Patton Oswalt, and a revelation occurred to me: autobiographies by comedians are bound to be incredible because great comedians tend to also be great writers. Ferguson's book has helped to prove my theory, to me at least.
The book doesn't aim at comedy but is an honest-to-goodness, childhood miseries etc. to adulthood failures and successes autobiography. There are funny bits because, well Craig Ferguson is a funny guy (I particularly liked like the part when he talks about his adolescent fantasies about squeezing boobies together, because that's what you do with boobies, right?), and some sad moments such as his failed marriages and descent into alcoholism. His career really did bounce around for a long time and he did come to America like he dreamed of when he was a boy, and went back to Scotland, and came back, etc. eventually hitting the big time by becoming the host of The Late, Late Show in 2005.
I really did find the bits where Ferguson talked about how he was inspired by America, what it meant to him as a kid, and what it means to him now that he's adult and a U.S. citizen. Having the luck to be born here, you don't really think too much about what being an American means. At least I don't. It's just my state of being. I AM an American--ta da! However, I work in an adult literacy office and just over half our population is made up of ESL students, many who have the goal of becoming a citizen themselves. It never really occurs to me that becoming a citizen is ever more than a necessity (a legal one at that), but that changing your citizenship really does come with a new identity, and Ferguson explains this phenomenon very eloquently. By no means does he trade his Scottish heritage for a new American one though. I like how Ferguson put it when he wrote, "I am the child of two parents, and two countries. My mother put the blue in my eyes and my father gave me grit. Scotland made me what I am, and America let me be it."
I'm sure reading the book in the traditional sense is just fine, but I'd highly recommend getting a hold of the audio version. Ferguson reads it himself and does an excellent job.