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4.42 AVERAGE
4.42 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Danny Trejo's life is fascinating to say the least. From ending up in prison to becoming an actor and helping others get off the streets, there is never a dull moment in his life. He admits his faults with ease and is very blunt about drugs, sex, and women and it was refreshing to listen to. He is street smart as well as intelligent because of his life experiences. Some of his stories are so left field that it made for a very entertaining read. I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who is a fan of his work.
The reason I knocked a star off is that while I liked that he narrated his own book, he is not a strong reader. His cadence is unnatural from most audiobook narrators so it really took some time to get used to his rhythm.
The reason I knocked a star off is that while I liked that he narrated his own book, he is not a strong reader. His cadence is unnatural from most audiobook narrators so it really took some time to get used to his rhythm.
One of the best memoirs I have read. Simply incredible.
Man, what a life. One of the best celebrity memoirs I’ve ever read/listened to, partly because of its length. Trejo tells the whole story… at least I can’t imagine there’s anything of note he left out. I also can’t imagine growing up in the environment he did, the descriptions of prison life were shocking, and his willingness to share the messiness of his personal life and how his issues were a product of his environment were… revealing is the best word I can think of. You get some movie anecdotes here and there, but the focus is really on his life, which is why I liked it so much. Trejo’s tireless fight to get people off drugs and alcohol is deserving of endless praise.
Wow I have so much admiration and respect towards Danny after reading this. Listening was a little bit of an uphill battle with the awkward pauses and breaks but ultimately it made it that much more charming. It felt more like a conversation than a formal essay.
There is a part about halfway through where Danny discusses how he came into the movie "Spy Kids" and how that was the first instance where children were starting to recognize him. I was one of those kids. That's where I learned of him as "Uncle Machete" and he will forever be that man. I found it so interesting that even though he played such an archetype and stereotype of this machismo Mexican (his actual words), he managed to stay humble and grounded and not fall back into his old prison/alcohol/drug days. I think so many people expect those who have gone to prison to stay in this cycle of crime and drugs and that they are stuck in a loop. Danny is not like that.
The amount of times he mentioned going to halfway houses or becoming sponsors for drug addicts and alcoholics never felt preachy. The same is true with the interspersed moments of religion and God. He knew what it meant to be preachy and how many with a similar upbringing would reject and resent it, so he never did. He was more of a friend than a parent to his kids, which I don't necessarily agree with, but he still managed to have their respect and love.
There is just too much to really comment on about this but I'm really glad I stuck through this. The afterword was one of my favorite parts. Read it and see why.
I admire this man.
There is a part about halfway through where Danny discusses how he came into the movie "Spy Kids" and how that was the first instance where children were starting to recognize him. I was one of those kids. That's where I learned of him as "Uncle Machete" and he will forever be that man. I found it so interesting that even though he played such an archetype and stereotype of this machismo Mexican (his actual words), he managed to stay humble and grounded and not fall back into his old prison/alcohol/drug days. I think so many people expect those who have gone to prison to stay in this cycle of crime and drugs and that they are stuck in a loop. Danny is not like that.
The amount of times he mentioned going to halfway houses or becoming sponsors for drug addicts and alcoholics never felt preachy. The same is true with the interspersed moments of religion and God. He knew what it meant to be preachy and how many with a similar upbringing would reject and resent it, so he never did. He was more of a friend than a parent to his kids, which I don't necessarily agree with, but he still managed to have their respect and love.
There is just too much to really comment on about this but I'm really glad I stuck through this. The afterword was one of my favorite parts. Read it and see why.
I admire this man.
Really amazing, and always astonishingly wonderful to hear someone talk about shitty ways they used to think and that they can own and learn from, and continue to be open to learning and growing - almost never hear this in autobiography/memoir. Loved!
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
so thankful I read this one. when my uncle lived with us in his college years, he put trejo as the home computer’s screen saver and had a bunch of photos of him saved. it was insane to see that acting is not his biggest role/even the biggest part of his life. what a guy, what a legend.
If you’re interested in this book, I highly recommend the audio book. Nothing in the world is more charming than hearing Danny Trejo chuckle when talking about his past. Trejo is a believer in the twelve step recovery program and the idea of a higher power, but you don’t have to be a believer in either of those things to respect why Trejo is, and to see how critical it was to changing the course of his life. Trejo is an extremely empathetic person, and also capable of looking deep within himself, including taking a hard look at toxic masculinity during his later years. I really enjoyed Donal Logue’s pieces at the end of the audio book. They also validate that Trejo isn’t just remembering things in a fond light in his older age. He really is the awesome man of the people he seems to be. This is obviously a memoir in which an actor told his stories orally that were then captured in print, but that’s part of the charm of Trejo reading them back to us - because he’s also reading them back to himself in the process, laughing and sometimes getting choked up. He speaks slowly and in a choppy way, so the audio book will take more time to listen to than the book would take to read. It’s totally worth the time.