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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
A 2018 staff favorite recommended by Andrea. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Salways%20look%20on%20the%20bright%20side%20of%20life%20idle__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
Knew next to nothing about Idle before reading this. Lived quite an interesting life, with aside from the obvious Python chronology, a lot of interesting relationships with other film and music industry figures.
I think a moral heart is sort of missing from the story which I suppose is fitting for Python. Idle strikes a weird balance between suggesting fame means hardly anything and is a burden/sharing stories of friends who thought the same and relying heavily on casually funny anecdotes really only made special by the fact a famous person said them.
Still a fun read - absolutely if you like Python.
I think a moral heart is sort of missing from the story which I suppose is fitting for Python. Idle strikes a weird balance between suggesting fame means hardly anything and is a burden/sharing stories of friends who thought the same and relying heavily on casually funny anecdotes really only made special by the fact a famous person said them.
Still a fun read - absolutely if you like Python.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Really interesting book. I did not realize the talent of Eric Idle and how wide he fame goes. This is well written and is packed full of fun info about Monty Python and the world of comedy from Eric Idle A's perspective. The name dropping is shocking and some parts seem to drag out, but the overall book is a good read and pretty funny.
A bio-by-numbers. The fun of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life comes from Eric Idle's cheery, showbizzy name-dropping. As he says at one point, you pick up this kind of celebrity memoir to read about people you have heard of, not their non-famous family and friends. Fair enough. And there are more than enough names dropped here to keep anyone with an interest in the pop culture of the '60s through to the early '90s very happy indeed. Hardcore fans of Python probably won't find much new here, but I liked getting a glimpse behind the scenes of how the TV show and the movies were put together.
But this is a relentlessly surface book. Idle hints at addiction, loss, the failure of his first marriage, but it's all quite hollow. There's little by way of self-reflection or analysis. His much vaunted iconoclasm and commitment to thumbing his nose at the establishment (refusing to let the V&A do a Python retrospective, for instance, because it seemed like it would be overly pious) sits jarringly alongside frequent warm mentions of the Prince of Wales and Prince Andrew. (Ugh.) Only when he talks about his friendship with George Harrison, and to a lesser extent with Robin Williams, do you really get a sense of Idle as someone who's capable of having relationships that are based on more than nudge-nudge-wink-wink and truly stupendous amounts of cocaine.
But this is a relentlessly surface book. Idle hints at addiction, loss, the failure of his first marriage, but it's all quite hollow. There's little by way of self-reflection or analysis. His much vaunted iconoclasm and commitment to thumbing his nose at the establishment (refusing to let the V&A do a Python retrospective, for instance, because it seemed like it would be overly pious) sits jarringly alongside frequent warm mentions of the Prince of Wales and Prince Andrew. (Ugh.) Only when he talks about his friendship with George Harrison, and to a lesser extent with Robin Williams, do you really get a sense of Idle as someone who's capable of having relationships that are based on more than nudge-nudge-wink-wink and truly stupendous amounts of cocaine.
Light, fast read. Lots of name dropping. Got a bit annoying, but Idle’s insouciance and wit carries things through. No mention of Bowie’s passing, which was a surprise. An entire chapter each on Robin Williams and George Harrison’s deaths, Bowie’s passing no peep. Maybe dwelling on too much death would have brought the tone down.
Overall I enjoyed it. Not having read other Python biographies, most of the history and timeline was new for me.
Overall I enjoyed it. Not having read other Python biographies, most of the history and timeline was new for me.
I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. I’ve seen a few Monty Python works, but am not especially familiar with them. I loved Idle’s humor. This is exactly what the title claims it to be: a sortabiography. He talks about his early life a bit, but mostly it’s about his time performing and being friends with the Monty Python gang and some of their other comedian friends.
Note: I think it’s amusing so many reviewers claim he’s name dropping throughout this book. I don’t think it counts as name dropping when you literally lived your career and life with these people who also became famous either around the same time as you or while actively working with you. These people were his life, they were obviously close, and readers come to books like these to hear about a famous person’s professional life amongst other professional people like them. It’s like asking someone who’s always lived on Mars to stop talking about their interactions with other Martians. If this were an autobiography about a recently famous TikTokker naming all of the Hollywood celebrities they’d recently gotten to meet, yes, that would be name dropping. But it’s Eric Idle. He’s a legend. He knows it. You know it. For him to pretend otherwise, for him to pointedly leave out any mention of the people he’s worked with, would be false modesty and just plain weird.
Note: I think it’s amusing so many reviewers claim he’s name dropping throughout this book. I don’t think it counts as name dropping when you literally lived your career and life with these people who also became famous either around the same time as you or while actively working with you. These people were his life, they were obviously close, and readers come to books like these to hear about a famous person’s professional life amongst other professional people like them. It’s like asking someone who’s always lived on Mars to stop talking about their interactions with other Martians. If this were an autobiography about a recently famous TikTokker naming all of the Hollywood celebrities they’d recently gotten to meet, yes, that would be name dropping. But it’s Eric Idle. He’s a legend. He knows it. You know it. For him to pretend otherwise, for him to pointedly leave out any mention of the people he’s worked with, would be false modesty and just plain weird.
Eric Idle is such a legend and reading all about his life and career was simply wonderful. A good reminder to always look on the bright side of life.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Hilarious not-quite-autobiography read by the man himself that provided a high-level insight into the creation and career of the Pythons.