A review by uberbutter
An Improvised Life by Alan Arkin

informative reflective medium-paced

2.5

I love Alan Arkin's work (Little Miss Sunshine being my favorite) and so I went into his memoir, An Improvised Life, with excitement. And that was my bad...I really shouldn't have. I still love his work and he doesn't come through as a jerk (and trust me, I've read memoirs that they come across as jerks *cough*Jackie Chan*cough*) but it was just...blah. Arkin goes a lot into his professional career but except for a couple mentions of family and friends, we never get to know the man behind the actor. And I respect that. He had every right to only give out what he wanted but it didn't make for a very intriguing memoir. I did enjoy reading about his time in Second City and all his acting gigs but something felt distant and lackluster about the whole book.