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A review by royzee
Who Am I, Again? by Lenny Henry
4.0
The first Christmas pressie book has been polished off already! That is how good Mr H is at writing and relating his troubled but intriguing life Part 1. Yes, this is the first installment and I do hope he is not distracted enough to not finish the job but I suspect that is not like him, a hard worker, a dedicated man in all he does. And it shows. How anyone could have stuck being in the B&W Minstrels Show for so long beats me.
As a kid I was subjected to many variety shows, circuses, quizzes, panel games, etc etc but the BWMS was probably the worst. They were in B&W anyway because that was all we had in the 60s. I did not know Mr H had been in the later shows but maybe they were no longer televised. It is one of the stand-out ironies of his life, there are others but I shall leave you to find out...
Like others have said this AB is replete with some frustrations but then I expect them from other books like this. Alexei Sayle springs to mind. You always get this as it is something of a puzzle why the famous feel the need to pen as much as they do. Lenny has points to make and he succeeds I think and he did make me see things in a bit different way. Along the way we are entertained and carried along by his adventures which at times reveal much heartache and confusion in this young man thrust by his own passion and success into the big, bad, mad world of light entertainment in the UK.
As a final point aside from looking forward to more, I liked his inclusion of the "tips for comics" and the "graphic novel" treatment of his life. Maybe a hint to others who aspire to share their lives with us vox pop types. Who are you Lenny? A gentleman, a class act, thanks for sharing.
PS My wife met Mr H at a signing in Milton Keynes, poor man sat there shivering wanting to be somewhere else but he greeted her with a smile, happy to sign it to me.
As a kid I was subjected to many variety shows, circuses, quizzes, panel games, etc etc but the BWMS was probably the worst. They were in B&W anyway because that was all we had in the 60s. I did not know Mr H had been in the later shows but maybe they were no longer televised. It is one of the stand-out ironies of his life, there are others but I shall leave you to find out...
Like others have said this AB is replete with some frustrations but then I expect them from other books like this. Alexei Sayle springs to mind. You always get this as it is something of a puzzle why the famous feel the need to pen as much as they do. Lenny has points to make and he succeeds I think and he did make me see things in a bit different way. Along the way we are entertained and carried along by his adventures which at times reveal much heartache and confusion in this young man thrust by his own passion and success into the big, bad, mad world of light entertainment in the UK.
As a final point aside from looking forward to more, I liked his inclusion of the "tips for comics" and the "graphic novel" treatment of his life. Maybe a hint to others who aspire to share their lives with us vox pop types. Who are you Lenny? A gentleman, a class act, thanks for sharing.
PS My wife met Mr H at a signing in Milton Keynes, poor man sat there shivering wanting to be somewhere else but he greeted her with a smile, happy to sign it to me.