According to the blurb on the back, this book -- of course -- "tells the full, candid, sometimes shocking story." Actually, it's not that kind of book at all. Charlie Jr. has a great deal of respect for his father, and the book does not reveal (and in fact tries to dispel) any sort of scandal. It is composed of reminiscences of his oldest son, mainly of the period between City Lights and his father's leaving for Vervey, especially the period of his marriage to Paulette Godard, who is depicted very favorably (much more so than the author's own mother, but less than Oona). There are some discrepancies with the autobiography, written four years later, but mainly for the earlier years where Charlie Jr. has to rely on what he remembers his father telling him rather than his own experience. The two books otherwise complement each other.