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Vanished Years
A fascinating, witty, and endlessly entertaining memoir that tells the whole truth about show business Reviews of Rupert Everett's first memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins , compared him to Evelyn Waugh, David Niven, Noel Coward, and Lord Byron. But Rupert Everett is—of course—one of a kind. Mischievous, touching, and nothing less than brilliant, this new memoir is filled with brand-new stories, from childhood to the present. Astonishing encounters, tragedy and comedy, vivid portraits of friends and rivals, razor-sharp observations of the celebrity circus from Los Angeles to London and beyond, there is something extraordinary on every page. A pilgrimage to Lourdes with his father is both hilarious and moving. A misguided step into reality TV goes horribly wrong. From New York to Moscow to Berlin to Phnom Penh, this memoir takes the reader on a wild and wonderful new journey with a charming—and rather disreputable—companion.
326 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
94 people are currently reading
566 people want to read
About the author
Rupert Everett
16 books87 followersRupert James Hector Everett is a two-time Golden Globe-nominated English film actor, author and former singer.
He first came into public attention in the early 1980s when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country for playing an openly homosexual student at an English public school, set in the 1930s. Since then he has appeared in many other films with mostly major roles, including My Best Friend's Wedding, The Next Best Thing and the Shrek sequels.
He first came into public attention in the early 1980s when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country for playing an openly homosexual student at an English public school, set in the 1930s. Since then he has appeared in many other films with mostly major roles, including My Best Friend's Wedding, The Next Best Thing and the Shrek sequels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
July 25, 2013
Rup Everett doesn't have a lot to say, but he says it damned well. Not a tell-all or showoff-all. The only person he disses is himself, eg., at nude-night in a Berlin bar the management couldn't find his clothes bag. UK critics seemed rapturous : Rup has writerly dexterity..the sole reason to read this book, which is why a friend lent. He fractures chronology and past-present in his arranged and disarranged life, presented as revue "sketches."
From the chaotic mess of a TV pilot in Hollywood to doomed UK fashionista Isabella Blow (who finally succeeded in killing herself) to the death of his father, Rup adroitly handles vanities and idiocies w minimum longueurs, though he bursts "into tears" too often. But then, as he says, all of life is Acting. He knows how to ignore. When Natasha Richardson visits him backstage, she's w an "older woman." (It's her mum). He writes admiringly of her first husband and doesn't mention her second. Call it revealing discretion.
There's no dirt here; there's not even dust. It's irreverent, trivial and, at times, effective. The kid has Talent.
From the chaotic mess of a TV pilot in Hollywood to doomed UK fashionista Isabella Blow (who finally succeeded in killing herself) to the death of his father, Rup adroitly handles vanities and idiocies w minimum longueurs, though he bursts "into tears" too often. But then, as he says, all of life is Acting. He knows how to ignore. When Natasha Richardson visits him backstage, she's w an "older woman." (It's her mum). He writes admiringly of her first husband and doesn't mention her second. Call it revealing discretion.
There's no dirt here; there's not even dust. It's irreverent, trivial and, at times, effective. The kid has Talent.
October 11, 2012
A collection of autobiographical vignettes rather than a chronological memoirs. Beautifully written, the prose is richly descriptive, evocative, and at times profoundly moving. It is also hilariously indiscreet and deliciously bitchy.
Like most 'slebs, Everett often comes across as narcissistic, but unlike most 'slebs, he displays an unusual degree of self-awareness - he knows he is a narcissist and harbours no illusions as to his personality flaws (which is refreshing).
One of the main themes explored in the book is death - so be prepared. Whether it's his boyfriend's AIDs, Isabella Blow's various suicide attempts, Natasha Richardson's fatal accident, or the passing of his much-loved father, death has often touched Everett's life - and, as such, it pervades the book.
Veering from hilarity to tragedy and back again, Vanishing Years is an emotional rollercoaster - but, in the end, it is a wholly rewarding journey.
Like most 'slebs, Everett often comes across as narcissistic, but unlike most 'slebs, he displays an unusual degree of self-awareness - he knows he is a narcissist and harbours no illusions as to his personality flaws (which is refreshing).
One of the main themes explored in the book is death - so be prepared. Whether it's his boyfriend's AIDs, Isabella Blow's various suicide attempts, Natasha Richardson's fatal accident, or the passing of his much-loved father, death has often touched Everett's life - and, as such, it pervades the book.
Veering from hilarity to tragedy and back again, Vanishing Years is an emotional rollercoaster - but, in the end, it is a wholly rewarding journey.
June 7, 2013
I love how Rupert Everett writes, both fiction and non. He's honest, witty, observant - quite devastating on all counts - and so very funny. His pen is as sharp when considering himself as others, and he probably extends to himself rather less compassion. It makes for a loveable read, even when the subject matter isn't always entirely comfortable.
A favourite quote. Rupert is on the phone to a partying friend in Miami, trying to hold a serious conversation. However: 'There was an impenetrable mood of sloshed frivolity in Miami and there was no use trying to lance it with shafts of gloom from the outside world. That's why people were there.'
And it all ends with a poem by Noel Coward, adapted from Keats. What more could I possibly ask?
A favourite quote. Rupert is on the phone to a partying friend in Miami, trying to hold a serious conversation. However: 'There was an impenetrable mood of sloshed frivolity in Miami and there was no use trying to lance it with shafts of gloom from the outside world. That's why people were there.'
And it all ends with a poem by Noel Coward, adapted from Keats. What more could I possibly ask?
July 1, 2018
Rupert Everett is such a good writer. He is both poetic and funny in his prose....HOWEVER, I think I read the wrong book of his.
I wanted to read the bitchy, hilarious memoir that got him into trouble and since this one has not a lot of dirt and a lot of touching stories about suffering and growth and the difficult experiences with people close to him, I can only assume I have the wrong volume.
It's a well written and interesting book, but I already have quite a heavy book on the go and I was looking for something trashy and a little wicked. I'm sure if I read this again in a different mindset I would change my review.
I wanted to read the bitchy, hilarious memoir that got him into trouble and since this one has not a lot of dirt and a lot of touching stories about suffering and growth and the difficult experiences with people close to him, I can only assume I have the wrong volume.
It's a well written and interesting book, but I already have quite a heavy book on the go and I was looking for something trashy and a little wicked. I'm sure if I read this again in a different mindset I would change my review.
March 22, 2013
Beautifully written. This is not so much an autobiography as an evocation of various incidents in Rupert's life. Fascinated by both high and low life and bored by the middle ground, he has a novelist's talent of bringing to life events and people. Funny, bitchy, gossipy and moving. Brilliant.
March 31, 2014
Anyone who has read any of Rupert Everett's other books will know that he is a witty, literate and often hilarious writer. Considering that this book, his second volume of autobiography, is, according to him, mostly about death, it made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions. Even during descriptions of various funerals he attended, or his visit to Cambodia to report on the work needed to help children suffering from HIV for the UN, he manages to effortlessly turn tears to laughter.
The book also covers his acting life from the beginning of this century, including the pilot for a would-be US sit-com, Mr Ambassador, and his run on Broadway in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit. There are memories from his childhood and early life not included in the earlier autobiography, and the impression is created of a real wanderer, as stories emerge from Florida, Russia, New York, St Tropez, and a very amusing trip to Lourdes with his father.
Whether you follow Rupert's acting career or not, this book is well worth a read, and makes me think that he has a writing career ahead of him to match or exceed fellow actor Dirk Bogarde's. A rather naughty national treasure.
The book also covers his acting life from the beginning of this century, including the pilot for a would-be US sit-com, Mr Ambassador, and his run on Broadway in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit. There are memories from his childhood and early life not included in the earlier autobiography, and the impression is created of a real wanderer, as stories emerge from Florida, Russia, New York, St Tropez, and a very amusing trip to Lourdes with his father.
Whether you follow Rupert's acting career or not, this book is well worth a read, and makes me think that he has a writing career ahead of him to match or exceed fellow actor Dirk Bogarde's. A rather naughty national treasure.
October 9, 2016
Three point five, actually. The essays are short and easily read in 5-10 min sittings, and are connected but on a very simple level - you can read a few and then put it down for weeks at a time and pick it up again without feeling like you've lost your place. Perfect purse-book. Everett is funny and crazy and warm and I totally want to hang out with him.
March 20, 2021
I had a poster of Rupert Everett on my wall as a teenager and glimpsed the man himself in the flesh in a Hammersmith theatre bar in the 90s. He'd just been on stage and was buying a tray of drinks for his friends. Tall, handsome and polite. I didn't speak to him, but I've never forgotten seeing him.
I will start by saying he writes as if he was born to write. His prose, his wit, his turn of phrase are all breathtakingly good. I read some sentences several times over, jealous that I hadn't written them myself. He is unapologetically indiscreet, most notably about himself, and spares nobody's blushes, his own included.
Some readers didn't like the lack of chronology in the book, but I liked it as I found it flowed like dinner party conversation. He begins and ends the story in Noel Coward's house in Jamaica, where he is writing, but in between he fits in more lives than a cat. He brings his late friend Isabella Blow vividly back to life so that we can meet her again through Rupert's eyes. The chapters that include the two of them and their debauched tales read like a romp through a twenty first century Belle Epoque. Yes, he namedrops, because he can, with authenticity. I began to wonder if there was anyone worth knowing that he didn't know.
The Vanished years contains the full A-Z of emotions, as if you've spent the night drinking yourself to tears and laughter with him. There are scandals a plenty, lust, hedonism, more wine than a vineyard, grief, broken hearts, tenderness and laugh out loud comedy. I confess I may still have a crush on him.
I will start by saying he writes as if he was born to write. His prose, his wit, his turn of phrase are all breathtakingly good. I read some sentences several times over, jealous that I hadn't written them myself. He is unapologetically indiscreet, most notably about himself, and spares nobody's blushes, his own included.
Some readers didn't like the lack of chronology in the book, but I liked it as I found it flowed like dinner party conversation. He begins and ends the story in Noel Coward's house in Jamaica, where he is writing, but in between he fits in more lives than a cat. He brings his late friend Isabella Blow vividly back to life so that we can meet her again through Rupert's eyes. The chapters that include the two of them and their debauched tales read like a romp through a twenty first century Belle Epoque. Yes, he namedrops, because he can, with authenticity. I began to wonder if there was anyone worth knowing that he didn't know.
The Vanished years contains the full A-Z of emotions, as if you've spent the night drinking yourself to tears and laughter with him. There are scandals a plenty, lust, hedonism, more wine than a vineyard, grief, broken hearts, tenderness and laugh out loud comedy. I confess I may still have a crush on him.
January 26, 2013
If you're looking for a showbiz memoir, full of reminisces about celebrity high jinks involving copious quantities of drugs and sex, then this isn't it. This is more a thoughtful and very English (well, a certain type of middle-class English) autobiography that is thoughtful, insightful and moving, as Everett looks to console himself with the memories of the "vanished years, remembered laughter, remembered tears". He isn't always successful in finding that consolation, and the overall tone of the book is one of tender melancholy for lovers, friends and family that have faded into the black.
Everett can write, and the memories that he wanders through here aren't always maudlin. The book starts with a funny reprise of his fleeing from the filming of BBC's celebrity Comic Relief Apprentice, nailing Alan Sugar as the long lost brother of Sid James while shrieking with terror in the face of Alastair Campbell and Piers Morgan's boarding-school bullying. It was one of the few well-known incidents he recalls that I can remember. I'm not that interested in showbiz or celebrity, and I read this book because of the reviews that said it was funny, observant and cynical about that whole world, which it is. But more than that it was the thoughtful examination of his relationships with his friends and family in the face of the Grim Reaper that will stay with me, an anthem for doomed youth and old age pensioners that is simultaneously warm and chilling.
At one point, about halfway through the book, I thought about giving up as it wasn't really gripping me enough, but I'm glad I stuck with it to the end, the final chapters being some of the strongest and best written as far as I was concerned. I'm not sure that Rupert Everett is comfortable with growing old, but he's stuck with it like we all are, and his autobiography is maybe a way of trying to come to terms with it. And I'm glad he wrote it.
Everett can write, and the memories that he wanders through here aren't always maudlin. The book starts with a funny reprise of his fleeing from the filming of BBC's celebrity Comic Relief Apprentice, nailing Alan Sugar as the long lost brother of Sid James while shrieking with terror in the face of Alastair Campbell and Piers Morgan's boarding-school bullying. It was one of the few well-known incidents he recalls that I can remember. I'm not that interested in showbiz or celebrity, and I read this book because of the reviews that said it was funny, observant and cynical about that whole world, which it is. But more than that it was the thoughtful examination of his relationships with his friends and family in the face of the Grim Reaper that will stay with me, an anthem for doomed youth and old age pensioners that is simultaneously warm and chilling.
At one point, about halfway through the book, I thought about giving up as it wasn't really gripping me enough, but I'm glad I stuck with it to the end, the final chapters being some of the strongest and best written as far as I was concerned. I'm not sure that Rupert Everett is comfortable with growing old, but he's stuck with it like we all are, and his autobiography is maybe a way of trying to come to terms with it. And I'm glad he wrote it.
December 7, 2018
British actor Rupert Everett is a wonderful writer. And he actually does write his own autobiographies, unlike many other celebrities who employ a ghost writer.
Everett recently wrote, directed and starred in ‘The Happy Prince’. It is a film about Oscar Wilde’s later years and I’m really looking forward to seeing it. Oscar Wilde penned, ‘The Happy Prince’ and used to read it to his children. He’d married and fathered two children and was feted by fashionable society. But in his later years he was ridiculed and jailed for his love of another man.
I’d already read the first volume of Everett’s autobiography titled, ‘Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins’ and found Everett’s writing engaging, sad and hilarious – all at the same time. He is often at his most humorous when being bitterly honest about his own failings. This is no mean feat.
One of Everett’s funniest anecdotes is about the night he stopped in at a Berlin gay bar for a quick pre-dinner drink. The bar had gone nude – ‘Nude Sunday’ – and everyone in the joint had stripped down and bagged up their clothes at the cloak room. I won’t reveal all, as the debacle that followed really needs to be read in Everett’s own words.
The final chapters of ‘Vanished Years’ are deeply touching as they concern the death of Everett’s father, an old school General. The family was very close. And although deeply personal issues were never discussed with his father, they understood each other and spent a lot of time together. As always, Everett’s fine writing interweaves comedic elements with pathos and sadness.
A truly exceptional read.
Everett recently wrote, directed and starred in ‘The Happy Prince’. It is a film about Oscar Wilde’s later years and I’m really looking forward to seeing it. Oscar Wilde penned, ‘The Happy Prince’ and used to read it to his children. He’d married and fathered two children and was feted by fashionable society. But in his later years he was ridiculed and jailed for his love of another man.
I’d already read the first volume of Everett’s autobiography titled, ‘Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins’ and found Everett’s writing engaging, sad and hilarious – all at the same time. He is often at his most humorous when being bitterly honest about his own failings. This is no mean feat.
One of Everett’s funniest anecdotes is about the night he stopped in at a Berlin gay bar for a quick pre-dinner drink. The bar had gone nude – ‘Nude Sunday’ – and everyone in the joint had stripped down and bagged up their clothes at the cloak room. I won’t reveal all, as the debacle that followed really needs to be read in Everett’s own words.
The final chapters of ‘Vanished Years’ are deeply touching as they concern the death of Everett’s father, an old school General. The family was very close. And although deeply personal issues were never discussed with his father, they understood each other and spent a lot of time together. As always, Everett’s fine writing interweaves comedic elements with pathos and sadness.
A truly exceptional read.
September 26, 2013
I enjoyed Rupert Everett's first memoir, and thought this was just as good. It's a well-written and thoughtful book, covering not only his escapades in Hollywood, but his travels around the world.
November 20, 2020
Rather than a straightforward autobiography told in a linear fashion, this is mostly a collection of vignettes - some more, some less entertaining, but all of them beautifully written. He is both a gifted writer and refreshingly forthcoming about his own failings in addition to those of pretty much everyone around him. Bitchy, gossipy, and at times genuinely touching.
June 18, 2017
Honest, occasionally hilarious, insightful, charming and at times brutally self-aware - this is a very entertaining read.
May 11, 2025
A random buy at a second hand bookshop, but what a win. Rupert Everett writes beautifully. Sharing funny and sad memories. Looking forward to reading more of his work.
“When I have fears, as Keats had fears,
Of the moment I'll cease to be,
I console myself with vanished years,
Remembered laughter, remembered tears,
And the peace of the changing sea.”
- Noel Coward
“When I have fears, as Keats had fears,
Of the moment I'll cease to be,
I console myself with vanished years,
Remembered laughter, remembered tears,
And the peace of the changing sea.”
- Noel Coward
February 15, 2023
Beautifully written debauchery, gossip, naughtiness, self awareness, arrogance, reflection, utter queen-liness. The prose incongruous to the events I romped through the tales of death and dreams.
September 22, 2013
Riportando un suo dialogo con Nicky Haslam (professione: interior designer and socialite), Everett scrive che quest'ultimo gli ha detto: "Dovresti darti al ricamo, vista la tua mania di infiorettare le storie".
E' in questo che si riassume anche il mio giudizio sulla seconda biografia di Rubert Everett. E' vero che ha vissuto (e vive tutt'ora) una vita assolutamente straordinaria, ma è davvero bravo a raccontarla, a renderla interessante, a non risparmiare (a volte sinceramente credo, come il buon Haslam, che più che risparmiare aggiunga) dettagli scabrosi, tristi, intimi, spesso imbarazzanti sulla sua vita personale e professionale... o anche su quella degli altri, amici parenti e conoscenti che incontrano la sua orbita.
A differenza di "bucce di banana", la sua prima autobiografia, quello che traspare maggiormente in questo libro è la malinconia. C'è molta tristezza e vengono raccontate diverse morti (di Natasha Richardson, di Isabella Blow e in ultimo dello stesso padre di Everett) che vengono usate come espediente per ricordare quegli "Anni svaniti" che danno il titolo al libro. Non voglio dire con questo che sia un libro triste. Al contrario, proprio nei momenti più tristi Everett tira fuori quel suo umorismo inglese (un po' noir un po' snob) che smorza l'atmosfera, ed è con mano sapiente che mischia profondità di sentimenti e leggerezza di scrittura.
Un'altra abilità di Everett, che poco si notava nel precedente volume è quella di saper dipingere scene e luoghi con grande abilità evocativa:
"Non mi serviva un veggente per conoscere il futuro: era già scritto nella mia infanzia color seppia vissuta tanti anni fa nella campagna inglese, mentre gattonavo in giro nella mia tutina in mezzo a quella foresta di scarpe lustre e caviglie fasciate da calze, sollevando il visino e guardando attraverso il fumo dei sigari le teste chioccianti degli adulti che si agitavano in alto in mezzo ai rami".
Un libro piacevole, divertente, frivolo ma non troppo, con cui passare piacevolmente un paio d'ore al giorno... in attesa del prossimo.
E' in questo che si riassume anche il mio giudizio sulla seconda biografia di Rubert Everett. E' vero che ha vissuto (e vive tutt'ora) una vita assolutamente straordinaria, ma è davvero bravo a raccontarla, a renderla interessante, a non risparmiare (a volte sinceramente credo, come il buon Haslam, che più che risparmiare aggiunga) dettagli scabrosi, tristi, intimi, spesso imbarazzanti sulla sua vita personale e professionale... o anche su quella degli altri, amici parenti e conoscenti che incontrano la sua orbita.
A differenza di "bucce di banana", la sua prima autobiografia, quello che traspare maggiormente in questo libro è la malinconia. C'è molta tristezza e vengono raccontate diverse morti (di Natasha Richardson, di Isabella Blow e in ultimo dello stesso padre di Everett) che vengono usate come espediente per ricordare quegli "Anni svaniti" che danno il titolo al libro. Non voglio dire con questo che sia un libro triste. Al contrario, proprio nei momenti più tristi Everett tira fuori quel suo umorismo inglese (un po' noir un po' snob) che smorza l'atmosfera, ed è con mano sapiente che mischia profondità di sentimenti e leggerezza di scrittura.
Un'altra abilità di Everett, che poco si notava nel precedente volume è quella di saper dipingere scene e luoghi con grande abilità evocativa:
"Non mi serviva un veggente per conoscere il futuro: era già scritto nella mia infanzia color seppia vissuta tanti anni fa nella campagna inglese, mentre gattonavo in giro nella mia tutina in mezzo a quella foresta di scarpe lustre e caviglie fasciate da calze, sollevando il visino e guardando attraverso il fumo dei sigari le teste chioccianti degli adulti che si agitavano in alto in mezzo ai rami".
Un libro piacevole, divertente, frivolo ma non troppo, con cui passare piacevolmente un paio d'ore al giorno... in attesa del prossimo.
March 6, 2014
BOTWBlurb - As a writer, the actor Rupert Everett has been compared to David Niven, Noel Coward and Lord Byron: wickedly observant, very British and extremely funny. And his new memoir Vanished Years gives full rein to those powers as Everett writes about the travails of a precarious career - fighting for good roles, effortlessly glamorous at parties.
Everett found fame in Britain with Another Country and Dance with a Stranger, and acclaim in Hollywood with My Best Friend's Wedding. But we meet him in the twilight world of a film finished but not released - and he's not confident it will restore his fortunes. However, at one of the many glamorous parties he attends, Everett has a flash of inspiration: to write Mr Ambassador - an American TV sitcom starring, of course, Rupert Everett in the title role.
And so begins an adventure in Hollywood, diving into the cut throat world of the networks and the pilot episode, where dreams and fortunes can be made or broken.
Produced by David Roper A Heavy Entertainment Limited production for BBC Radio 4.
Theme tune: Robbie Williams: I Will Talk And Hollywood Will Listen: http://youtu.be/mo9gkohXO2E
#1 In the first episode from his memoir, Rupert finds his career at a crossroads. The parties are still glamorous and star-studded, the roles less so.
#2 While attending a party at the British Embassy in Washington, Rupert Everett has an idea that could transform his career.
#3 Mr Ambassador, Rupert Everett's American sitcom idea, starts its hazardous journey to becoming pilot show reality.
#4 Even with a crack production team behind Rupert Everett's American sitcom, Mr Ambassador, the path to success is paved with elephant traps.
#5 At last, Mr Ambassador, Rupert Everett's US TV sitcom is filmed. In front of a live audience. What could possibly go wrong?
He is a horrible bloke isn't he.
August 25, 2014
Vanished Years is volume 2 of Everett's autobiography and Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins is the first volume- both are unputdownable (is that a word?). 'Rupe' comes across as lovely and intelligent, but the celebs he talks about sound absolutely ghastly, particularly the Hollywood ones, confirming all my prejudices! He seems to have worked with practically everyone from Orson Welles (terrifying) to Sharon Stone (bonkers) and is wonderfully indiscreet about them. I did get rather tired of the endless frenetic party-going and found it hard to work out whether he was in L.A. or Miami and whose bed he'd just vacated. Vanished Years is worth reading for his friendship with Isabella Blow, a touching and beautifully written account of her descent into madness and suicide. Madonna crops up at regular intervals in both books and I found myself deeply sympathetic to Guy Richie, the poor bloke who married her- he must have gone through hell! As a big fan of malicious gossip I can thoroughly recommend both these books. Enjoy!
February 8, 2013
Sharp, bitchy and entertaining. I love the story of the paparazzi and his pie based retribution. I loved his story about being on "Apprentice". You an see in the photo he is in his own personal hell. I think it got a bit less interesting in the end because I didn't know some people, but enjoyed it.
June 14, 2013
This is the second of Rupert Everett's autobiographies which I have read relatively quickly after the first. Again it shows how he is a more prolific actor than I may previously have given him credit for and the wide variety of 'celebs' he has hung out with over time. This volume jumps about a bit more than the first and fills in details omitted previously. But all in all another good read.
November 23, 2013
Staggeringly good at conveying the feeling of a scene, he puts us in his shoes and lets us feel his sadness and wry, detached observation of life. You get the sense of loneliness in his life even though he is surrounded by people he loves who adore him.
August 11, 2016
Witty and wise, written so brilliantly. If they are vanished years they are revived so expertly you can hear the echoes of footsteps, catch the scent of perfume and the sound of laughter. One of the best autobiographies I've read.
October 14, 2012
Not as good as first volume of memoirs
July 16, 2017
I'm devastated that Rupert and I are finished 😢. Read 'Red Carpets and other banana skins' first. Loved both to bits.
January 26, 2013
Brilliant Rupie!
June 16, 2020
This was a book club read, although I half-knew that Rupert Everett wrote bitchy, entertaining put downs of the lives of others (and himself) so I thought it would be an easy read. I don't know why, but in reality it never 'grabbed' me. It's very uneven. There is some very beautiful writing, and great turns of phrase. But then there are some turgid descriptions of other situations.
A lot of the book is about death, notably the decline of his father. Other people die also, but to be honest they are - though supposedly famous - people with whom I have a passing knowledge. So their deaths are not especially engaging, and I think they were supposed to be.
The notes on the death of Natasha Richardson are just plain weird. There is no mention at all of her husband Liam Neeson. To the extent that I had to Google, to see if he had been married to her at the time of her death. He had. It's just odd.
So it's OK in places. In fairness it is actually written by Rupert Everett and not by a ghost writer. But I had expected more, really.
A lot of the book is about death, notably the decline of his father. Other people die also, but to be honest they are - though supposedly famous - people with whom I have a passing knowledge. So their deaths are not especially engaging, and I think they were supposed to be.
The notes on the death of Natasha Richardson are just plain weird. There is no mention at all of her husband Liam Neeson. To the extent that I had to Google, to see if he had been married to her at the time of her death. He had. It's just odd.
So it's OK in places. In fairness it is actually written by Rupert Everett and not by a ghost writer. But I had expected more, really.
January 8, 2022
I hate so many celebrity autobiographies that are bland and only exist to raise a buck or inflate an ego .this is the second volume of Rupert Everett’s musings I have read and they are a breath of fresh air.For a start the guy can write ,albeit a bit over artistically at times.Secondly he has a wonderfully vicious sense of humour and particularly does not save himself from his own wicked barbs.
The first volume drew a picture of different celebrities the author worked with.This volume draws a picture of less well known people,most movingly his father but also gives superb pictures of cities - London,Berlin,Lourdes ,New York and my favourite,Phnom Penh.The book jumps from place to place ,from person to person with no order of time .The era of the eighties and the impact of AIDS is movingly described
There is interest in every page and hope there is more books to come from the author
The first volume drew a picture of different celebrities the author worked with.This volume draws a picture of less well known people,most movingly his father but also gives superb pictures of cities - London,Berlin,Lourdes ,New York and my favourite,Phnom Penh.The book jumps from place to place ,from person to person with no order of time .The era of the eighties and the impact of AIDS is movingly described
There is interest in every page and hope there is more books to come from the author
November 17, 2020
Juicy gossip isn't all bad because Everett writes so well, especially when he gives pause to the British snark and reflects on Russian city misery, his troubled relationships, parties with Madonna, Hollywood TV fiascos, Broadway theater with Angela Lansbury, discovering Nic Roeg's "Performance" in a theater full of masturbating teens, or when describing his family and middle-aged loneliness. The profiles of the movie business figures--particularly the fugitives in one hilarious chapter devoted to Everett's short-lived sitcom--are brilliant. A monstrosity of a reality-TV series is equally memorable. To not explore his own feelings of guilt and vanity would render a lot of this more bitter than it is, but he maintains black humor throughout. And the results are often laugh-out-loud funny.
February 12, 2018
not as entertaining as "hello, darling, are you working?" but better written on a sentence level with an old school gay guy at the center... parts about the father creeping towards sloughing off this mortal coil are "significant" & moving to the author but weren't anywhere near as moving as the section about a buff Italian lover who appears / disappears / vanishes in a sequence which is very moving. neither feast nor fowl, I couldn't put this down, but likewise I couldn't pinpoint what Everett was doing.
June 15, 2020
It wasn't bad. These last 3 and a half years, especially the past three months, make the book's anecdotal stories feel like they're from another world entirely. It didn't feel like reading about the past as much as it felt like reading about an alternate reality posing as truth. Disorienting in a way - took me forever to get through it.
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