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Robin Williams: When the Laughter Stops 1951 - 2014
A thoughtful look at the brilliant life and tragic death of a comedy icon
At midday on August 11, 2014, much-loved comedian Robin Williams was pronounced dead at his California home. From Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, and Aladdin to Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams brought laughter—and deep joy—to a generation. He was sparklingly funny, a lightning-fast improviser, and a wonderful comic. But what touched millions of people was the warmth and compassion he exuded. The deeply tragic manner in which he took his own life has come as a shock to the world and caused people to wonder about the desperately troubled life behind the laughter he gave to millions. With Twitter igniting from record volumes of tributes to the much-loved actor, the death of Robin Williams has caused a public outpouring of grief not seen since the passing of Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston. Emily Herbert’s sensitive and thoughtful biography celebrates his genius, and attempts to understand what could have driven such a warm and gifted man to take his own life.
At midday on August 11, 2014, much-loved comedian Robin Williams was pronounced dead at his California home. From Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, and Aladdin to Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams brought laughter—and deep joy—to a generation. He was sparklingly funny, a lightning-fast improviser, and a wonderful comic. But what touched millions of people was the warmth and compassion he exuded. The deeply tragic manner in which he took his own life has come as a shock to the world and caused people to wonder about the desperately troubled life behind the laughter he gave to millions. With Twitter igniting from record volumes of tributes to the much-loved actor, the death of Robin Williams has caused a public outpouring of grief not seen since the passing of Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston. Emily Herbert’s sensitive and thoughtful biography celebrates his genius, and attempts to understand what could have driven such a warm and gifted man to take his own life.
244 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
332 people are currently reading
1372 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 248 reviews
July 22, 2015
An actual sentence from this book: "He came to believe, however, that, in actual fact, the two went hand in hand."
I'm surprised I finished it. It really seems as if Emily Herbert hacked together a bunch of Wikipedia entries and old movie reviews, topping the whole thing off with repetitious and unfounded conjecture. A ninth grader churning out a last minute essay would not put this amount of work into filling up pages. There is one paragraph that features the same two sentences, back to back. It honestly reads at times like it was written in a foreign language and then fed through Google Translate, mistakes and all.
Do yourself a favor and wait for a biographer to release a biography. This book is not that.
I'm surprised I finished it. It really seems as if Emily Herbert hacked together a bunch of Wikipedia entries and old movie reviews, topping the whole thing off with repetitious and unfounded conjecture. A ninth grader churning out a last minute essay would not put this amount of work into filling up pages. There is one paragraph that features the same two sentences, back to back. It honestly reads at times like it was written in a foreign language and then fed through Google Translate, mistakes and all.
Do yourself a favor and wait for a biographer to release a biography. This book is not that.
January 3, 2015
Just terrible. A whole chapter of Twitter comments on Robins death? The synopsis of the Mork & Mindy series....what a waste. This book was so superficial that it's just not worth reading. Think I would have got more about robin Williams by reading Wikipedia!
May 11, 2015
went through 1/5 of the book and I could give this 1 star (even though I believe no book deserves less than 3 stars). But this is a complication of quotes, articles, rumours and assumptions of what this great man went through. There's no actual interview or direct source. why did i buy this...
August 1, 2019
Robin Williams was a genius and a very complex character. A man I admired and loved watching on the TV and big screen so like many other people was very sad to hear of his death. I hoped this book would give me an in depth knowledge of the man behind the comedy but unfortunately I didn't get enough of that. What I did get was a run down of he's films that to be honest I either knew or could look up on IMDB. Far too many lists and stat's and not enough of the personal side of his life.
I think that maybe the book needed to be written by someone who actually knew Robin Williams rather than a professional biographer like Emily Herbert.
The book is well written and does retell some interesting events but left me with very little additional knowledge of his life and I felt I would have to seek other avenues to discover the real Robin Williams.
I think that maybe the book needed to be written by someone who actually knew Robin Williams rather than a professional biographer like Emily Herbert.
The book is well written and does retell some interesting events but left me with very little additional knowledge of his life and I felt I would have to seek other avenues to discover the real Robin Williams.
November 11, 2014
This book read like a 243 page long essay. It was dripping with quotes and small anecdotes from critics who critiqued his films at the time when they came out. I don't care what they had to say about him in his forty year long career, I want to know more about him. This was basically a film students essay, listing every performance he has ever done in chronological order and instead of focussing on the man who sold those movies to the audience, it focussed on the success of the movies and that irritated me to no end. While I found out some interesting things about his early life, it just grew boring afterward and wasn't at all what the blurb promised. I can understand that it tried to understand what drove Williams to his fate, but I can't say I agree with most of it. It was well written, even if it did overuse words like 'anarchic' and 'manic' but it just feels like I could have written it if given the information and time. My opinion of Williams hasn't changed at all, he is still an amazing man, an enigmatic performer and truly a once in a lifetime kinda guy.
July 25, 2015
The rating system for GoodReads is unable to capture my disdain for this book. If you can rate a book at 5/5 (100%), you should also be able to rate a book at 0%.
I had picked up this book sight-unseen after my grandfather had recently passed away (I had this weird need state to read about death). Robin Williams has always been a personal totemic guide for me, and like so many others, I was deeply rocked by his death.
This is FAR from the definitive book on Williams.
It was clearly a slapdash effort to capitalize on his death as quickly as possible. It is as if the author copied/pasted already existing online material, and then reformatted it slightly to make it seem it was writing of her own (bloody hell- there is a section on TWEETS that were taken after his death was announced).
After taking a look at other books by Emily Herbert and her publisher (John Blake Books) , I see that quick, low quality publishing on currently topical subjects is their modus operandi.
And it worked- shame on me!
I had picked up this book sight-unseen after my grandfather had recently passed away (I had this weird need state to read about death). Robin Williams has always been a personal totemic guide for me, and like so many others, I was deeply rocked by his death.
This is FAR from the definitive book on Williams.
It was clearly a slapdash effort to capitalize on his death as quickly as possible. It is as if the author copied/pasted already existing online material, and then reformatted it slightly to make it seem it was writing of her own (bloody hell- there is a section on TWEETS that were taken after his death was announced).
After taking a look at other books by Emily Herbert and her publisher (John Blake Books) , I see that quick, low quality publishing on currently topical subjects is their modus operandi.
And it worked- shame on me!
Want to read
January 24, 2015I have no idea when I'll get to this, as it's still too painful and almost hard to accept, but I will read it someday... :(
January 30, 2020
Really hard to listen to.
November 20, 2014
Film critique quotes and testimonials aside, ROBIN WILLIAMS: WHEN THE LAUGHTER STOPS is a deeply moving read about a man who brought happiness to millions yet despite this penchant for comedy couldn’t bring happiness to himself.
Repetitive at times, but then again isn’t life at certain stages? This bird’s eye account of the man behind the mask of laughs portrays Robin Williams as a depressed, isolated, and womanising man-child whose coping mechanism was his craft. Hash but reality rarely coincides with fiction.
His highs praised his lows painstakingly prominent and seemingly in direct correlation with his state of mind. As a fan of movies and not knowing much else about the famous comedian/actor it was interesting to read how difficult (and enjoyable as he certainly had his good times) life in and out of the spotlight was for Robin Williams.
From his three marriages, to his monetary woes (though this is still somewhat disputed) to his predilection for gaming and stand-up comedy, WHEN THE LAUGHTER STOPS evokes equal feelings of happiness and sadness for a man who touched so many, bringing to light information many fans would not be privy to.
review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
Repetitive at times, but then again isn’t life at certain stages? This bird’s eye account of the man behind the mask of laughs portrays Robin Williams as a depressed, isolated, and womanising man-child whose coping mechanism was his craft. Hash but reality rarely coincides with fiction.
His highs praised his lows painstakingly prominent and seemingly in direct correlation with his state of mind. As a fan of movies and not knowing much else about the famous comedian/actor it was interesting to read how difficult (and enjoyable as he certainly had his good times) life in and out of the spotlight was for Robin Williams.
From his three marriages, to his monetary woes (though this is still somewhat disputed) to his predilection for gaming and stand-up comedy, WHEN THE LAUGHTER STOPS evokes equal feelings of happiness and sadness for a man who touched so many, bringing to light information many fans would not be privy to.
review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
September 26, 2021
The book was depressing and repetitive. I am still a Robin Williams fan.
August 10, 2023
What a disappointment this book was. I was looking forward to reading this thinking it would be interesting as I love Robin Williams's films. But, this wasn't it, it was chock full of quotes from different people and not a lot about his huge talent. Quite a sad book written by someone who hadn't done much research hence the one star and I was being generous.
May 1, 2015
It was an entertaining read but I strongly disagree with the Author's comments about certain films, which were often simple off-hand comment without any reasoning to explain it. It seemed if a film was famed it was praised, but if it was small and little-known it was considered a low-point marker. I was wanting a biography rather than occasionally having some of Robin Williams quieter films cast aside without due examination - film criticism was not the attempted remit of the book and the Author ought to have kept film comment to a minimum if unable to expand or made a proper case for what was said.
The quieter films in question, such as "The Final Cut" could actually stand kind and balanced reappraisal as a non-headliner but interesting film in its own right. They might not be "Mrs Doubtfire" big, but the quality smaller films he did deserve some respect. Small films are as worthy as big films of respect.
As far as the writing was concerned, it seemed a little self-aware and was framed as a book-length obituary which I wish hadn't been the case. The life of Robin Williams does not need any chapter-long framing device and anybody interested knows something of how it ended without being hit by that right at the outset. This book is not the literary equivalent of "Citizen Kane" and there is no 'rosebud' moment to investigate through Robin Williams' life.
I was very entertained by the read, but also mildly irritated. I wonder that, had this not been my first read of Robin Williams' life but had read a better biography before, I might have been even more irritated. As a film-lover I am irritated by the short shrift given to some films panned by the Author... and always the easy targets the Author might expect her readers to be less aware of. I don't like all of Robin Williams' films myself, but I wouldn't have cast them away in an off-hand attitude.
Mixed feelings was what I felt left with. And I felt sad. I might try to find a better biography of the actor.
The quieter films in question, such as "The Final Cut" could actually stand kind and balanced reappraisal as a non-headliner but interesting film in its own right. They might not be "Mrs Doubtfire" big, but the quality smaller films he did deserve some respect. Small films are as worthy as big films of respect.
As far as the writing was concerned, it seemed a little self-aware and was framed as a book-length obituary which I wish hadn't been the case. The life of Robin Williams does not need any chapter-long framing device and anybody interested knows something of how it ended without being hit by that right at the outset. This book is not the literary equivalent of "Citizen Kane" and there is no 'rosebud' moment to investigate through Robin Williams' life.
I was very entertained by the read, but also mildly irritated. I wonder that, had this not been my first read of Robin Williams' life but had read a better biography before, I might have been even more irritated. As a film-lover I am irritated by the short shrift given to some films panned by the Author... and always the easy targets the Author might expect her readers to be less aware of. I don't like all of Robin Williams' films myself, but I wouldn't have cast them away in an off-hand attitude.
Mixed feelings was what I felt left with. And I felt sad. I might try to find a better biography of the actor.
September 27, 2020
Como era uma pessoa de quem gostava imenso, fiquei desiludida com esta biografia. Fiquei a saber coisas novas mas acaba por repetir-se muito.
March 19, 2019
Poor Robin, basically a lonely childhood with absent parents growing up alone in a cold dark mansion. Cracking jokes was his way of keeping the bullies at bay and stopping them from assaulting him for being a bit pudgy and different.
Drink and drugs did him in. Too soon. One wonders if he didn't do them he may have lived longer and not got Parkinson's Disease. Who knows.
He was very generous and did a lot for charities.
Could have been written better rather than a slap dash amatuer Kindle 'make a buck' hack job. The author slaps together wikipedia articles of a few other famous people.
Drink and drugs did him in. Too soon. One wonders if he didn't do them he may have lived longer and not got Parkinson's Disease. Who knows.
He was very generous and did a lot for charities.
Could have been written better rather than a slap dash amatuer Kindle 'make a buck' hack job. The author slaps together wikipedia articles of a few other famous people.
April 10, 2023
Oh dear.
This is written as a series of synopses of Williams’ work (not always in chronological order, it has to be said) interwoven with sketchy details from his life which are evidently taken from media articles and interviews.
The unnecessary padding (interminable cast lists, reviews taken from seemingly any publication that contained one, and increasingly desperate efforts by the author to psychoanalyse the subject) impacted any cohesion the writing may have had.
Changes in formality were irritating to the point that I did wonder whether it had been written by two people and not one. It reads like the preliminary research notes done prior to writing the ‘real thing’.
I’d hoped for an insight into the man behind the genius. I was very disappointed. At a shade over 200 pages, I felt everything of any merit had been said within the first 60 and the rest was a slog through repetition and conjecture. I’ve given a star for the media trawl by way of research, as it must have taken months. Had it been filtered before being committed to draft, there may have been another.
This is written as a series of synopses of Williams’ work (not always in chronological order, it has to be said) interwoven with sketchy details from his life which are evidently taken from media articles and interviews.
The unnecessary padding (interminable cast lists, reviews taken from seemingly any publication that contained one, and increasingly desperate efforts by the author to psychoanalyse the subject) impacted any cohesion the writing may have had.
Changes in formality were irritating to the point that I did wonder whether it had been written by two people and not one. It reads like the preliminary research notes done prior to writing the ‘real thing’.
I’d hoped for an insight into the man behind the genius. I was very disappointed. At a shade over 200 pages, I felt everything of any merit had been said within the first 60 and the rest was a slog through repetition and conjecture. I’ve given a star for the media trawl by way of research, as it must have taken months. Had it been filtered before being committed to draft, there may have been another.
February 15, 2015
I wanted to read of Robin's life because I was deeply affected by his death. This book didn't satisfy me as the knowledge of Robin was taken from interviews or videos or news reports. Anyone could have written this version of Bio.It had no warmth. There was much repetition which encouraged me to scan through the chapters looking for a personal word. Much attention was given to the loneliness of his life , from his lonely childhood and how he used comedy to feel better. It kind of high-lights for me that every one has trauma of some kind in their life, and it never goes away unless we seek counselling of some sort . Robin not only had addictions to drink, drugs and video games, but he was probably addicted to holding onto too tight to the dark shadow of his life.He covered up his pain by glossing over his life in comedy and drama rather than facing it head on. Nevertheless, R.I.P Robin. You will certainly be missed.
December 22, 2018
I found it tragic that a commedian and actor of Robin Williams' calliber should have his biography done by someone who writes this badly. Had the subject of this book been anyone less dear to my heart than Mr. Williams, I would have put the book down before delving as deep as the third chapter.
I found it impossible to read this travesty without continuously rewriting it in my head. Emily Herbert needs to seek out her true vocation, as it is, most assuredly, not writing.
I loved Robin Williams". If you did too, try one of the many other books written about him. This one does not begin to do justice to the Comedic Genius and Cultural Icon that was Robin Williams.
I found it impossible to read this travesty without continuously rewriting it in my head. Emily Herbert needs to seek out her true vocation, as it is, most assuredly, not writing.
I loved Robin Williams". If you did too, try one of the many other books written about him. This one does not begin to do justice to the Comedic Genius and Cultural Icon that was Robin Williams.
May 23, 2015
My God. This is awful. It is a waste of paper. You can get all of this information off the internet. It's basically a long winded essay, there is no heart, no character, it does not do Robin Williams justice and I can't believe I wasted £1.50 on this book
I very rarely give a book such a low rating because I normally find something I enjoy about it but I barely finished this one so I think 1 star is generous
I very rarely give a book such a low rating because I normally find something I enjoy about it but I barely finished this one so I think 1 star is generous
July 16, 2015
Probably the worst book I've ever read in my life. Information copied/pasted and thrown together doesn't make great reading at all. It's almost as if the "author" has decided to cash in on the death of a person deeply missed by so many people around the world. I mean, nobody would stoop so low... right? A mess from start to finish.
July 23, 2019
Het boek was een opsomming van alles wat hij in zijn carrière deed en maar heel weinig Robin. Dat had ik ook op Wikipedia kunnen vinden. Er wordt teveel ingegaan op al zijn rollen, inclusief tekst en spoilers.
De vertaling naar het Nederlands leest niet prettig en de neerbuigende toon van de schrijver doet het boek geen goed. Jammer. Heel jammer.
De vertaling naar het Nederlands leest niet prettig en de neerbuigende toon van de schrijver doet het boek geen goed. Jammer. Heel jammer.
February 21, 2016
Very disappointing. Very little about the man but if you want a synopsis (with endings) of every M&M episode and movie, this is the book. I just couldn't finish it. It felt very rushed in order to be published soon after his death. Not a good tribute at all!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2018
Thoughtful? Rushed out to capitalise on the great man's death more like it.
Repetitive, full of other's text (lots of snippits of movie reviews to fill space), hardly insightful, there has to be a better biography than this.
Repetitive, full of other's text (lots of snippits of movie reviews to fill space), hardly insightful, there has to be a better biography than this.
May 5, 2020
Unfortunately, this book is very disappointing.
Overall the writing is sub-par (with way too much repetition) and only includes a mishmash of information from the internet.
I don’t believe it does Robin WillIam’s story justice.
Overall the writing is sub-par (with way too much repetition) and only includes a mishmash of information from the internet.
I don’t believe it does Robin WillIam’s story justice.
June 9, 2024
Det är verkligen som vanligt med biografier. Antingen är de jättebra eller så är de jättedåliga, finns inget mellanting. Den här var inte jättebra. Det är trist att den mer innehåller recensioner på Williams olika filmer snarare än om honom själv, om honom som person. Ja, man får veta om hans missbruk, hans familjeförhållanden, lite om hans barndom. Men allting lämnas hängande i luften och i skuggan av vad olika recensenter sagt om honom genom åren. Den är också mycket repetitiv och innehåller många och långa beskrivningar av filmerna han medverkat i. Den blir tyvärr inte så personlig, och det är trist för det hade varit fint om han hade fått lite upprättelse.
September 12, 2025
The book did have moments of i think I read this before, but it didn’t take away from how brilliantly funny and talented Robin Williams was despite his obvious battles with life, as this only seems to have enhanced his ability to make people laugh.
An extremely hard working man with an unwavering sense of duty to his family and friend’s. Loved reading about him in this book I now admire him more than I did before.
An extremely hard working man with an unwavering sense of duty to his family and friend’s. Loved reading about him in this book I now admire him more than I did before.
February 4, 2016
I considered giving this book only two stars. However, it held my interest, so I decided on three. Although the fact that my interest was held probably has more to do with the subject matter than the brilliance of the writing.It's hard to be impressed by a biography which, if I remember correctly, calls Mandy Patinkin (the man who played Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride) a comedienne. Most of the facts presented about Robin seemed to be grabbed from whatever interviews others had done and offered few original insights. The book is also sorely in need of a decent edit. It comes across as self-published. For example, the author uses words like 'totally' a lot, which grated on me, and there was regular repetition of information.All in all, a poor treatment of a worthy subject.
June 18, 2020
O livro não é memorável visto que basicamente é uma compilação de noticias , recortes de imprensa e fofoquices sobre o actor... este excelente actor merecia um livro mais positivo e menos focado nos seus problemas pessoais.. daí o meu 3.... se contar com as partes positivas e com o actor dava 5*... era um dos meus actores preferidos e confesso que a morte dele me abalou bastante na altura.. será sempre uma Lenda, escrevam o que escreverem sobre ele e sobre os aspectos menos positivos e mais difíceis da sua vida ... ;)
June 4, 2025
A comprehensive and easy to read book about a remarkable man who gave, and continues to give, the world so much happiness.
May 17, 2020
Armoedig boek, slecht geschreven! Copy/paste van Twitter, Wikipedia, IMDB etc. Niet best en hopen op een goede biografie.
Read
May 20, 2018The Robin Williams biography is an interesting view of the comedian, actor and overall entertaining personality. At times, the author has left a lot of explanation to conjecture and puts some points onto Robin Williams life that may not be necessarily true beyond their own interpretation.
This is an interesting read and overall it hits all the highs and lows of his career. The book has been compiled by not interviewing anyone who personally knew the actor but lifting information from interviews, newspaper and magazine articles and interview clips. Unfortunately, this does hold back the book from being very insightful as these can sometime be edited or give an impression of what the artist wants us to see but never really lets us see the real person.
Keeping this all in mind, the book is informative and runs through his career very well. There is some interesting facts and it was good to hear about how generous and caring Williams was. It was exceptional that he kept these under lock and key during his life and that they emerged after his death which shows a lot of character as he truly cares.
The reasons behind his suicide are a bit circumspect blaming depression, Parkinson’s, computer games, etc which I felt personally that trying to find the real reason without any in-depth interviews from the sources themselves. Overall, this is a good book and for fans of Williams, it will give them a brief insight into the man. Hopefully in time, a more well rounded biography will come out which will be put together by the people who loved and knew him.
This is an interesting read and overall it hits all the highs and lows of his career. The book has been compiled by not interviewing anyone who personally knew the actor but lifting information from interviews, newspaper and magazine articles and interview clips. Unfortunately, this does hold back the book from being very insightful as these can sometime be edited or give an impression of what the artist wants us to see but never really lets us see the real person.
Keeping this all in mind, the book is informative and runs through his career very well. There is some interesting facts and it was good to hear about how generous and caring Williams was. It was exceptional that he kept these under lock and key during his life and that they emerged after his death which shows a lot of character as he truly cares.
The reasons behind his suicide are a bit circumspect blaming depression, Parkinson’s, computer games, etc which I felt personally that trying to find the real reason without any in-depth interviews from the sources themselves. Overall, this is a good book and for fans of Williams, it will give them a brief insight into the man. Hopefully in time, a more well rounded biography will come out which will be put together by the people who loved and knew him.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 248 reviews