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From Under the Truck
From Josh Brolin, an unconventional and unpretentious memoir, alternately poignant, amusing, and captivating -read by the author, this edition boasts exclusive intro and outro music by Chris Stapleton. Interweaving various threads and shifting through time, Brolin paints a life shaped by curiosity, struggle, dedication, kindness, and humor. He recalls an unusual upbringing far from Hollywood, raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, surrounded by wolves, cougars, and other wild animals collected by his daring and dynamic mother, Jane Agee Brolin, whose tragic, early death echoes throughout the book. Brolin also brings to life his film industry career, from his breakthrough role in The Goonies to the set of No Country for Old Men, and the professional and personal highs and lows in between. With candid honesty and wit, he shares insights into relationships, addiction, love, and fatherhood, allowing the spaces between words to speak for themselves. Engaging with life's and death's mysteries in unexpected ways, 'From Under the Truck' is a bold and gripping memoir from a natural storyteller.
Audiobook
First published November 19, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 631 reviews
November 20, 2024
I am a big fan of Brolin as an actor and when I have seen him in interviews, he seems like a genuinely good guy who has lived a pretty crazy life at times. he is also sober and I like hearing people’s sobriety stories. So I was excited for this celeb memoir, but unfortunately, it hadn’t been want I was hoping for.
First of all, his timeline is all over the place. One minute were in the 2000’s, next minute the 70s, then it’s on to the 90’s, then back to the 80’s. and it is like this for the entire book and it made it feel like I could never settle into a rhythm while reading. this could very well have been intentional, him not wanting his readers to feel settled and for it to have a chaotic feel which mirrors his life. But even if this was the desired effect, I was just not a fan of it.
My second complaint is the writing style. Many segments come across as either stream of consciousness and/or like poetry. I myself just don’t really click with poetry most of the time and so I wasn’t a fan of the chapters that leaned into that style. And stream of consciousness writing can work and be very effective when done right, but here it just sort of felt rambly.
Thirdly, the stories he chose to tell felt random often times. This book is one non sequitur after another!
Fourthly, most celeb memoirs have some sort of overarching theme. Writing about your life can be a daunting task but having that framing helps keeps the stories in context. I don’t think he had much of a theme here though. Again, it often felt like one random story that I didn’t care about after another. His mom is a constant throughout this book as is family in general I suppose, as well as his drinking so in some ways maybe those two aspects of his life could be seen as the themes of the book I guess. But his drinking was something I was wanting to hear more about and yet this book just felt too jumbled to even get a grasp on that. He was on the Dax Shepared podcast and I learned far more about him and his drinking from that episode than I did from this book.
All in all, this book gave me a feel for who Brolin is, while ultimately telling me very little. I can admire that he was being experimental and not just writing a standard memoir. And again, those who are into artsy writing like this may like this more than I did. But in my mind, there is nothing wrong with the standard memoir format and prefer that over what he is doing here. This just feels like it's all vibes and sparse on details.
First of all, his timeline is all over the place. One minute were in the 2000’s, next minute the 70s, then it’s on to the 90’s, then back to the 80’s. and it is like this for the entire book and it made it feel like I could never settle into a rhythm while reading. this could very well have been intentional, him not wanting his readers to feel settled and for it to have a chaotic feel which mirrors his life. But even if this was the desired effect, I was just not a fan of it.
My second complaint is the writing style. Many segments come across as either stream of consciousness and/or like poetry. I myself just don’t really click with poetry most of the time and so I wasn’t a fan of the chapters that leaned into that style. And stream of consciousness writing can work and be very effective when done right, but here it just sort of felt rambly.
Thirdly, the stories he chose to tell felt random often times. This book is one non sequitur after another!
Fourthly, most celeb memoirs have some sort of overarching theme. Writing about your life can be a daunting task but having that framing helps keeps the stories in context. I don’t think he had much of a theme here though. Again, it often felt like one random story that I didn’t care about after another. His mom is a constant throughout this book as is family in general I suppose, as well as his drinking so in some ways maybe those two aspects of his life could be seen as the themes of the book I guess. But his drinking was something I was wanting to hear more about and yet this book just felt too jumbled to even get a grasp on that. He was on the Dax Shepared podcast and I learned far more about him and his drinking from that episode than I did from this book.
All in all, this book gave me a feel for who Brolin is, while ultimately telling me very little. I can admire that he was being experimental and not just writing a standard memoir. And again, those who are into artsy writing like this may like this more than I did. But in my mind, there is nothing wrong with the standard memoir format and prefer that over what he is doing here. This just feels like it's all vibes and sparse on details.
December 2, 2024
Loved how gritty this book is. I loved that it wasn’t in any specific kind of order. Life is chaos, it’s messy and full of ups and downs. It felt like how my brain works when I experience memories. The thoughts that shuffle in randomly and present themselves in no particular order but that make up the whole of the moving parts. It’s his thoughts, experiences, poetry, scenes, things acted, and other imagery of the mind. A beautiful cacophony of a book, absolutely loved it.
November 21, 2024
I absolutely hated this book. It had no sense of direction and it was all over the map. I’m not sure how I finished it except for the fact it was very short. I learned next to nothing about Josh Brolin. I understand he was trying to do something different with his memoir, but this is not really even a memoir. The timeline is all over the place. It just felt like he was rambling. I didn’t understand the point of this book. He’s had an interesting career and a very complex life. It would’ve been nice to learn about that instead of suffering through this incoherent nonsense. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. It was torture.
August 18, 2025
⭐⭐⭐✰☆ (3.25 stars) — Reading this due to receiving the book as a gift, I was pleasantly surprised by the grit & humility Brolin displays in this effort. Better than your average celebrity or actor memoir, it’s got some soul!
Josh Brolin’s memoir From Under the Truck is a curious creation—part confessional, part reflection, part Hollywood war story. Where one might anticipate a straight, chronological telling of a career that spans blockbuster films and personal upheavals, what we receive instead is an uneven tapestry: flashes of lucidity and candor interspersed with passages that feel indulgent or meandering.
The strength of the book lies in Brolin’s unflinching honesty. He does not varnish his missteps, nor does he seek to disguise the tumultuous phases of his life. There is a raw candor here, one that allows the reader to glimpse the fragility behind the rugged exterior so often projected on screen. His recollections of childhood, of fractured relationships, and of the paradoxical isolation within fame are all recounted with an intensity that feels genuine, if not always artfully arranged.
Yet the memoir’s architecture is its greatest weakness. At times the narrative unravels into digression, as though Brolin were compelled to empty the recesses of memory without concern for pacing. The reader is occasionally left disoriented, forced to navigate sudden shifts in tone or subject without sufficient grounding. It is this lack of cohesion that prevents the memoir from achieving greater impact; moments of brilliance are diluted by passages that could have benefited from sharper editorial restraint.
Still, when Brolin strikes the right chord, the results are captivating. His reflections on the precarious balance between self-destruction and self-preservation, and his willingness to explore the darker corners of his psyche, give the memoir a gravity that distinguishes it from more pedestrian celebrity tell-alls. There is a vigor in his storytelling, an undeniable sense of lived experience that commands attention, even if the execution falters.
Ultimately, From Under the Truck is an intriguing albeit sometimes flawed effort. It will appeal most to admirers of Brolin who wish to see beyond the screen persona, but for those seeking a seamless and finely wrought autobiography, it may feel frustratingly haphazard, despite the aforementioned grit & refreshing humility on show. A book with undeniable heart, though not quite infused with the refinement it could have been.
Josh Brolin’s memoir From Under the Truck is a curious creation—part confessional, part reflection, part Hollywood war story. Where one might anticipate a straight, chronological telling of a career that spans blockbuster films and personal upheavals, what we receive instead is an uneven tapestry: flashes of lucidity and candor interspersed with passages that feel indulgent or meandering.
The strength of the book lies in Brolin’s unflinching honesty. He does not varnish his missteps, nor does he seek to disguise the tumultuous phases of his life. There is a raw candor here, one that allows the reader to glimpse the fragility behind the rugged exterior so often projected on screen. His recollections of childhood, of fractured relationships, and of the paradoxical isolation within fame are all recounted with an intensity that feels genuine, if not always artfully arranged.
Yet the memoir’s architecture is its greatest weakness. At times the narrative unravels into digression, as though Brolin were compelled to empty the recesses of memory without concern for pacing. The reader is occasionally left disoriented, forced to navigate sudden shifts in tone or subject without sufficient grounding. It is this lack of cohesion that prevents the memoir from achieving greater impact; moments of brilliance are diluted by passages that could have benefited from sharper editorial restraint.
Still, when Brolin strikes the right chord, the results are captivating. His reflections on the precarious balance between self-destruction and self-preservation, and his willingness to explore the darker corners of his psyche, give the memoir a gravity that distinguishes it from more pedestrian celebrity tell-alls. There is a vigor in his storytelling, an undeniable sense of lived experience that commands attention, even if the execution falters.
Ultimately, From Under the Truck is an intriguing albeit sometimes flawed effort. It will appeal most to admirers of Brolin who wish to see beyond the screen persona, but for those seeking a seamless and finely wrought autobiography, it may feel frustratingly haphazard, despite the aforementioned grit & refreshing humility on show. A book with undeniable heart, though not quite infused with the refinement it could have been.
November 30, 2024
ok. this is not a [conventional] memoir. totally cool, it’s your story to tell, storyteller. I am not sure what it IS, though. I will say there are loads of gorgeous sentences. Paragraphs, even. Poetry. However, I definitely do not feel like I learned a single thing. It’s as if these beautiful strips of fabric, having floated about in a whirl of wind, are gathered back up and haphazardly stacked together, perhaps as though they might be turned into a quilt…then, instead? are offered up to you as a cheeseburger.
Like, what?
If you don’t mind a book that reads like the “chapters” have been shaken up in a Yahtzee cup by someone who probably loves Bukowski, this cheeseburger might be for you.
Like, what?
If you don’t mind a book that reads like the “chapters” have been shaken up in a Yahtzee cup by someone who probably loves Bukowski, this cheeseburger might be for you.
June 26, 2025
From Under the Truck is not a typical memoir, and I'm unsure if I liked it or not.
It reads like literary fiction (which, as we all know is among my least favourite genres), jumps around the timeline in every single chapter, occasionally switches to third person making it unclear who the subjects of the story are...and yet, I can kinda see what he was trying to do.
I wouldn't call the book confusing, but there doesn't seem to be a common theme connecting all the stories, they are very random. If Mr Brolin's goal was to be as chaotic as possible, he succeed.
There was one story I skipped, or rather turned the volume down until it was over, I don't need to be traumatised, thanks!!
(Yes, it was the sheep story)
For the most part though, it was interesting, so I'm giving it a 4 star rating.
It reads like literary fiction (which, as we all know is among my least favourite genres), jumps around the timeline in every single chapter, occasionally switches to third person making it unclear who the subjects of the story are...and yet, I can kinda see what he was trying to do.
I wouldn't call the book confusing, but there doesn't seem to be a common theme connecting all the stories, they are very random. If Mr Brolin's goal was to be as chaotic as possible, he succeed.
There was one story I skipped, or rather turned the volume down until it was over, I don't need to be traumatised, thanks!!
(Yes, it was the sheep story)
For the most part though, it was interesting, so I'm giving it a 4 star rating.
November 21, 2024
I am honored to be the second 1 star review on this book.
The thing I love about memoirs is that you don’t have to know a single thing about the person they’re about, because you’ll learn everything from the book you pick up. I picked this one out of Spotify audiobooks because it was short, without realizing it was brand new. I knew nothing about Josh Brolin before picking it up….and now?? I feel as though I know approximately the same amount!
I said “what the fuck” out loud so many times during this book, it was actually ridiculous! I rarely have “wtf” moments when I read books, even horror or gore. I have never been so astonished and appalled by a memoir. I literally wrote in my last review that I feel weird rating memoirs. But here I am! Confident in this 1 star!
The first time I said “what the fuck”, I went to check the reviews on this book. Lo and behold, there was 1 review. Surprise! It was released 2 days ago. Now, there are a few more reviews, and I join the others who read this in a day or two after its release. I am here to relay a resounding FUCK THIS MEMOIR.
Josh Brolin seems like an…okay guy. Based on interviews I read online. He seems like he’s gotten his life on track. Made something of himself. Gotten away from the throes of fame traps. Survived a mentally ill and abusive mother.
And yet, this memoir, a part-poetry-part-monologue-part-storybook-part-autobiography, is a frankensteinish nightmare.
I can handle a bouncing timeline, but this book did whiplash-inducing numbers on me.
I can handle vulgar, but I really didn’t need unnecessary visuals of having sex with couch cushions.
I can handle violence, but there wasn’t a point to have an entire chapter about killing a sheep. (There literally wasn’t a moral to this chapter. I listened to the entire thing, cried, and still was granted no meaning or storyline).
I can handle poetry, in fact, I LOVE poetry! But switching from third-person poetry to first-person storytelling chapter by chapter was confusing and unnecessary.
Taking a risk on a new style can sometimes work out, but I have no idea who approved of this one. Or why. This is embarrassing. Shame on your editor who let this fly!
Some chapters were genuinely good. Genuinely interesting. But there wasn’t any overarching message, a semblance of plot, or even aspects of sentiment or humor. This shit is fake profound and a pathetic attempt at “realness”. If Josh Brolin wants to write poetry, he should write poetry. If Josh Brolin wants to write a monologue, he should write a monologue. If Josh Brolin wants to write a memoir (in this fashion)? He should be stopped. Whoever your editor is Josh, I hope you fire them!
An incredibly impassioned 1 star.
The thing I love about memoirs is that you don’t have to know a single thing about the person they’re about, because you’ll learn everything from the book you pick up. I picked this one out of Spotify audiobooks because it was short, without realizing it was brand new. I knew nothing about Josh Brolin before picking it up….and now?? I feel as though I know approximately the same amount!
I said “what the fuck” out loud so many times during this book, it was actually ridiculous! I rarely have “wtf” moments when I read books, even horror or gore. I have never been so astonished and appalled by a memoir. I literally wrote in my last review that I feel weird rating memoirs. But here I am! Confident in this 1 star!
The first time I said “what the fuck”, I went to check the reviews on this book. Lo and behold, there was 1 review. Surprise! It was released 2 days ago. Now, there are a few more reviews, and I join the others who read this in a day or two after its release. I am here to relay a resounding FUCK THIS MEMOIR.
Josh Brolin seems like an…okay guy. Based on interviews I read online. He seems like he’s gotten his life on track. Made something of himself. Gotten away from the throes of fame traps. Survived a mentally ill and abusive mother.
And yet, this memoir, a part-poetry-part-monologue-part-storybook-part-autobiography, is a frankensteinish nightmare.
I can handle a bouncing timeline, but this book did whiplash-inducing numbers on me.
I can handle vulgar, but I really didn’t need unnecessary visuals of having sex with couch cushions.
I can handle violence, but there wasn’t a point to have an entire chapter about killing a sheep. (There literally wasn’t a moral to this chapter. I listened to the entire thing, cried, and still was granted no meaning or storyline).
I can handle poetry, in fact, I LOVE poetry! But switching from third-person poetry to first-person storytelling chapter by chapter was confusing and unnecessary.
Taking a risk on a new style can sometimes work out, but I have no idea who approved of this one. Or why. This is embarrassing. Shame on your editor who let this fly!
Some chapters were genuinely good. Genuinely interesting. But there wasn’t any overarching message, a semblance of plot, or even aspects of sentiment or humor. This shit is fake profound and a pathetic attempt at “realness”. If Josh Brolin wants to write poetry, he should write poetry. If Josh Brolin wants to write a monologue, he should write a monologue. If Josh Brolin wants to write a memoir (in this fashion)? He should be stopped. Whoever your editor is Josh, I hope you fire them!
An incredibly impassioned 1 star.
November 28, 2024
As of writing this is at a painful 3.24 from 97 ratings. That's fine, because haters gunna hate and usually be wrong.
This is an artistic tour de force, a memoir of unbridled power. We praise Question 7 and Nuclear War: A Scenario for playing between fiction and non-fiction and breaking narrative boundaries, but when an actor gives us his diary entries in the form of a back-and-forth across time reverie, we can't handle it. Apparently celebrity biographies should only be about their lives and in chronological order. Apparently there are feeble minds out there who think it's Brolin's fault they couldn't handle the book.
I genuinely thought this was a powerful piece of writing. There's humour, self-deprecation, self-reflection, celerity gossip, poetry, narrative, violence and everything you could want from a book. Raw is about the best word to sum it up. I highly recommend this to anyone who's a fan of Brolin, obviously, but also to those who want more honesty in their lives.
This is an artistic tour de force, a memoir of unbridled power. We praise Question 7 and Nuclear War: A Scenario for playing between fiction and non-fiction and breaking narrative boundaries, but when an actor gives us his diary entries in the form of a back-and-forth across time reverie, we can't handle it. Apparently celebrity biographies should only be about their lives and in chronological order. Apparently there are feeble minds out there who think it's Brolin's fault they couldn't handle the book.
I genuinely thought this was a powerful piece of writing. There's humour, self-deprecation, self-reflection, celerity gossip, poetry, narrative, violence and everything you could want from a book. Raw is about the best word to sum it up. I highly recommend this to anyone who's a fan of Brolin, obviously, but also to those who want more honesty in their lives.
March 3, 2025
5 Stars for From Under the Truck: A Memoir (audiobook) by Josh Brolin read by the author.
So much of this man’s life is so absurd and chaotic it wouldn’t be believable if it was just been a fictional story. No mother could be that irresponsible. They wouldn’t force a kid to get bitten by a tiger would they? It’s fun to see how the kid from Goonies grew up and became a movie star. But there’s no chance I would have wanted to trade places with him.
So much of this man’s life is so absurd and chaotic it wouldn’t be believable if it was just been a fictional story. No mother could be that irresponsible. They wouldn’t force a kid to get bitten by a tiger would they? It’s fun to see how the kid from Goonies grew up and became a movie star. But there’s no chance I would have wanted to trade places with him.
January 6, 2025
One of the worst things I've ever tried to read.
Truly, truly, Abysmal.
Somebody, somewhere invented the phrase "cash grab" just waiting for this book to eventually be written.
Truly, truly, Abysmal.
Somebody, somewhere invented the phrase "cash grab" just waiting for this book to eventually be written.
November 29, 2024
DNF
I don't give a fuck about pissed off rich kids playing pirate and being chest thumping obnoxious smirking assholes.
I don't give a fuck about pissed off rich kids playing pirate and being chest thumping obnoxious smirking assholes.
August 27, 2026
Road trip audiobook!
Josh Brolin's autobiography stands out from the celebrity memoir field initially for the poetic language and by skipping about in time, but by the end I was exhausted by the constant jumps back and forth through the years, and the prose passed some breaking point and became increasingly laughable.
Also, Brolin comes off as an ass and egoist whenever he's not being a worshipful mommy's boy to his very erratic mother.
It's short, at least.
Josh Brolin's autobiography stands out from the celebrity memoir field initially for the poetic language and by skipping about in time, but by the end I was exhausted by the constant jumps back and forth through the years, and the prose passed some breaking point and became increasingly laughable.
Also, Brolin comes off as an ass and egoist whenever he's not being a worshipful mommy's boy to his very erratic mother.
It's short, at least.
November 22, 2024
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “HAPPINESS THAT LASTED TOO LONG IN PEOPLE ALWAYS SCARED ME, THE INABILITY TO END A SMILE” (JOSH BROLIN)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I personally believe… that Josh Brolin is one of the best “character-actors” working in Hollywood today!
But……….
But… the writing (if you can call it that) in this book is abhorrent. It breaks… destroys… obliterates… every… written and unwritten… rule or guideline… in decent… accepted… appreciated and adored… literature… and the written appreciation… of words… thoughts… and storytelling that so many of us… love and adore!
This book is such a continuous… inane… mindless… babbling… expectoration… of… unlinked… “possible-thoughts”… and what may very well have been meant to be stories… but are aborted as orphaned co-mingling… of nothingness… and some type of attempt of perhaps a 1950’s Beatnik… snapping his fingers… at a coffee house… after imbibing in way too much coffee… and other logic destroying paraphernalia.
One of many questions hits the reader between the eyes… doesn’t Josh have any adult who cares about him enough (he must have had someone he cared or respected… at least proof read this “thing”… to give him feedback… ) to dissuade him from dropping this embarrassing conglomeration on society as a whole? And what about the publishing company? Well I can answer that question from afar… they obviously are the true definition of **ENABLERS”! Instead of stopping this literary defecation… they figured they could make a few bucks off his soon to be sallied name!
Along with the tortuous death of words in this book… the thought of any chronological timeline… or explanation of literally uncontrolled… spasmodic… changes in years… throughout the book… is not even hinted at… let alone explained. Throughout the book the stories jump ten years ahead… twenty years back… three years ahead… thirty years back… constantly… AND I MEAN CONSTANTLY! There is no synergistic connection between these leaps… no story-line connection… not any thread… not even any ripped threads.
And I always wonder why famous people… years later with absolutely nothing to gain… by destroying a supposed loved ones reputation… even ones the public wouldn’t even have known anything of… in the first place. Brolin…despite espousing love for his departed Mother… states among other things:
“NOBODY KNEW WHETHER TO LOVE HER OR TO DISPOSE OF HER BODY. I THINK THEY THOUGHT IF THEY DID, IF THEY ACTUALLY TOOK THE MUSCLE AND GOT RID OF HER FOR GOOD, THAT SHE WOULD SOMEHOW MAKE IT BACK, JUST LIKE IN THE BARS, JUST LIKE EVERY DRUNKEN EIGHTY-MILES-PER-HOUR CAR WRECK, SHE WOULD SOMEHOW CRAWL OUT OF THAT GRAVE AND HAUNT THEM AGAIN AND AGAIN WITH INSULTS THEY COULDN’T EVEN IMAGINE, DODGING THAT BULLFROG VOICE, WHICH SEEMED TO ECHO THROUGH COUNTY AFTER COUNTY, ALWAYS LOOKING FOR ANOTHER STUD TO KILL…”
The author has had drinking and drug problems… “I WAS BORN TO DRINK. I WAS BIRTHED TO DRINK. MY MOTHER DRANK EXACTLY LIKE I DID, (note: more kind words for his mother) AND I WAS RAISED TO BE A MAN AND DRINK LIKE THE MALE EQUIVALENT OF MY MOTHER.”
If I told you that the writing in this book is “weird”… you might think…Oh… like science fiction… no… no… nothing like that… if I told you the writing was “unhinged”… you might say… oh… like a black and white episode of The Twilight Zone… no… no… nothing like that… if I said the writing is like a combination… of a person with severe head trauma… or hallucinogenic use… and the inner belief that the world’s always been against him… but can’t describe it in any sense of chronological order… then… and only then… would I say you kind of “get-it”… without reading this book.
Reading this book… hurt my eyes… gave me a headache… upset my stomach… and hurt my feet… even though I was sitting down the whole time I read it.
IN SUMMARY: I STILL FEEL BROLIN IS A GREAT CHARACTER ACTOR… PERHAPS HE SHOULD GET A SCRIPT WHERE HE PLAYS A WRITER!
P.S. This book is so small… that if you have a large coat… you can probably fit it in your pocket.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I personally believe… that Josh Brolin is one of the best “character-actors” working in Hollywood today!
But……….
But… the writing (if you can call it that) in this book is abhorrent. It breaks… destroys… obliterates… every… written and unwritten… rule or guideline… in decent… accepted… appreciated and adored… literature… and the written appreciation… of words… thoughts… and storytelling that so many of us… love and adore!
This book is such a continuous… inane… mindless… babbling… expectoration… of… unlinked… “possible-thoughts”… and what may very well have been meant to be stories… but are aborted as orphaned co-mingling… of nothingness… and some type of attempt of perhaps a 1950’s Beatnik… snapping his fingers… at a coffee house… after imbibing in way too much coffee… and other logic destroying paraphernalia.
One of many questions hits the reader between the eyes… doesn’t Josh have any adult who cares about him enough (he must have had someone he cared or respected… at least proof read this “thing”… to give him feedback… ) to dissuade him from dropping this embarrassing conglomeration on society as a whole? And what about the publishing company? Well I can answer that question from afar… they obviously are the true definition of **ENABLERS”! Instead of stopping this literary defecation… they figured they could make a few bucks off his soon to be sallied name!
Along with the tortuous death of words in this book… the thought of any chronological timeline… or explanation of literally uncontrolled… spasmodic… changes in years… throughout the book… is not even hinted at… let alone explained. Throughout the book the stories jump ten years ahead… twenty years back… three years ahead… thirty years back… constantly… AND I MEAN CONSTANTLY! There is no synergistic connection between these leaps… no story-line connection… not any thread… not even any ripped threads.
And I always wonder why famous people… years later with absolutely nothing to gain… by destroying a supposed loved ones reputation… even ones the public wouldn’t even have known anything of… in the first place. Brolin…despite espousing love for his departed Mother… states among other things:
“NOBODY KNEW WHETHER TO LOVE HER OR TO DISPOSE OF HER BODY. I THINK THEY THOUGHT IF THEY DID, IF THEY ACTUALLY TOOK THE MUSCLE AND GOT RID OF HER FOR GOOD, THAT SHE WOULD SOMEHOW MAKE IT BACK, JUST LIKE IN THE BARS, JUST LIKE EVERY DRUNKEN EIGHTY-MILES-PER-HOUR CAR WRECK, SHE WOULD SOMEHOW CRAWL OUT OF THAT GRAVE AND HAUNT THEM AGAIN AND AGAIN WITH INSULTS THEY COULDN’T EVEN IMAGINE, DODGING THAT BULLFROG VOICE, WHICH SEEMED TO ECHO THROUGH COUNTY AFTER COUNTY, ALWAYS LOOKING FOR ANOTHER STUD TO KILL…”
The author has had drinking and drug problems… “I WAS BORN TO DRINK. I WAS BIRTHED TO DRINK. MY MOTHER DRANK EXACTLY LIKE I DID, (note: more kind words for his mother) AND I WAS RAISED TO BE A MAN AND DRINK LIKE THE MALE EQUIVALENT OF MY MOTHER.”
If I told you that the writing in this book is “weird”… you might think…Oh… like science fiction… no… no… nothing like that… if I told you the writing was “unhinged”… you might say… oh… like a black and white episode of The Twilight Zone… no… no… nothing like that… if I said the writing is like a combination… of a person with severe head trauma… or hallucinogenic use… and the inner belief that the world’s always been against him… but can’t describe it in any sense of chronological order… then… and only then… would I say you kind of “get-it”… without reading this book.
Reading this book… hurt my eyes… gave me a headache… upset my stomach… and hurt my feet… even though I was sitting down the whole time I read it.
IN SUMMARY: I STILL FEEL BROLIN IS A GREAT CHARACTER ACTOR… PERHAPS HE SHOULD GET A SCRIPT WHERE HE PLAYS A WRITER!
P.S. This book is so small… that if you have a large coat… you can probably fit it in your pocket.
December 22, 2024
I can think of two reasons as to why “celebrities” write memoirs. One may be an exercise in self discovery, basically sort out the shit in their own heads. Or perhaps for the edification of the reading public, allow them to get to know the celeb beyond the public persona. If Brolin was going for #2, he failed miserably. I didn’t know very much, if anything, about him going into this mess and I learned absolutely zero. This book was a series of short vignettes told in no particular order spanning four decades, the majority of them making little to no sense at all. Sometimes they are in the third person so it’s kind of hard to suss out who he’s talking about. Some are written in poetic form. To say this book did not work is a gross understatement. (The only segment that shed any light on this guy was the one with the sheep and personally I found it quite horrifying.) So I’m guessing (hoping) that this book was written for the sole purpose of Brolin getting shit out of his head. Hoped it worked for him. Didn’t work for me.
May 1, 2025
This is not a finished book. There is book somewhere in there, but “From Under the Truck” is not a finished product. I don’t care what Josh Brolin’s agent and editor said. There are thoughts, experiences, memories, but there too fragmented and incomprehensible to make sense of.
I am giving this book 3 stars, because I like and respect Josh Brolin the actor.
In his own book Josh Brolin seems to be a very difficult, unlikable person, who always goes his own way, without care for other people (including his readers), because he wants to experience life and this is a “Brolin way”. Good for him! He would get bored and look for dangerous situations, insult others and so on. And the story about a sheep was ridiculous! Poor sheep! There were many ways to handle this situation and he handled it the “Brolin way”. Meaning in the most unnecessary violent, traumatic for his children, incompetent and pretentiously artistic manner – it ends with a poem.
I got the impression that Josh Brolin thinks he is new Cormac McCarthy (who apparently was his pal). He just writes words on a page and magic happens. Sorry, Josh Brolin, but you are not new Cormac.
This book is a mess, read it at your own peril!
I am giving this book 3 stars, because I like and respect Josh Brolin the actor.
In his own book Josh Brolin seems to be a very difficult, unlikable person, who always goes his own way, without care for other people (including his readers), because he wants to experience life and this is a “Brolin way”. Good for him! He would get bored and look for dangerous situations, insult others and so on. And the story about a sheep was ridiculous! Poor sheep! There were many ways to handle this situation and he handled it the “Brolin way”. Meaning in the most unnecessary violent, traumatic for his children, incompetent and pretentiously artistic manner – it ends with a poem.
I got the impression that Josh Brolin thinks he is new Cormac McCarthy (who apparently was his pal). He just writes words on a page and magic happens. Sorry, Josh Brolin, but you are not new Cormac.
This book is a mess, read it at your own peril!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2024
Became a fan of Brolins after reading and watching “No country”. Brolin was made for that role. Then I watched him for 2 seasons on Outer Range. He was again the perfect fit. This memoir is jumbled but I enjoyed it. No life changing commentary but it was interesting.
November 23, 2024
An unconventional memoir. But I liked it a lot. Brolin is undoubtedly intelligent, he has the ability to analyze his actions and his life, AND he can write. This was closer to prose than a memoir in many places. And I relly liked that. Yes, he jumps all over the place, but it’s easy to follow where he’s leading us at any given time.
If your expecting a name-dropping tell-it-all, this isn’t it. This is a novel.
I was plesantly surprised.
If your expecting a name-dropping tell-it-all, this isn’t it. This is a novel.
I was plesantly surprised.
January 17, 2025
fascinating….
and at times obtuse….
and at times uncomfortably honest….
but never less than pure and real…..
and at times obtuse….
and at times uncomfortably honest….
but never less than pure and real…..
December 17, 2024
ZZZZ Plenty of reviews describing how bad this book is. Listen to them!
January 27, 2025
I regard Josh Brolin as one of the coolest, most bad ass people on the planet, and for him to break himself down and expose his vulnerabilities in this way was so refreshing. Through dozens of shorts stories from his life (without saying these exact words) he lays it out for men and women; it’s ok to not be ok. But it’s also clear in the book that it took him a long time to figure out, and he still battles with reminding himself of that very truth.
His relationship with his mother, with alcohol, with his dad and with his “Cito Rats” are all fascinating eras of an incredibly fascinating life. Each era tells a different story of Brolin, and the way he chose to write it tells a story in itself. The time jumps make me think he sat down to write it and had no idea what he’d write on the next page, and the authenticity of that writing process is what makes this book great.
Read this book, 5/5.
His relationship with his mother, with alcohol, with his dad and with his “Cito Rats” are all fascinating eras of an incredibly fascinating life. Each era tells a different story of Brolin, and the way he chose to write it tells a story in itself. The time jumps make me think he sat down to write it and had no idea what he’d write on the next page, and the authenticity of that writing process is what makes this book great.
Read this book, 5/5.
December 8, 2024
I heard him on Joe Rogan’s podcast and immediately bought his memoir. I wasn’t looking for scandal or anything of that sort, nor did he write that; however this format didn’t read well. I appreciate he wants to try different writing styles and perhaps even be James Joyce or Cormac McCarthy. But he’s not. And please practice in a writer’s seminar not on publication.
He can write. I wish him well and continued sobriety.
He can write. I wish him well and continued sobriety.
December 8, 2024
I had listened to an interview on Howard Stern with Josh Brolin. The interview was interesting, but unfortunately, the book is not. It may have been better if the timeline was in sequential order instead of jumping around. Using just "she" and "he" in some chapters had me thinking who the f is he talking about? No mention of his 9 year marriage to Diane Lane (looked that up on Google) but then again maybe she was a "she" chapter. Who knows? Ugh!
December 3, 2024
Josh Brolin has led one hell of an interesting life.
February 11, 2025
Unconventional memoir. A lot of interesting stories that you only get glimpses of, combined with some California spirituality that came off as pretentious to me. Great voice for an audiobook. Overall it felt like a therapy session for Brolin that we were subjected to, albeit entertained, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend unless you like him as an actor.
December 16, 2024
Man, this book. I had such big expectations for it, so much so that I didn't even bother to read reviews or preview the content before I bought it. I just assumed it would be great. It's Josh Brolin, after all. He has lived a colorful life, a beautiful tragedy that has produced a person with so many stories and experiences that it would take a lifetime to tell them all. And to be clear, I wasn't expecting a magnum opus of epic proportions. But I was expecting, at the very least, a carefully crafted, organized piece of literature that could succinctly tell stories that needed to be told. Instead, I was fed this unorganized amalgamation of bouncing timelines, odd character descriptions of "her" and "she" as if we're supposed to know who the hell he's referencing, and odd stories that may mean something to him but don't really seem to have a rightful place in the book (from a reader's perspective). There were pockets of the book that were interesting; moving, even. But unfortunately, those little gems were swallowed up by this the bowl of spaghetti, which is a self-proclaimed memoir and leaves me wondering: where in God's name were his editors, and what in tarnation did I just read?
November 29, 2024
I wish someone would write a book where they ask their father why he left them with their alcoholic mentally ill mother who laughed when her child was bitten by her pet bobcat. How he can drive away when the windows have been shattered. Stay away for weeks.
Hard to follow this book since he jumps all over in time but I guess that’s the point. Our memories don’t pop into our heads in order.
You’d think growing up with chaos and violence would make him ten times more likely not to live that way but i guess it seems normal. Glad he found his way out.
Funny that his father is so absent from the book but I guess it’s Josh’s story, not his dad’s.
Hard to follow this book since he jumps all over in time but I guess that’s the point. Our memories don’t pop into our heads in order.
You’d think growing up with chaos and violence would make him ten times more likely not to live that way but i guess it seems normal. Glad he found his way out.
Funny that his father is so absent from the book but I guess it’s Josh’s story, not his dad’s.
December 15, 2024
The worst self indulgent, repulsive mess of a text. Having admired Josh Brolin for many years and listening to his episode of the Team Deakins podcast years ago, I was truly looking forward to this book. He was more vulnerable, introspective, interesting and articulate in that 40 min podcast than this entire mess. It reads like a cheap novel by a man obsessed with Bukowski, McCarthy, Thompson, or an actor writing a diary of a character he’s trying to embody. The main character syndrome, unbearable ramblings and complete lack of actual lived experience made this completely unreadable.
I like Josh Brolin so much less after this. I couldn’t even make it halfway. Disappointing
I like Josh Brolin so much less after this. I couldn’t even make it halfway. Disappointing
December 18, 2024
3.5 stars (rounded up to 4. Will Goodreads ever give us 1/2 stars or move to a 1-10 scale?).
Josh Brolin has lived an interesting life. I’ve heard him on podcasts and he is smart and funny and honest. This comes across in his memoir, too, though the book is a little more scattershot. It is not told in a chronological order; the book consists of essays, poems, letters, and short stories/vignettes. It was frustrating at times, being thrown right into a story without much context. He’s going for a style here, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
Overall, though, this is about his mother Jane, who raised him in an unconventional manner, without much help from his father James.
Josh Brolin has lived an interesting life. I’ve heard him on podcasts and he is smart and funny and honest. This comes across in his memoir, too, though the book is a little more scattershot. It is not told in a chronological order; the book consists of essays, poems, letters, and short stories/vignettes. It was frustrating at times, being thrown right into a story without much context. He’s going for a style here, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
Overall, though, this is about his mother Jane, who raised him in an unconventional manner, without much help from his father James.
January 30, 2025
First Josh Brolin was my crush from Goonies. Then an impressive dramatic actor. Then someone whose poetic Instagram posts and vulnerable podcast interviews intrigued me. This book provides a level of insight into him, but also makes it clear he is not a man to be labeled or put in a box. It also gives just enough insight to leave you dissatisfied, and not necessarily wanting more. Some stories are full and heartbreaking. Others are brief and vague. I didn’t mind the mix, the lack of order. But it is uneven.
December 8, 2024
Josh Brolin is a brilliant actor, but his memoir is extremely lacking. It is a series of non-linear tales of his chaotic life, in which he recounts his upbringing, his many drunken fights and encounters, etc. but it only provides a surface level examination of his career. Why he picked certain projects, his successes and failures, etc.
It’s all a very frustratingly jumbled mess, unfortunately.
It’s all a very frustratingly jumbled mess, unfortunately.
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