Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Lucky Man: A Memoir
Book Review: An Incredible Story From an Incredible Human Being
Summary: 5 Stars
It has been quite some time since Michael J. Fox of Back to the Future and Family Ties fame announced to the world that he had Parkinson's disease. What is most interesting with this memoir is that he is in no way depressed about his rare affliction, but in some ways feels happy to have contracted it. He feels a lucky man.
His career did not begin with the big bucks. As a young boy from Canada, he wanted to strike it rich in Hollywood, but in the beginning years he often went hungry due to lack of funds. But then he got his bi break with Family Ties, which soon went in tandem with the Back of the Future trilogy. With these two projects under his belt, Fox felt pretty unstoppable, so it was quite surprising when each movie he made did not even reach close to the success of his past projects.
It was during the early nineties that Fox began to notice a shaking in his hand and arm which he simply could not control. It began to get worse as the years progressed and he finally had it checked out and received the shock of his life when he was told he had Parkinson's disease, which is extremely rare in young people.
Since leaving Spin City, which he stayed with for as long as possible, he has been writing his memoirs, doing voices for movies like Stuart Little and Disney's Atlantis, as well as enjoying life with his wife and kids. He feels a lucky man to have received such wonders in a life that he never takes for granted. Lucky Man is his story and it is a very moving one.
Originally published on December 9th, 2002.
Book Review: Challenges and Success
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Lucky Man after reading Michael J. Fox's recent best seller Always Looking Up. Similar to his recent book, Lucky Man is an autobiography which focuses more on the author's early years and the discovery that he had Parkinson's. Basically this book outlines his earliest memories and ends where Always Looking Up begins. I found both books to be great reads, I specifically appreciated Fox's vulnerability with disclosing the good, bad, and ugly about his life. Highly recommended.Book Review: Disease-focused Book Filled with Blaming and Complaining
Summary: 3 Stars
This book may have seemed courageous when it first came out in 2002 but to read it today reveals Fox as complaining about everything and shifting any blame away from himself. Way too much focus of the book is on his Parkinson's Disease, and not enough is devoted to his career.
Certainly the disease is what makes his life story unusual, but to center the book around Parkinson's is a way for him to shift the focus away from the rest of his life. It is obvious that he does not want the public to see the real Michael "J." Fox (J is not his real middle initial). He comes across as a self-centered, egotistical, alcoholic wild man who needs to hop from project to project while ignoring his family. The problem is that he never accepts responsibility for contributing to his own problems and rarely gives the reader much insight into who he really is as a person. Maybe he doesn't know who he really is.
The repetitiveness of his few personal stories gets tiring (he REALLY loves to talk about drinking because he REALLY loved to drink!) and the book is written in a style that screams "whitewash." There isn't much here to make himself look bad--he wants to lead the audience to think he is a good boy, yet there are many holes he doesn't fill and many failures that he refuses to seriously address (such as claiming to be a family man yet taking movie after movie so he can be away from home).
There just plain needed to be more about his career and his working relationships. There is almost nothing about Family Ties--and virtually no stories about his TV co-stars. He doesn't even mention a few of his most famous early works in TV. Spin City gets a little bit of space near the end but he owns part of that show and has self-interest in promoting it. His movies are just throw-away paragraphs.
He could have cut out a lot of boring stuff about Parkinson's and drinking binges to devote more space to what most of us know him for. Even if you read the book for more insight into his disease, you may be disappointed because it's obvious that Fox doesn't want to reveal much of himself to the public.
Book Review: Engaging and Insightful
Summary: 4 Stars
Michael J. Fox opens his 2002 memoir in late 1990, in the moment he first notices the pinky-finger tremor that leads, a year later at age 30, to a diagnosis of Young Onset Parkinson's Disease (PD).
Then he backs up for a hundred pages to describe his growing-up years in Canada and rising-star experiences in Hollywood -- including an interesting theory of "celebrity" (that it is a gone-haywire extension of the suspension of disbelief/emotional connection that are required of an audience during a performance). He devotes chapters to his PD diagnosis and treatment (including his concealment of it) and to his descent into career and personal crisis. Though it seems PD would top his list of problems then, he notices it doesn't even make the list which includes alcoholism. Fox finishes by describing his redemption, his "coming out" about PD, and his work toward PD research.
The memoir's structure and writing exceeded my expectations and I wondered about a ghostwriter -- until I read Fox's acknowledgements, where he mentions the writing of it and thanks his writing-mentor brother-in-law ... Michael ("Omnivore's Dilemma") Pollan! Lucky Man is an informative, engaging, and insightful memoir.
Book Review: Excellent Memoir
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael J. Fox begins his autobiography telling of his discovery one morning that his pinkie was twitching, a discovery that would ultimately change the course of his life when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. He then flashes back to his childhood in Canada and his relationship with his parents, siblings and his beloved Nana. Fox talks about his struggles in school (he eventually dropped out of high school) and his success as an actor in Canada which inspired him to move to California where he struggled for three years before landing the role of Alex on "Family Ties". For a while he enjoyed the perks of fame, getting free stuff whenever he wanted, lots of drinking and partying, but his marriage to Tracy Pollan, having children, and Parkinson's helped settle him down.
This is a fascinating look at the life of Michael J. Fox. Readers expecting anecdotes about the filming of "Family Ties", "Back to the Future" or any of his works will be disappointed, as there is little writing of what goes on behind the scenes, in fact, he says he barely remembers filming "Back to the Future". Outside of an unpleasant encounter with Cher, little is mentioned about other actors, even his costars. Instead, he writes about his private life - his childhood, his family, his living the good life as an actor, his heavy drinking, and his love for his wife and children and the effect Parkinson's has had on his life. I liked this approach; the glimpses into Fox's private life made him seem more real. He's not afraid to poke fun at himself, especially recounting how his family reacted to his winning an Emmy. He is also brutally frank about his heavy drinking and the effect it had on his marriage. And he doesn't pull any punches in describing how Parkinson's has effected his life.
This is a good read.