Lucky Man: A Memoir by Michael J. Fox Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Lucky Man: A Memoir
Book Review: Inspiring
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was truely inspiring! It is wonderful to hear the story from Michael's own perspective. He is an amazing person and is admired by more people than he knows. Michael J. Fox is a leader and hero for many, especially others who are fighting their own battle with Parkinsons.Book Review: Just OK
Summary: 3 Stars
I was really disappointed in this book. Not by the content, but by the messy, confusing style. It it totally all over the place, hard to follow and written in a very confused manner. Fox comes off okay, and Fox fans will like it, but not very good for an aautobiography. It feels like it was slapped together and rushed out.Book Review: Living with victory
Summary: 4 Stars
Wow! The guy has a lot of gumption; that is, I am touched by his tenacity, courage, and willingness to be what he needs to be to handle what he has to handle. He managed to clearly show his love for his family in this book, and seemed to not hesitate to let us in on the core of his struggles.
All of us have "things" that we need to, and/or wish to tackle earnestly, and all of us have trials to get through. Way to go, Mike. What a great example for all of us, whether it is to change, or a really big mountain to climb, -or both, as you did.
You are an amazing fellow. God's blessings to you,Mike.
Sincerely, Mickey
Book Review: Lucky Fox
Summary: 4 Stars
It is hard to remember or belive now, but in the 1980's, Michael J. Fox was a huge celebrity with a top-ranked TV show and several blockbuster movies. This is his story of a life transformation brought about by a debilitating condition, young onset Parkinson's disease. Michael divides the first 40 years of his life into four chapters. In the first, and to me least interesting, he is a typical lower-middle class Canadian Army brat, who has minor success in local TV and theatre productions, while struggling with schoolwork (he never finishes high school) and normal adolescent social and relationship problems.
Things pick up a little in the second chapter, where he decides that his minor success in Canada is the stepping stone to a Hollywood career. Michael nearly starves for three years in a run-down LA apartment, waiting for agents and producers to call, until the phone and the power are turned off for non-payment.
By a near miracle, Michael lands the job on Family Ties and begins the third chapter, noted by excessive drinking, hard work, major career success, a string of going-nowhere relationships, and rampant spending on homes and cars. Halfway through this chapter, Michael is diagnosed with PD, but decides to keep it a secret for nearly a decade. Michael pops pills at just the right time to keep his symptoms hidden, while sneaking off to weekend medical consultations and procedures in hidden locations. He learns to sit on his hands to hide the shaking if the meds are not timed just right.
Finally, the fourth chapter begins. Michael has a family, a loving and beautiful wife, and a committment, ultimately fulfilled, to quit drinking, reel in his other excesses, and confront his PD. Michael's doctors had earlier told him that his PD would limit his career to about 10 years.
Particularly interesting are the decisions he makes about how to best use these ten last productive years. Michael attempts to break out of the hopeless typecasting that he has been pigeon-holed into by appearing in Woody Allen films and other roles. Finally accepting that due to his height and looks, he has no chance to age gracefully like fellow sit-com stars Woody Harrelson or Tom Hanks into leading man roles, Fox pursues directing and accepts that he does not need to take every role to continue earning as he did in the 1980's. A string of box-office failures brings this point home in the 1990's.
Michael Fox has put together a fascinating autobiography, that everyone should read to get some perspective back in their life. It is not particularly well written, as Fox likes to jump around almost randomly, nearly skipping major sections such as the Back to the Future sequels, and dwell endlessly on minor characters and incidents from his youth. It is a honest reflection on how life and one's expectations and objectives change from youth to mid-adulthood.
Book Review: Lucky Man
Summary: 5 Stars
I have always been a fan of Micheal J. Fox since his early days as Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties and then as the quirky but loveable character, Marty McFly in Back to the Future - The Complete Trilogy (Widescreen Edition) and Mike Flaherty on SPIN CITY .
I picked this book up on a whim; it was the cover that caught my attention. I knew about Michael J. Fox's struggle with Parkinson's Disease, like most of America, but there was something about this photograph that was so endearing and made me wonder, what aspect of his life made him look so happy and almost giddy on the cover?
This is a wonderful book about courage, adjustment and acceptance, not in that particular order. The amazing grace with which Michael J. Fox chronicles his life and speaks openly about drinking, depression, marriage and family. This is an honest and refreshing book about his outlook on Parkinson's Disease and how it has impacted his life and that of his family. This book touches on his plans for the future and his work with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, created to help advance a research path to Parkinson's Disease through embryonic stem cell studies.
Michael J. Fox is a leading advocate for Parkinson's Disease research, this book offers a message of hope and compassion for anyone who has know someone affected by PD. My admiration for Michael J. Fox continues after reading his memoirs of such an intimate illness.