Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography
Book Review: The book he doesn't want you to read
Summary: 4 Stars
Not usually one for celebrity biographies I imported this from the US specifically because Cruise has used every tool he could to prevent its publication. The book is entertaining and informative and I can understand why neither Cruise nor Scientology would want it in the public domain. My impression is that Morton has thoroughly researched his subject as Cruise is notoriously litigious. All-in-all, a thoroughly rewarding read.Book Review: Candy Floss
Summary: 1 Stars
It was only mild curiosity that drew me to this, and once I started it was like car-crash TV: you want to stop looking, but you can't. If Andrew Morton has spent years researching this (as is claimed) it doesn't show. In fairness, the first few chapters on Cruise's early life and career are reasonably informative, and it seems like the author has managed to track down and speak to people who actually knew him.
However, once we get into the era of 'Cruise ascendent' i.e. Top Gun and onwards, the whole thing becomes threadbare, and it's painfully clear that all Morton has done is trawl the IMDB and look through his back issues of Hello! magazine. If you are genuinely interested in Cruise, then I think you can quite easily get the information Morton provides by spending some time Google-ing.
Whilst a certain amount of cliche is expected in a 'Star Biog' the amount on display here is practically suffocating. There is a flash of interest when talk turns to Scientology, but again you struggle to tease out anthing which seems like a verifiable fact.
The end of the book is particularly iritating because essentially all it consists of is bland reportage of the Oprah interview, Brook Shields spat and DAH DAH DAH...the birth of Mr&Mrs Cruise's first child. I would imagine practically everyone reading will be familiar with all that anyway. Here's the problem: Morton brings nothing new to the table. Reason? Obviously, no-one of any importance AT ALL to Cruise and his career in the last 20 years was willing to talk to him. But Morton has pressed on anyway, and what we end up with, for at least the final three quaters of the book, is endless opinionating and conjecture. Towards the end of the book the tone of this becomes a little, well, spiteful, and I imagine that the last 50 pages or so are the main reason why this book, so far, has not been published in the UK for fear (quite rightly it seams to me) of liable action.
Perhaps it seems I am a fan defending Cruise. I am not: I have no strong feelings on him either way - I've seen some of his films but not all. His involvement with Scientology is certainly interesting (I am not a scientologist either!) but neither this or his story as an actor is served here by a book which pretty much fails in it's objective and manages to flush away any impartiality.
There is a story to tell about Cruise - no doubt, but perhaps his iron-clad grip on information means that it will take a very long time to see it in print.
Borrow it from the library if you can.