David Niven autobiographies
Discussion
Moon's a balloon
Hmmm been looking forward to this for a while, about half way through and not overly impressed.
He comes across as a nice bloke who got lots of lucky breaks and mingled with all the stars of the era, but....
He is no great writer (was he ever a great actor, not convinced) and it's all so matter of fact as to be somewhat interesting but not entertaining. It lacks any scandal or gossip which may have added some snap and sparkle - he doesn't even name the big female star he had a fling with, just using an BFS acronym.
Will finish it but unless some zombies suddenly appear and eat some lesbians I won't be reading his follow up
Hmmm been looking forward to this for a while, about half way through and not overly impressed.
He comes across as a nice bloke who got lots of lucky breaks and mingled with all the stars of the era, but....
He is no great writer (was he ever a great actor, not convinced) and it's all so matter of fact as to be somewhat interesting but not entertaining. It lacks any scandal or gossip which may have added some snap and sparkle - he doesn't even name the big female star he had a fling with, just using an BFS acronym.
Will finish it but unless some zombies suddenly appear and eat some lesbians I won't be reading his follow up
Becoming more interesting after the war and the tragic death of his wife, due to events rather than his writing style
Will be interesting how he describes this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2002324/...
Will be interesting how he describes this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2002324/...
May not be malicious but its a bit dishonest in an autobiography.
It wasn't like it needed more "I met X" stories.
What it did need was more insight, more detail, and more views and opinions on people (who are actually named!). For example he claims to be struggling with the mortgage in LA, but gives little or no detail on finances or career, and how he ended up very wealthy. I don't mean vulgar details but just some sort of insight. It would be interesting to see how his fees for movies changed as he become more established.
It was mostly, "I met X who lent me his house for 6 months, he is a lovely sweet man who looks after his friends". I am sure some of the very famous friends he regularly name drops were complete arses, but the only bad people are minor army characters.
Overall I was pretty underwhelmed.
It wasn't like it needed more "I met X" stories.
What it did need was more insight, more detail, and more views and opinions on people (who are actually named!). For example he claims to be struggling with the mortgage in LA, but gives little or no detail on finances or career, and how he ended up very wealthy. I don't mean vulgar details but just some sort of insight. It would be interesting to see how his fees for movies changed as he become more established.
It was mostly, "I met X who lent me his house for 6 months, he is a lovely sweet man who looks after his friends". I am sure some of the very famous friends he regularly name drops were complete arses, but the only bad people are minor army characters.
Overall I was pretty underwhelmed.
Edited by Adam B on Monday 5th September 14:23
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