Book Review: "My Booky Wook" by Russell Brand

Russell Brand is a celebrity figure whom I've always found to be fascinating. "Get Him to the Greek" is a permanent fixture in our home - our go-to film when there's nothing good on TV and we want guaranteed entertainment and laughs (despite the fact that we've seen it dozens of times). I think Brand is brilliantly funny in that film.

Part One of Brand's autobiographical series,My Booky Wook, was rather entertaining and amusing. I did find myself laughing out loud every so often during my reading. Nothing in it was really unexpected from what I had already learned about Brand through the media, but some of the details were surprising and interesting. For example, the story about how Brand lost his virginity was not really a shocker, but it explains a lot. It was impressive to me how vividly he seems to recall much of his childhood, adolescence and beyond, especially considering how much drugs and booze he put into his body. I also found both his lexicon and syntax to be rather sophisticated.

I would recommend Brand's book to anyone who's ever been fascinated by the man. If you have never taken an interest in his personality, work or life, then this book probably isn't for you, because it goes really into depth about his life and experiences. Now that I'm finally finished with his first book, I'm just starting his second, "My Booky Wook 2" which seems like it can thankfully pick up where the other left off and tell more about his adult life and experiences as a celebrity. Here are some of my favorite excerpts from My Booky Wook:

"Weeks passed, gerbils germinated. I think Barney disgraced himself by getting pregnant with one of his son's children; I despaired of them. I did consider a Sodom and Gommorah-style smiting, preserving only Barney, but when I looked at their little faces my wrath was assuaged: 'How can I stay mad at you? You incestuous, cannibal little slags.'"

"My mum used to send me these postcards from hospital....There'd always be some encoded, 'Try and be a good boy' message stitched into it. Well, I wish I'd been naughtier, if anything. When I look back, it's not those misdeeds I regret...but the times when I conformed. I regret that I didn't realize...it's all just a trick to indoctrinate you into being a conditioned, tame, placid citizen. Rebel, children, I urge you, fight the turgid slick of conformity with which they seek to smother your glory."

And lastly: "Another thing which happened at that orgy that shouldn't is a washing-machine repair man turned up--not as a guest, but to repair the washing machine. That's bad scheduling, isn't it? 'Are you busy between nine and twelve on Wednesday?' 'No, not really, well...I was planning to have an orgy.'