- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Press (26 May 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0593067258
- ISBN-13: 978-0593067253
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.8 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 110,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Stories I Only Tell My Friends
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Product Description
Review
A lovely autobiography, equal parts dish and pathos. --Vanity Fair
[Lowe] writes viscerally and insightfully...He looks back at the aberrant highs of his heart-throb days, the changing nature of stardom in Hollywood, the trade-off he has made between high life and home life, and the step-by-step effort behind his show business survival. He looked like the callowest kid in the 'Outsiders' crew. Now he looks like the sturdiest of them all. --The New York Times
I really enjoyed it...Thoroughly entertaining: the Brat Pack years, the Wayne's World years, the Alcoholic Obscurity, the Glamorous Romances (Princess Stephanie of Monaco!), the Inevitable Rehab, and the Triumphant Comeback on The West Wing. --Time Magazine
[Lowe's] charming, honest, even affectionate memoir is the story of strong guts behind a strikingly handsome face...A book to recommend widely.
--Booklist
Engaging and revealing --Spectator
Fascinating ... thoughtful ... compelling --Heat
Compelling --Mariella Frostrup, Observer
A slick, seemingly confidential portrayal of a complex, charismatic actor.
--The Times
[Lowe] writes viscerally and insightfully...He looks back at the aberrant highs of his heart-throb days, the changing nature of stardom in Hollywood, the trade-off he has made between high life and home life, and the step-by-step effort behind his show business survival. He looked like the callowest kid in the 'Outsiders' crew. Now he looks like the sturdiest of them all. --The New York Times
I really enjoyed it...Thoroughly entertaining: the Brat Pack years, the Wayne's World years, the Alcoholic Obscurity, the Glamorous Romances (Princess Stephanie of Monaco!), the Inevitable Rehab, and the Triumphant Comeback on The West Wing. --Time Magazine
[Lowe's] charming, honest, even affectionate memoir is the story of strong guts behind a strikingly handsome face...A book to recommend widely.
--Booklist
Engaging and revealing --Spectator
Fascinating ... thoughtful ... compelling --Heat
Compelling --Mariella Frostrup, Observer
A slick, seemingly confidential portrayal of a complex, charismatic actor.
--The Times
Book Description
The wryly funny and moving account of an extraordinary life lived in the public eye
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a well written and very interesting autobiography, which is also a thoughtful exploration of the pitfalls of early and rapid fame and the associated difficulties with staying grounded. The title of this book is appropriate because it often reads like a collection of entertaining stories, but it's pulled together so well that it never feels disjointed.
Rob Lowe emerges as a kind of Forrest Gump character, with connections to many famous people or events over the past thirty years. He gives JFK Jnr the encouragement that he needs to get married, visits the set of an eccentric movie that he thinks has promise (the first Star Wars), hangs out with Presidential candidates, even sits next to the 9/11 hijackers on their rehearsal flight.
The book is crammed with amusing anecdotes and recollections of a massive array of stars. Tom Cruise impresses Rob early with his robotic, intense but friendly personality. Bill Murray randomly invites him to hang out in his hotel room. Daryl Hannah shows up as a nineteen year old virgin who is saving herself for Jackson Browne (a man she has never met). John Belushi warns him to keep out of nightclubs. A youthful Charlie Sheen is a conspiracy-theory freak who sometimes wears a bulletproof vest under his clothes to school. There are even walk ons by Hollywood legends like Cary Grant - who plies Rob with aftershave - and Frank Sinatra.
Rob is selective with what he discloses and if you're looking for smutty revelations you will be largely disappointed. While he certainly doesn't hide the fact that he well and truly indulged in women, alcohol and drugs, nor does he spill any graphic details. Towards the end when he talks about his time on The West Wing, you also feel that he's holding back a lot about how things really went down.
So many of Lowe's early co-stars went on to become huge stars: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze. Rob talks about the difficulties in plotting a Hollywood career, the roles he missed out on and the mistakes that he made along the way, in a way that's both honest and lacking in self-pity. It's clear that while he's never commanded the respect that he so yearned for, that he has found peace with where he's now at. At one point he wryly comments, "no one is likely to take a nineteen year old as pretty as I was seriously".
I found this book highly readable but also surprisingly thought provoking. I recommend it.
Rob Lowe emerges as a kind of Forrest Gump character, with connections to many famous people or events over the past thirty years. He gives JFK Jnr the encouragement that he needs to get married, visits the set of an eccentric movie that he thinks has promise (the first Star Wars), hangs out with Presidential candidates, even sits next to the 9/11 hijackers on their rehearsal flight.
The book is crammed with amusing anecdotes and recollections of a massive array of stars. Tom Cruise impresses Rob early with his robotic, intense but friendly personality. Bill Murray randomly invites him to hang out in his hotel room. Daryl Hannah shows up as a nineteen year old virgin who is saving herself for Jackson Browne (a man she has never met). John Belushi warns him to keep out of nightclubs. A youthful Charlie Sheen is a conspiracy-theory freak who sometimes wears a bulletproof vest under his clothes to school. There are even walk ons by Hollywood legends like Cary Grant - who plies Rob with aftershave - and Frank Sinatra.
Rob is selective with what he discloses and if you're looking for smutty revelations you will be largely disappointed. While he certainly doesn't hide the fact that he well and truly indulged in women, alcohol and drugs, nor does he spill any graphic details. Towards the end when he talks about his time on The West Wing, you also feel that he's holding back a lot about how things really went down.
So many of Lowe's early co-stars went on to become huge stars: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze. Rob talks about the difficulties in plotting a Hollywood career, the roles he missed out on and the mistakes that he made along the way, in a way that's both honest and lacking in self-pity. It's clear that while he's never commanded the respect that he so yearned for, that he has found peace with where he's now at. At one point he wryly comments, "no one is likely to take a nineteen year old as pretty as I was seriously".
I found this book highly readable but also surprisingly thought provoking. I recommend it.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Rob Lowe's many fans won't need encouraging to buy this memoir: they'll find it cleverly well written, pacey and entertaining. Lowe's unflinching emotional honesty and his readiness to throw a real (verbal) punch, not a stage one, might come as more of a surprise. This isn't a sentimental self-advertisement from a vain film star. Far from it, it's an engaging and uplifting account of one man's discovery of a 'right way' to live, and deserves to reach a much wider audience than his fan base. For those interested in language, it's also a fascinating opportunity to see the gap that's opening up between 'English' English and this, the colloquial English of a very articulate educated American.
In the final chapters of his book, Rob Lowe looks forward to a future with more acting and wider challenges, including writing; not for the first time, I recognise an uncanny parallel between Lowe and his distinguished predecessor, Dirk Bogarde, who also 'graduated' as an author of great distinction. On this evidence, we may hope for good things to come.
In the final chapters of his book, Rob Lowe looks forward to a future with more acting and wider challenges, including writing; not for the first time, I recognise an uncanny parallel between Lowe and his distinguished predecessor, Dirk Bogarde, who also 'graduated' as an author of great distinction. On this evidence, we may hope for good things to come.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you have got as far as checking reviews for this book I assume you're something of a Rob Lowe fan and know much of the life story. So am I. I don't usually read autobiographies, as I tend to be disappointed that they don't live up to my (perhaps unreasonable!) expectations of that person. In this case, the book surpassed them.
As an 80s teen with the St Elmo's "sax poster" on my wall, I had a crush on Rob Lowe. On reading this book, I found myself feeling an echo of the same symptoms again(!), but for different reasons. His honest, highly intelligent, self-deprecating account of his life reads like it is written by a man who knows he has been exceptionally fortunate in many respects and values this and his family above all. I won't pull any spoilers, but will say that the book is a charmingly candid account of a sometimes difficult life and up-and-down career, and feels relatively free of the legal gagging you sometimes get a sense of in autobiographies.
At times, it reads like a roll-call of Hollywood's finest from the 80s but in an engaging rather than arrogant way. At others, there is stark honesty, for example about alcohol issues and dealing with fame and all its pros and cons at such a young age. If I have any criticism, it is that the most recent years of his life are given less focus and in some ways skimmed over (being in the UK I would like to have had more than a short paragraph on his stint here in theatre, perhaps), but that is relatively minor.
In short, it is a riveting read and highly recommended. And I can't help thinking there are a few more stories that couldn't be included that would be fascinating to hear...
As an 80s teen with the St Elmo's "sax poster" on my wall, I had a crush on Rob Lowe. On reading this book, I found myself feeling an echo of the same symptoms again(!), but for different reasons. His honest, highly intelligent, self-deprecating account of his life reads like it is written by a man who knows he has been exceptionally fortunate in many respects and values this and his family above all. I won't pull any spoilers, but will say that the book is a charmingly candid account of a sometimes difficult life and up-and-down career, and feels relatively free of the legal gagging you sometimes get a sense of in autobiographies.
At times, it reads like a roll-call of Hollywood's finest from the 80s but in an engaging rather than arrogant way. At others, there is stark honesty, for example about alcohol issues and dealing with fame and all its pros and cons at such a young age. If I have any criticism, it is that the most recent years of his life are given less focus and in some ways skimmed over (being in the UK I would like to have had more than a short paragraph on his stint here in theatre, perhaps), but that is relatively minor.
In short, it is a riveting read and highly recommended. And I can't help thinking there are a few more stories that couldn't be included that would be fascinating to hear...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What a story!
Great story and written as if Rob Lowe is talking to you. He seems to have lived round the corner from every member of the Brat Pack and is always in the right place at the right... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rossie
enjoyed
well written if a bit dry in places, gives a good honest view into the life of rob lowe. not enough about the west wing
Published 1 month ago by george
Love!
I'm a huge fan of Rob Lowe, so maybe I'm a little biased, but I loved this book! It's both witty, insightful and charming; couldn't recommend any more if I tried!
Published 3 months ago by Yanxa
Entertaining and well written
I was torn between 3 and 4 stars on this one, but went with three because there are areas in this where Rob Lowe is obviously holding back, this is especially true of his telling... Read more
Published 4 months ago by N. Brett
an interesting insight
I've never been a prticular fan of Rob Lowe but picked this up at the library as it looked interesting. Read more
Published 6 months ago by domino
Recommended listen!
I'm currently half way through listening to Lowe's story and I'm loving it! Knowing that this is narrated and written by Rob Lowe himself added to my interest. Read more
Published 8 months ago by SR
Excellent but more detail please......
I read this book in around four days which is testament to its "grab" factor and prose style which is very engaging and light (a bit like Mr Lowe himself). Read more
Published 8 months ago by Andy Lee
Disappointing
After having read Andre Agassi's brilliant biography Open, I was very much looking forward to another biography filled with great story telling, insight into a different world and... Read more
Published 9 months ago by DOJ
Beautifully and intelligently written biography
As a fan of the actor since my teens, I was keen to read his self penned biog (no ghost writers here!) and it surpassed my expectations. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kay C
Honest, entertaining and fun, but so what?
Rob Lowe played Sam Seabourne in THE WEST WING and left after four seasons. My whole reason for buying this book was to find out why and I had to wait to the end to find out why. Read more
Published 10 months ago by DarrenHF
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