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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An outstanding book, 26 May 2003
First of all, I must say I have NEVER read anything like this book. I find this book very hard to categorise, as it's not exactly a memoir and not quite a journal ... it's a diary of thoughts, musings, worries, soliloquies, rants and observations, a stream of consciousness that the author has poured out through the medium of e-mail, then gathered together here in this book. This is a very honest book, as the author bares his soul to the world. You hear Wong being selfish, paranoid, afraid, but he acknowledges and faces up to these emotions. You will pick up his guilt as he is forced to fulfil work obligations on a movie project and the HBO TV show 'Oz', endlessly jetting between sets and visiting his son throughout his first crucial months, and you can taste his self-disgust, sweetened by his awe as he gives Jackson his first bath, or feels tiny fingers squeeze his. There is also a fine thread of humour running throughout the narrative, sometimes dark, often self-deprecating, but never inappropriate. As you are drawn into the book, you will pick up little asides about what he feels about his career, witness his strong love and appreciation for his family and friends, catch glimpses of his private life (hosting dinner parties in his Manhattan apartment for the likes of Alfred Molina), and awe at the miracle of the little ball of life that was now his responcibility. You learn a lot about the Wong behind the camera, who, completely unlike any of his screen or stage roles, is by turns manicly obsessive or laid back and completely affable. The style of the book is, well, all over the place, but in a deliberate, Iain Banks sort of a way, with myriad, beautifully written writing styles hitting you at every turn of the page. There are the the emails in which he circulated 'news bulletins' to friends and family, messages of support from friends and well-wishers, there are poems, there are lyrics to songs, and there are clinical explanations of the ordeals of his child, all beautifully written by Wong in endless typefaces and font sizes. Above all else, anyone who reads this book will have no doubt that Jackson Foo Wong is lucky to have parents like Richie and BDW. These guys are just so full of love and postive energy and a dawning appreciation of everything they have. I somehow felt it was a privilege to read this book and get a peek into these lives. This book deserves to sell well.
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