Russell Brand – My Booky Wook
March 25th, 2011 by Sara
In truth, Russell Brand’s ‘private’ life has been anything but – so even before you think to yourself; ‘Hmmmm, I might buy this book’, you will already have a fairly good idea of the nature of its content. But as well as covering all of the disgraces and controversy featured in the red-tops, it also creates a rather touching and intimate portrait of a man’s infuriating battle with his own destructive self.
Wasting no time, we initially join our protagonist, Russell, in the year 2005 while he is holed up in a sexual addiction treatment centre which also houses convicted sex offenders and paedophiles. A shocking start? More an apt introduction to a life story which contains more ups and downs than a gymnast on a trampoline.
Just as quickly as Russell Brand found fame, the tabloid newspapers found him. As a result of this exposure I found myself rather disliking the man before I was even aware of what he was, or indeed did. But when I first stumbled across some of Brand’s stand-up material I discovered something rather alluring about him. His ability to illuminate a story with his erudite, grandiose use of the English language was charming and something which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have a lot of time for a person who can make the showcasing of a wide vocabulary seem cool – plus I happen to think that he is rather funny, a bonus for any comedian.
Since Brand has a gift for using English verbally, I had high hopes for his literary offering. I began reading his Booky Wook with a dictionary near-by in case I discovered a word with which I was not familiar, and it wasn’t long before my big book of definitions came in handy. The word in question was ‘onanism’, and the results make me blush a little (in case you don’t know what ‘onanism’ means, it’s one of those words that, when you find out, you roll your eyes and think to yourself; ‘I probably should have known that’).
The book(y wook) opens with an appropriately small amount of information about his time as a toddler, because let’s be honest, who can remember much about their fledgling years? But don’t worry scandal-hunters! It isn’t long before we are given a thorough re-telling of some of the more colourful happenings of his school-life including his exclusion from a boarding school and his mis-haps with a character charmingly called ‘Helmet Harry’.
But in a matter of pages his schoolboy high-jinx transcend into the more serious subject of a life dependant on drugs. As with the tone of the entire book, the subject of drug addiction doesn’t appear to be taken too seriously which I thought was a little crass at the time, but on reflection it was strangely appropriate. I realised that Brand hasn’t written this book looking for sympathy or to bring a tear to the reader’s eye – he is merely trying to entertain. Ever since he first got on the stage in a school production he makes no point of masking his addiction to the buzz of making people laugh – a feeling that he describes as the ‘headiest intoxicant’, so why should his recount of his own drug addiction be handled any differently? When Brand writes of the struggles that he has endured with addiction and the flaws of his own personality he seems to do so with a smile and cheeky wink that is fitting for a man who appears to have few regrets – an attitude that turns a potentially edgy read into a heart warming journey into stardom.
Unfortunately, I found myself slightly resenting Brand as I neared the end of the book. Everyone secretly craves fame and fortune, and for many, despite their best efforts, that dream never comes to fruition. Brand too had these ambitions yet seemed to try his best to ruin every chance that came his way – he managed to achieve his hopes and dreams almost by accident. A final chapter entitled ‘Look How Lucky I Got! Na Na Na Na Na!’ would have been rather apt. But despite this momentary animosity, I enjoyed the book from start to finish – minus the rather boring, drawn-out diary exerts of his time in the sexual addiction treatment centre, but that minor blemish can be excused.
Brand’s dedication at the start of the book reads: ‘For my mum, the most important woman in my life, this book is dedicated to you. Now for God’s sake don’t read it.’ It is a warning which gives the real sense that you’re tapping into Brand’s most mischievous secrets, and a warning that should do anything but discourage you from reading this book.
Written by: Karl Sears
Edited by: Sara Slack
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I’m glad that I’m not the only one who shares this opinion of Russel Brand; the name that elicits a grimace from most people before you even get to the point you were trying to make. Having seem his stand up that you talk about, I definitely agree with what you’ve written.
He has an undeniably chequered past and has done some undeniably stupid things, but what you manage to do in this review, I hope, is pique curiosity enough to make people suspend their vitriol and look into it, and hopefully they’ll be surprised.
A good premier addition to the site. Many more to come, please.