My Review (5 stars out of 5)
(Audiobook)
During 2022, Ireland-born Sam Neill began making a few notes which eventually became a book. This is the story of his life from doing odd jobs on farms to working with the likes of Meryl Streep, Isabel Adjani, Sean Connery, Steven Spielberg and Jane Campion.
Sam Neill has always been a great actor, but apart from the obvious blockbusters he’s been in, I like him best in films such as ‘My Brilliant Career’, ‘Death in Brunswick’ and ‘Sirens’, so it was a real treat to listen to his dulcet tones telling us all about his life in and out of movies. This book doesn’t follow the usual autobiographical one-thing-after-another sequence, and instead flits around a lot, dipping into the actor’s various adventures as he gradually made a name for himself in the acting world. From the outset he is wonderfully modest and self-effacing, relating dozens of anecdotes where he’s either made a complete fool of himself or has been told exactly where to go – usually along the lines of ‘Just f*ck off, mate.’ The book also details his journey following a diagnosis of stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and how it has affected his outlook on life.
An unpretentious and entertaining book told with honesty and much humour.
Colin Garrow 