Wow! This is a great book. An autobiography that I didn’t want to end; that’s an unusual situation for me.
I don’t go much for celebrity reads or celebrity anything really but I downloaded this audiobook because I so admired Cranston’s role in Breaking Bad, ( where he played the amazing character Walter White) that I wanted to know more about this actor.
The book isn’t just about Breaking Bad, not at all. It begins at the beginning; family problems, divorce, hard times though always told with humour and a sense that optimism was a non-negotiable attitude for the Cranston children.
Bryan and his brother take on all manner of jobs to keep the wolf from the door. There are some very surprising accounts of boyhood in an era when you could lose a job one day and walk into another the next and when CV’s and an interview process for minor and summer jobs hadn’t yet been invented. He tells of early no-holes-barred training for a career in the police force, including time in the morgue and a life-defining road trip before the serious work of acting began.
As far as his acting career goes, Cranston’s account seems honest and straightforward. He believes in hard work and is willing to walk the walk. He speaks of his great career boost with his role in Breaking Bad, the camaraderie on and off set and the relationships that didn’t work out so well. Fans of the series will appreciate some of the insight into this great show but beware, anyone about to begin watching there are some spoilers. Maybe watch first, read later.
A very interesting and enjoyable book. I listened to this on Audiible and Bryan Cranston with his warm, just-sitting-across-the-table-from-you, voice is a very good narrator too.
Wendy Unsworth 