The story of his life is a story many regular people
can relate to: his upbringing in the Catholic schools; being bullied
and having to figure out how to outsmart the bullies; his pain over
his mother and her inability to deal with the life that his actor
father had brought to the table for them to live. He has certainly
not had the world handed to him, but had had to scrape and push
with courage to achieve all of his accomplishments.
Having a show business father didn't help him. When
he needed help, it was not forthcoming, and when it was there, he
had to pay for it. It could almost be said that he grew up the hard
way, but that is not really the truth either. It all came together
for him and made him into a very affable, understanding, compassionate
man who learned about the hard things early on and took the lessons
to heart. This book will make you appreciate every scene of his
- directed by or acted in - that you have ever watched on the television
screen or in a movie.
Alan Alda is a classy man, with a heart that he
shows very easily and uses all of that compassion he has learned
in everything he does. As I read this book, I could hear the timbre
of his voice telling the stories, and I could hear into his soul
as he searched for the meanings behind the stories.
It's a heartwarming, funny, witty, tear-jerking,
memorable, laugh-out-loud, great read. Hats off to Mr. Alda for
another great accomplishment. Get ready to sit down and read straight
through Never Have Your Dog Stuffed with a cup of coffee,
a tissue and a warm fuzzy blanket. You will love it, especially
if you love, respect, or applaud the man.
The one thing that I am very happy he didn't do
in this book was to rehash his movie and cinematic career highlights
or how he got to where he is in the "business." This book is about
the person inside we all feel as though we know very well, what
made him, who he was and why he was this way. It was about his real
life, not the staged one that the public saw on the screen.