Excessively bookish people seem not to have lives of their own. Sartre's autobiography recounts a life with few close friends or external events that had much impact on his development. He was raised on literature and other people's lives and thoughts. He progressed into a writer who wrote at such a high level of abstraction that it is difficult to judge his character. He is a master of juxtaposition, contradiction and the oxymoron and so it is hard to pin him down on any single issue. Joseph Heller must have been influenced by him. From this autobiography I get the impression that Sartre lived in the original realm of virtual reality; literature. ( )

For readers and writers, Sartre's autobiography takes one through the words that made him, inspired him, he made, he inspired with. Gorgeous, moving and a little bit sad. A must read for Sartre fans and writer/readers in general. ( )