Sam Harris (3) (1961–)

First, when I requested this book I thought it was a memoir of the atheist 'apologist' Sam Harris - it is not. It worked out okay however, because even though I didn't know THIS Sam Harris by name I am a certified musical theatre dork.

This book is honest and heartbreaking, entertaining and devastating all at the same time. It's a little reminiscent of an Augusten Burroughs memoir, but not quite as funny/tragic. While Harris is painfully honest about coming to terms with his alcoholism, he show more leaves out the much more important part about recovery and how he 'beat' it. Another extraordinary part in the memoir is his suicide attempt in which his eleven year old brother saves his life by stepping on a darning needle the same night that Harris decided to attempt to take his own life.

There are sweet and funny parts of this memoir concerning his long-time partner and the adoption of their son. I also especially love the eventual love and acceptance that Harris receives from his father.

Overall this is a decent memoir. Great for a short trip - but I'd read Augusten Burroughs, Tina Fey, Samantha Bee, or The Bloggess first. Still... good times.

This review is based on an advance review copy supplied through NetGalley by the publisher. show less

This book is more of a memoir as told with non-chronological stories about the life of Sam Harris. Since being the winner of Star Search, pursuing a musical career, becoming a minor celebrity and socializing with some famous people, Sam has some interesting stories to tell. We get a pretty good view of his life including his struggles with being gay, his longterm relationship with Danny, their adoption of a son, his career and his social life. I was expecting a compendium of general stories show more and essays. I did not know anything about Sam Harris and although the book isn't what I expected, I enjoyed his recollections because he has led an interesting life and has some good insights into being gay and becoming a celebrity.

I received a free copy from Netgalley. show less

This was... a perfectly adequate read. Some of the stories, especially the ones involving Liza Minnelli, were charming and interesting. A few of the anecdotes about his childhood were quite entertaining. But some of them were a little pointless (it's great that you had this cool friend named Michelle and she was like your girlfriend, but... then... what? What happened to your relationship? Are you still friends? Did you ever tell her you were gay?)

And I'm sorry, but Neil Patrick Harris did show more a much better job of dramatizing-in-book-form his decision to have kids with his partner.

So, unless you have a special interest in Sam Harris (first winner of Star Search, y'all!), I recommend [b:Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography|20170296|Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography|Neil Patrick Harris|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400599072s/20170296.jpg|28028860] instead. show less

When I started this book I didn't realize that it was written by Sam K. Harris, and not Sam B. Harris, and it took a few chapters to realize my error. I decided to stick with it for a while to see if the serendipitous confusion would lead to an interesting read that I wouldn't have otherwise encountered, but alas 'twas not meant to be. The stories are mostly anecdotes of the author's exploits with his celebrity friends, many of whom I hadn't heard of, and none of which I care about. There's show more also an excessive amount of name-dropping of the people he knows (e.g. Liz Taylor, Michael Jackson, Donald Trump, etc.)
The stories of his youth are about what you'd expect for a gay theater kid growing up in conservative Oklahoma. Not to take away from his dramatic experiences (in both senses of the word), but the whole thing seemed trite and uninspired. show less