Rod Stewart

Sometimes I read a musician's autobiography, and I like him/her more afterward. Other times, as with this one, I'm left wishing I hadn't read the book at all.

This felt more like bragging rights than telling the story of his life. I learned Rod Stewart is an unapologetic womanizer who loves football (soccer to those of us in the U.S.), trains, and flashy cars. And that's about all I learned.

Stewart comes from a modest family that appeared to be lower middle class. Yet, when his career takes show more off, he makes no mention of his family's reaction. Did he help them out financially? Were they happy for him? Were they envious? None of this is ever talked about. Aside from mentioning his brothers and father in the context of football, we learn nothing about their relationship.

There is an entire chapter on his hair. Granted, it's a short chapter and perhaps meant to be comical, but I did not need that much information on his grooming habits. There is also an enormous amount of football talk. I got the point that he loves the sport without the endless pages on the topic.

He takes us through all his relationships, with the women he lived with, married, and cheated with. He makes a point of letting us know they were all young and supermodels. Some had children already, so he briefly played stepfather. He also had a bunch of kids of his own along the way. (I lost count of how many.) Yet, aside from him pointing out what a big part he played in each of their births, it's like they didn't exist afterward. Was it hard for him to leave them when he toured? Did he take them? Did he ever see them after divorcing their mothers? After reading 400 pages, I don't know the answer to any of these questions.

I would hope there is more to Rod Stewart's life than the self-important fluff he writes about here. Though it says a lot about the man that this is what he chose to share. show less

The story of a Jack-the-Lad with a remarkable voice leaves a trail of broken romances behind him. Has that aching feeling particularly as he grows older that something is missing. He thinks he finds it only to be hurt himself. Finally when he has given up all hope of finding 'true love' he finds a lovely lady named Penny. His life is complete. He can not believe how lucky he has been. Except, of course this is not a chick-lit novel, but the real-life tale of the life and loves of Rod show more Stewart. Rod's collaborator has served him well. He comes across as a funny, likeable man who is looking back at his life with honesty and humour. He's made mistakes and often treated the ladies in his life badly. He knows it. I'm a huge fan of Rod's music. This made me like him as human being as well. show less

This book was amusing and easy to read. I saw Rod Stewart on Graham Norton promoting his book and it sounded interesting. He is quite a comedian and seems to be a lot of fun. I had no idea model trains were a passion of his, but I knew soccer was. He's definitely not someone I would have wanted to date seriously - he is obviously somewhat of a womanizer, maybe having TOO much fun? Lots of good pictures in the book. Books like these are always great for name-dropping. It is so funny that show more twice in this book - and only pages apart - he makes the statement that contrary to what you have heard, Gordon Ramsay never played professional football. show less

This book will annoy some people and amuse others. Rod Stewart unashambly brags about the women, cars, drugs and general laddishness of his life, but it appears to said with a certain air of 'wow, that was lucky' amusement throughout. He was certainly a serial womaniser, although he apparently still gets on well with his ex girlfriends and wives, fathers children prolifically, but seems to be quite a family man, admits to not really being much of a songwriter - he has sung more covers than show more his own songs. However, it is quite a fun read in an old fashioned sort of rock star read, and you end up quite likeing the old sod really! show less