You Cannot Live as I Have Lived and Not End Up Like This: The Thoroughly Disgraceful Life and Times of Willie Donaldson

“Though born into privilege and inheriting a fortune, Willie Donaldsom ended up dying alone in a seedy rented flat, his computer still logged on to a lesbian porn site.”

Sold.

Very entertaining account of an unusual life. I detested Donaldson as a young man (and the book was all the better for it). I thought he was a smug little shit. Later, when things started to go wrong I warmed to him a bit. I suppose I just like the underdog. Or maybe it’s because his life-cycle exactly matches my own.

He’s an interesting mix of contrasts. Amazing ability and stunning incompetence. Funny, and foul to his friends. Teetotal and a crackhead.

It plays out against a backdrop of the small world of the British arts scene from the 50s onwards. Amazing show more to see how many of the people of that time are still going. Interesting to a Brit, but may be a little meaningless to others.

The book’s properly researched and written in quite an informal style. Blacker often let’s you see his workings. A good choice I think as he and Donaldson were friends. It’s biased, but Blacker’s sometimes questionable opinions are on full show and I never felt he was lying. Occasionally funny too, and a couple of times, where he quotes from Donaldson's own work I was in physical pain from laughing.

I’m going to read the Henry Root letters again now. show less

William Donaldson wrote the funniest book I've ever read (Great Disasters of the Theatre) yet it barely rates a mention in this biography of him, which shows just how popular he was at certain times of his career.

Donaldson was the descendant of a wealthy shipping family who attended Winchester and Cambridge, received a large inheritance in his early twenties, became a leading theatre impressio, putting on, amongst other ground breaking shows, Beyond the Fringe before become bankrupt more than once, including being homeless in Ibiza, then bouncing back with The Henry Root Letters, one of the biggest selling British books of the 1980s, discovering crack cocaine, writing more books but most importantly, having one of the more sordid show more private lives you could imagine and finally dying in a seedy flat, with lesbian porn playing on his computer. Donaldson lived a life that was made for biographers but while Blacker captures some of Donaldson's madness, his life doesn't seem to gel on the page perhaps as much as it should have.

There are plenty of eye opening moments scattered throughout You Cannot Live as I Have Lived and not end up Like This, including the array of beautiful actresses and models that Donaldson somehow attracted (Carly Simon and Sarah Miles to name just two) but there was a spark missing from the writing, possibly because the author only knew Donaldson for the last third of his life and could only report on the drugs and the poor state of Donaldson's life.

Read Great Disasters of the Theatre) first and then think about reading this. show less

I hadn't even heard of Willie Donaldson before I read this book, but I had read some fiction by Terence Blacker and had seen this book receive good reviews, so I bought it when I saw a cheap copy in a charity shop.

Donaldson was from a wealthy family and well-educated but ended up living in poverty, having been both a crack addict and pimp during his life. He was also a failed theatre impressio and successful writer. His story is one one hand the story of waste opportunity but on the other a very colourful life. Despite not being aware of Donaldson (at the height of his fame, I was 5), I knew of many of the supporting characters of actors, writers and celebrities, so still found the book interesting.