Customer Reviews
My Booky Wook! - By: J. Gresham, 11 Sep 2008 
Excellent read,full of things you would never have imagined to have happened to one of the greatest men on the planet(but then i am a fan so i would say that!)
Definately worth a read
Absolutely brilliant - By: SofiRox, 06 Sep 2008 Russell tells a very difficult storyin a very light hearted way, he helps you to understand how a lot of his early experiences shaped & moulded him into the unusual & enchanting character that he is today. At no point through out the book do you feel that he is asking for sympathy or wanting allowances to be made for the mistakes that some adults made during his childhood.
His explanation of how it feels to be on drugs is blunt & utterly eye-opening. He holds such insight into his own failings & the way that the people around him have looked after him when he didn't deserve it. One of the most brilliant things about the book is the way that no matter how bizarre the situation that he is describing he always seems to tell it as if he is still very naive London lad, this gives the book a real relatability.
Overall it is just a pure pleasure to read, i have never felt so close to a writer before. He explains his darkest times, weirdest memories & funniest anecdotesin a fantastically elegant way.
I do feel it necessary to say that once you have read this book you will not be able to see himin the same light again, the way that he appears on TV/Radio is not the way he presents himselfin the book.
Read this book - By: C. J. Jackson, 30 Aug 2008 This book is truly interesting, very moving & (of course) makes you laugh out loud. However, the best thing about this book is the quality of the writing - it is sublime. I loved it.
Surprisingly honest, moving and very eloquent - By: E. Potten, 28 Aug 2008 
Russell Brand is a bit like Marmite - people seem to either love him or hate him. Perhaps this autobiography will help to convert those who seek to dismiss Brand as a flamboyant, egotistic idiot (if, that is, they can see past the simplistic title which is,in fact, a reference to 'The Clockwork Orange').
This autobiography charts Brand's childhoodin Essex,in a loving but occasionally misguided family, & his troubled school life. He was a loner, an outsider, & always felt - indeed, sought - to be different from his peers, to set himself apart. Unfortunately, even when his 'Eureka!' moment arrived & he realised he wanted to be a showbiz star, this need to be different manifested itselfin troublesome forms which endedin a string of expulsions from various academic & dramatic institutions. Fallingin with some interesting characters at school, Brand turned for the first time to drugs & alcohol. As the years went by he added sex to his repertoire, & progressed to harder drugs & more trouble, being fired from job after job, being arrested & released over & over again, & making his way through a string of girlfriends & prostitutes. Ultimately, it came to a choice between drugs & rehab, life & death - & thankfully, with a bit of persuasion from those around him, he chose life. At last, clean & sober (and having spent some interesting timein sex addiction rehab to boot), he was finally diagnosed with manic depression (hardly surprising to anyone with any experience with the illness), his career took off & Russell Brand, Dickensian dandy & charismatic charmer, became a household namein television, radio, movies & the comedy circuit.
It's a gripping & ultimately uplifting story. Brand is incredibly honest about every experience life has thrown at him - for example, he knows that drugs nearly ruined his life, but at the same time acknowledges that they offered much comfort at the time. He doesn't hide his shameful moments, the most cringeworthy experiences of his life, but instead shares them & freely offers his judgement that they were stupid, unforgivable things to do. Not only is this an honest book, it is also well written (albeit with a few slips into that trademark Essex grammar), full of sharp insight, funny musings, a few wonderfully Brand-esque flights of language & a wealth of artistic, literary & cultural references that any professor would be proud of. Evenin paperback there are also photos, letters & extracts from his rehab diaries, amongst other things, scattered throughout its pages, which helps put faces to names &in many cases brings a poignant reminder that these hellish experiences were very real.
Allin all, I was surprised by this book. Having eagerly read Peter Kay's 'The Sound of Laughter' & been disappointed by how his comedic style translated so badly onto the page, I was delighted to find that 'My Booky Wook' is readable, compelling & has Russell Brand written all over itin a way that adds to its appeal rather than detracting from it. It is vibrant, honest, sexy, moving & despairingin turn, with an ultimate message of hope & redemption which left a smile on my face. Give it a chance, ye of little faith!
Pleasantly surprised - By: Beacrm, 25 Aug 2008 I don't consider myself a RB fan but I was curious about this book. I expected it to be mad-cap & irritating & wondered how it had become so popular. However, I was captivated right from the start & impressed by Russell's honesty. The writing style meant that I needed to have a dictionary at hand sometimes to look up the unusual words he used, this spoilt things a bit (as I wanted to keep reading) but overall it was very enjoyable. Russell comes across as a very bright, caring man & I would love to read a follow up now that he's a successin the USA.
