booksbydorothea: REVIEW - The Time of My Life (audioBOOK)

The Time of My Life by Patrick Swayze (audioBOOK)

OVERVIEW

This was a memoir written and read by Patrick Swayze with some participation in the reading by his wife, Lisa Niemi. I truly adored Patrick in many movies including one with the line, "Nobody puts Baby in the corner".

This is an incredibly sad memoir especially as it was released just after Patrick's passing. It was sometimes very raw and personal; other times it wasn't - it was very inconsistent. I think that there was a missed opportunity to discuss his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment which could have raised awareness.

I really wanted to love this memoir, but I only liked it which is fine!

TRIGGER ALERT: Foul language, smoking, mental illness, suicide, terminal illness, domestic violence, death of a parent

OVERALL REVIEW: 4.0 stars

Writing: 4.0 stars

The writing was good, but not exceptional.

I am unsure if Patrick utilized a ghostwriter, but if he didn't - good job!

Narration: 4.5 stars

Patrick narrates beautifully and laughs at himself throughout the book. He sounded tired at various times during the reading. However, throughout his life, he always pushed himself through pain, and this book was no exception.

Character Arc: 4.0 stars

The audiobook is fairly chronological but somewhat superficial.

But I wanted more. I wanted more about his childhood and meeting Lisa as well as his cancer diagnosis.

Memorable: 4.0 stars

Patrick had to deal with a lot of physical pain in his life from a knee injury playing football his senior year of high school, to breaking both legs while filming a movie, to his ultimate fight against cancer. Patrick had emotional pain as well with depression and imposter syndrome plus he lost his father young and his older sister died by suicide.

My heart broke for Patrick and Lisa. When I checked Wikipedia for Patrick, it was good to see Lisa is remarried and seems happy again.

Entertaining: 4.0 stars

This book wasn't entertaining, per se. It was more informative about his life, but we were not fully let into it.

It wasn't full of anecdotes, funny stories, or lots of spilled celebrity tea (there was some). It was dark and sad especially when Patrick read about how hard it was to get a foothold in the entertainment industry.

Book cover: 4.5 stars

Lovely.

Book title: 5.0 stars

A great double entendre.

DEFINITE recommend

STATISTICS

Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) borrow (audiobook)

The Time of My Life by Patrick Swayze

Simon & Schuster Audio

5 hours, 30 minutes

Release date of 9/29/2029

INFORMATIONAL LINKS