Making It SoReview posted September 6, 2024.
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2023. 18 hours, 50 minutes.
Review written August 16, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
I have no idea what took me so long to get this audiobook listened to, except maybe that since it came out in October 2023 when I was busy reading for the Morris Award, I may not have put it on hold, and then forgot when that reading was done. Anyway, I finally made up for lost time - and what a treat!
Understand that I'm a big Star Trek: Next Generation fan. My then-husband and I watched the show avidly, beginning some time in the third season, I believe. And on one of our car trips from Illinois to Phoenix, Arizona, for Christmas in the early 1990s, we listened to an audiobook on cassettes of Patrick Stewart reading Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. That was in the days before I even listened to audiobooks, but that one had my rapt attention.
So when I learned that he'd written an audiobook and reads it himself, you better believe I wanted to listen to it! 19 hours of listening to Patrick Stewart's voice? Yes, please!
So it was fun to learn that the accent I know and love is not the one he was born with. He grew up very poor in Yorkshire, and learned the "BBC" accent in theater school. Everything about his childhood was fascinating. He had an abusive father, yet both his parents supported him going to theater school, and he got a scholarship from the local community to attend. He blames Margaret Thatcher for the fact that such scholarships aren't available to young aspiring actors today.
Of course, my favorite parts were him talking about acting on Star Trek: Next Generation. He barely knew what Star Trek was when he was suggested for the part, though his kids had avidly watched the original series and were duly impressed.
My least favorite parts were learning about him cheating on his first two wives, and I was prepared to be judgmental when I learned his third wife is younger than his son. But then I thought - wait a second, someone my age or younger is married to Patrick Stewart? Okay, I can believe that she's in love with him. And why would he mind marrying a much younger woman? He kept mentioning her throughout the book, and is clearly happy and in love and still happily working in theater, always striving to accomplish more - and I can only be happy for him.
He's lived - and is still living - a rich, full, and interesting life. It was a delight to get a window into all that he's experienced.
The audiobook ended with an excerpt from A Christmas Carol. Made me want to listen to that audiobook all over again.