1. Chandler Bing was my favourite character on FRIENDS. I was like any other FRIENDS fan greedy for more tidbits and BTS stories about his character, the other leads and the show in general.
2. I had a curiosity about Matthew Perry, the man behind the Chandler mask, in particular I wanted to try and understand his addictions.
I've read a couple of lifestories, biographies, memoirs, the genre and from what I've seen, even in an autobiography, the authors tend to present to you only the best versions of themselves. The most perfect version of themselves so you'd get to know them and their lives with fondness. I imagine I would do the same thing, when we are nostalgic we paint our favourite memories with a rose tint. But this book took me by surprise. Matthew Perry (MP) has laid out his life and thoughts, bared himself like nothing else I've ever seen. Listening to this audiobook was like having access to somebody's secret self, their inner monologue. Atleast in my case that's where I'm most honest, THIS honest. It felt like he held back no parts of himself under the veil of privacy and that took me by surprise. It made me feel a tad nervous and strange. I wondered, "Is this much honesty allowed?"
I love listening to audiobooks narrated by the authors themselves. I feel then I get to read/hear the book in the exact same tone it was intended by them. When I started this book, I winced a little because MP at 50+ years old did not sound like the young and timeless Chandler Bing at all. His speech was slurred and it took me a little to get used to older, sicker MP's voice. It quickly grew on me though and soon felt warm and friendly, like listening to someone I knew closely.
The first half of the book had me hooked. I was pulled into it like a magnet to iron. I was only one chapter in and I already thought it was among the best books I've ever read. I got through the first half of the book in one sitting. I haven't quite done that in a long long time. The only reason I stopped even then was because I wanted to slow this experience down, stretch it out and make it last. It was the first time looking at the "time left" on my audiobook made me visibly sad because I didn't want this audiobook to end at all.
His writing is poetic, funny, witty, honest, had a beautiful sense of direction (in the beginning) which made the story telling excellent. How could one write so well? How can one be so unpretentious, funny, detached yet completely present, sincere and real about their deepest feelings and regrets, even their most painful memories?
As the title says this book is about the show FRIENDS, his friends, his lovers and the big terrible thing- his addictions. I got a very detailed insight into his addictions to drugs, alcohol and nicotine. I found myself clutching my chest with sorrow for him every now and then because I had the misfortune of reading this book after his death which meant throughout the book, even the good parts I always knew this one didn't have a happy ending. I had very little understanding of addictions and my empathy for people suffering from them has grown multifold now after this book.
The storyline jumps back and forth in time which eventually got harder to keep track of because there were friends and lovers and addiction stories which kept coming and going sometimes with the same characters making reappearances or were they similar characters? The repetitive incidences with his relapses and sobriety were also starting to mash together in my head towards the last quarter of the book. I was beginning to lose count. I have to mention, the editing of this book was very poorly done because I noticed he repeated some stories and lines towards the end. I kept looking at the audiobook player wondering if I accidentally replayed an earlier chapter. I'm assuming from his own retelling, that this book was written over a long period of time with lots of breaks in between which may have caused MP to lose track. However this is a job for the editing team and I felt like they may have let this book down. I wonder if it could've been less loopy and more free flowing with better editing and honest feedback to the author in the initial stages of proofreading.
Nevertheless I do not regret spending 9 hours on this book. I have learnt a great deal about so much and I'm immeasurably inspired by his matter-of-fact acceptance of his life, narcissism, choices, money, addictions, fame, shortcomings, feelings and everything else he's written about. I found him to be endearing, incredibly brave and utterly simple in his core. I started reading this book with the intention of finding out more about Chandler Bing and the guy who played him. I honestly ended up liking MP more than I expected. He is way more interesting and fascinating than Chandler because Chandler was a character and he was played to perfection. He was given a character arc and he found redemption in the end. But not MP. I found his story to be a lot more wholesome, characterful and scarred, mistakes n all, the real deal.
- 03 Jan 2025
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