Book #59: Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

I loved The West Wing and Parks and Recreation, and so when I read that Rob Lowe had written a very good memoir about his life and experiences, I thought I would check it out. I listened to the audiobook version, because he read it himself, and it was so fun to listen to his so familiar Sam Seaborn voice talking and telling stories about his life (as the title hints). He is an amazing mimic--he does the voices for all the people he writes about his conversations with (so I definitely recommend the audiobook version instead of reading it).

Lowe writes about his childhood and how he grew up to fulfill his childhood dreams of becoming an actor. His stories about his family and his childhood are pretty poignant and sad to me--his parents were divorced when he was only four years old, and he grew up with several other divorces between his parents and their other spouses. He became a teen actor pretty much all on his own and he writes a lot about his work experiences with each of the movies he has done. But the part that I found most appealing and redemptive about the sad beginning was when he wrote about meeting his wife and going through rehab for his alcohol addiction. I am always so impressed by people who manage to conquer their addictions through sheer force of will, and Lowe writes about how he became sober (and has been so for the last 20 years). He has also been married to his wife since 1991--something I love to hear about rich and famous people. The way he writes about his wife and kids is really sweet and reminds you that he's a really decent regular guy. The other thing I loved was some of this back-door, insider information about the entertainment industry and how you "get your foot in the door" or manage to make your name. He writes about all of these amazing chance encounters with people in super random circumstances and while it sometimes seems like name-dropping, that is pretty much in the title of the book so it's hard to blame him for wanting to tell about the time he met Lucille Ball or Bill Murray. Definitely an interesting memoir and a great one to listen to.