Alan Rickman

by Maureen Paton

In this revised and updated biography, Maureen Paton encompasses the private, professional and political life of this most enigmatic, charismatic and intensely private of actors.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1997

Reviews

[Triin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maureen Paton must be some sort of genius: it probably requires hard work and certain skills to write such a dull and horrible book about extremely interesting person and his rich life.
Poor Rickman.

[Meghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alan Rickman is talented. Maureen Paton is not. The worst part is that he's actually led a fairly interesting life. This book is a waste of time and money.

[Cathal Reynolds · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started this book thinking 'Its about Alan Rickman, how bad can it be?'
Spectacularly, it seems.
Maureen Paton doesn't seem to know what to think about him. This book isn't about celebrating Alan Rickman, it's about getting the scoop and making money.
Rickman has made it clear he wants his private life away from his career. Knowing this, I'm ashamed I picked up this book in the first place. However, curiosity got the better of me, and I did.
I really wish I hadn't.

[Brooklyn Tayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this for most part, though it's writing was slightly scathing and painful in other places. The last quarter especially but I did enjoy some of the quips. A mostly decent biography on one of my all time favourite actors.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love Alan Rickman, but found the book pedestrian and mundane.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only reason I continued reading this book past the first chapter was the subject; Maureen Paton's writing style simply isn't for me.

I fear that I will never get the incredibly overused words "lugubrious", "tatterdemalion", or "oleaginous" out of my head.

Paton makes these uncomfortable attempts at witticisms in parentheses on almost every other page, definitely several times in each chapter. Roughly halfway through the book, I noticed that if I saw parentheses on a page, I spent the entire page dreading getting to them.

One line in particular made me nearly put the book down three-quarters of the way through: "Confucius say lack of S-word (sponsorship) lead to F-word. Or some such ancient Chinese proverb." I mean...why? I get the need for the author's voice to shine through (granted, not very appropriate in most biographies, authorized or not), but THIS? I was embarrassed to read this book- for myself, Paton, and Rickman.

I will recognize that writing an unauthorized biography must be a great challenge, this book is certainly a testament to that. I feel like I could've read a wikipedia page and come out with the same information and way less irritation.

I can only hope Rickman didn't read this.

[Nadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needed a good edit to take out all the cliches, repetitions and pseudo-psychological conclusion the authors jumps to about Alan's personality, with no grounds or confirmation whatsoever. But if you manage to get past that, there is still some interesting information (mostly through his friends' quotes) about his life and theatre in Britain in general... I'd wait for a real autobiography though, if Alan ever choses to write one.

[Audrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, awful, awful!! I was amazed that I managed to get through half of it.

[Clare · Rating 1 out of 5]

Without a shadow of a doubt, this is easily the absolute WORST book I have ever read! This Maureen Paton person is a non-writer and that much is obvious given how she keep spouting the same four "facts" that aren't actually facts. I was so disgusted that I didn't actually finish reading the whole thing. I wish I had never bothered reading it. This is a fraud of a book and I would NEVER recommend it to anyone in fact, I'm more likely to tell people to AVOID it like the plague. it's disgustingly inaccurate.

[Cathrine Myers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Its unauthorized so it's a lot of waffle and contradictions...'Alan is known up standoff ish to Alan is very private and shy'...sll the way through. Gave up after page 70 and just skimmed till the end.Possibly the worst book I've ever read.Watching paint dry is more interesting!!!

[Heike · Rating 1 out of 5]

very unauthorized, indeed and what a rubbish

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read the first 20 pages of this book and then the last 20 pages. This was such a disappointment :( How can one write such a boring book about such an interesting, talented and mysterious actor. No wonder Rickman did not agree to participate in the creation of this "masterpiece". As a result, the so-called biography turned out to be a collection of quotes about Rickman and a rather mediocre compilation of interviews.
Oh well, at least I enjoyed the pictures.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok book the most interesting being the chapters on the films he made.the author seems to be fixated on the sexual aspects of his life,and the fact he was a bit of a grouch.nothing new to say except that since the publication Alan has died.

[Lucie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mundane book where the only interesting parts are quotes of other people.

[Auri Tunglsdottir · Rating 4 out of 5]

To read or not to read - that was the question after I read a lot of reviews, and then the introduction in which it was clearly stated that Alan didn't want this thing to happen. He didn't forbid it, but declined co-operation and stated he didn't want to look back (yet). But the author decided to go for it, anyway.
The only reason I give it 4 stars and not less, is because of Alan. It's as simple as that.
Very often I was put off by the writing style, structure, choice of words, choice of focus. There are many repetitions that could have been avoided by better structuring the text, for example, and which weren't necessary. All the time, it feels, the author was focusing on Alan's sexually attractive aura, how everyone is just crazy about him etc., and sexualised him heavily - to put it in a simple way. Felt rather disrespectful. Even if it's true and many feel this way about him - it's nothing I want or need to read about on every other page. Nothing would have been lost, but a lot gained, if the author would stick to a rather neutral description, I think.

What was nice to read are Alan's own views cited, and everything his friends and colleagues had to say about him. I've always admired and respected him deeply, since I've discovered him, and I always had the impression of him being a very good and lovely person. So it was nice to see that he truly was, on so many levels.

[Sal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book in an attempt to understand some of the cryptic references in Rickman's diaries. This did fill in the gaps, but it was poorly written and poorly edited.
It was unbalanced in its structure, with the first half covering his early movies in immense scene by scene detail, but later movies almost skimmed over. The book also finishes in 2002 and has not been updated.
It's obvious that none of Rickman's close friends collaborated with the author, so she is forced to use third hand sources for much of the information. She never comes close to providing any insights into this most private of actors, is obsessed with his sex appeal, and seems to revel in bad reviews and scandal.
All in all a very poor biography.

[Marble]

I feel conflicted.

At first it felt like an informative work. But then the author seemed to enjoy speculating about the subject of Alan and his behaviour towards women. Of course there had to be some sort of wondering or talk of Alan being a womanizer, which is everything he is not, in reality. It annoyed me.

On top of that I heard from someone who knew him in person, a photographer, how Alan Rickman has refered to this book as "toilet paper".

In hindsight I regret buying it at all.

[Sherrie74 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only got 100 or so pages in and deemed it not worthy of going any further. Don't bother .. no more said.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so disappointing, it was all opinion and speculation and read like a poorly written tabloid.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stars to infinity for Alan Rickman; but for this book, 3 stars for how it was written.

[Mil · Rating 5 out of 5]

smash

[Lynn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent biography of a wonderfully fine actor of his generation.

[Karen Winney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written; rambling and repetitive. Despite my interest in Alan Rickman I was unable to make it through this mess.

[Hanna Hagebakken · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sad to say this but the book is to confusing for me. Wanted to learn more about Rickman but ended the book with just as much knowledge as before I started to read the book

[Lauren Horne]

DNF. It’s like she didn’t bother actually getting to know the amazing person she was writing about. Hardly any feeling to it at all.

[Fiona Robson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone bought me this book YEARS ago, knowing I was a big Rickman fan. The book was only okay, though, and didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. It seemed cobbled together from film/stage reviews and interviews already in the public domain. Also ... I can't say he sounded like someone I would like in real life, being such an ardent socialist and total luvie. What was interesting was the information about the film, "Mesmer", which I hadn't realised had ever been completed. Will have to check that one out. Interesting mention of Barrow-in-Furness from when he performed "Hamlet" there.

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a boring biography for such a interesting man! He's right not to agree with this biography. He deserves a better one.