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“My Booky Wook” by Russell Brand - Review

November 24, 2007 – 9:33 pm | by Peekay

I’ve found that the general reaction to mentioning Russell Brand is split into two defined groups.  One group think he’s a genius comedian, the other think he’s a posturing prat (or similar).

The truth should be somewhere within the pages of “My Booky Wook” Brand’s autobiography.

Brand has a very distinctive comedy delivery, weaving a smattering of sexual jokes and innuendo with the language of Dickens.  A sort-of randy Bill Sykes, with the hair of a nineteenth century harlot. 

As a stand-up act this package works well, helping to draw you into Brand’s highly-sexualised and anarchic world-view.  But put down in black and white sentences like ’It was a right lot of nonsense going on’, and ’Now for the old formative years…’ seem strained and jarring.

Luckily this book appears to have been written in two styles, one that includes this language for the opening and closing chapters (perhaps hinting at a deadline rush), and the other style for the rest of the book which is intelligent, thoughtful and revealing.

Brand jokes that his life is “just a series of embarrassing incidents strung together by telling people about those incidents”, which is an amusing quote, but essentially true at this stage of his life.  He’s had an interesting existence for sure, from his discovery of a love of stage-work, to his love of women, from his aborted stint at drama school to his heroin addiction, everything is treated frankly, and honestly - and with a good degree of humour.

By the end of the book you may not have become a Russell Brand fan, if you weren’t one already, but you have an honest view of a man who has been through a lot, has rebuilt himself to be a successful comedian and media personality but still holds a simple love of life, people and his work.  As much as he might like them, he may not be as much of a tit as you first thought.