Alan Cumming grew up in a home with his parents and his brother Tom. Alan's father was a very hard person to understand. One minute he would be quiet as can be and the next screaming at the family. This is how Alan grew up never knowing how his father would be to him.
The story takes you from his early years all the way up till 2012. It goes back and forth, but I didn't get confused. Alan talks about his life, his goals and all of the parts in his life that at times seemed to fit together and other times they didn't.
Alan was involved in the making of a show called Who Do You Think You Are? Alan is hoping to find out for his mother what really happened to her father. His grandfather Thomas had gone off to fight the war. Upon returning back to his family, he decided that he couldn't stay with them and went off to another country. There was his mother's story of what happened to him and Alan was on his journey to find out the truth.
NOT MY FATHER'S SON tells of the problems Alan had finding himself and why his father was so mean to him. At one point his father informs Thomas, Alan's brother that Alan is not his son.
NOT MY FATHER'S SON is an interesting book, and I learned a lot about problems Alan had growing up and into adulthood. I would have like to hear a little bit more of how and why he took the job on the show the Good Wife.
If you like reading memoirs, you will really enjoy NOT MY FATHER'S SON.
In his unique and engaging voice, the acclaimed actor of
stage and screen shares the emotional story of his
complicated relationship with his father and the deeply
buried family secrets that shaped his life and career.
A beloved star of stage, television, and filmββone of the
most fun people in show businessβ (Time magazine)βAlan
Cumming is a successful artist whose diversity and
fearlessness is unparalleled. His success masks a painful
childhood growing up under the heavy rule of an emotionally
and physically abusive fatherβa relationship that tormented
him long into adulthood.
When television producers in the UK approached him to appear
on a popular celebrity genealogy show in 2010, Alan
enthusiastically agreed. He hoped the show would solve a
family mystery involving his maternal grandfather, a
celebrated WWII hero who disappeared in the Far East. But as
the truth of his family ancestors revealed itself, Alan
learned far more than he bargained for about himself, his
past, and his own father.
With ribald humor, wit, and incredible insight, Alan
seamlessly moves back and forth in time, integrating stories
from his childhood in Scotland and his experiences today as
a film, television, and theater star. At times suspenseful,
deeply moving, and wickedly funny, Not My Fatherβs Son will
make readers laugh even as it breaks their hearts.
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