Memoirs and Misinformation

A quick read that started out quite interesting. I was enthralled until about halfway through when it devolved into a slog of nearly incoherent rambling about the end of the world from a very rich man caught in a very deep existential and spiritual crisis. Jim has been on the decline in my psyche for sometime now… his odd role choices in movies, his complete weirdness on Seinfields Coffee and Cars, his incredibly downer presence on the Actors Roundtable discussion, and now this book… I know it\’s become a popular trope to claim that comedians are often the darkest people, but I have little sympathy/empathy for a guy waddling in his own self pity from a cozy 10 million dollar Malibu Beach house. This book has no point… and more importantly it has no purpose other than to indirectly illuminate why actors don\’t typically write the stories they star in. I can\’t help but feel like this is a Kaufman-esque joke about the results of binge watching a bunch of crappy late night History Channel shows about ancient civilizations and aliens. We get it Jim… there is no Jim. Now do you want us to take you seriously or are you just screwing around in Hollywood and New York with way too much free time and money? For a while, I cut him all the slack in the world because I thought he was going method and all in on a Terrence McKenna biopic. That turned out to be BS. He isn\’t enlightened… he\’s depressed and has had his mind ravaged by looney Hollwood stars and Gurus. The biography portions were interesting and well written, but the sci-fi stuff was seriously bad… neither Jim nor his ghostwriter Dana have any experience in this field and it really shows.

I just finished reading, and I feel like I am in a daze. I feel a bit broken-hearted and helpless, yet also calm. I was feeling a lot of anxiety reading it. Theres a lot of ennui, and a loss of control throughout the book. He feels so disconnected, haunted by memories of peace and pleasure, and not really forging a path anywhere exciting. The character of Jim is more concerned with maintenance of Jim than dreaming of more. Hes concerned more with the past, and feels powerless within the present and future. So he escapes within, hiding in his home, indulging in food and sex, while wondering what will become of Jim Carrey the image. He has become a victim to both the worlds demands and his own ego. The book is smart in a way that makes the brain dizzy. I feel like I need to read it again to understand more. I want to indulge in interviews to try and pick his brain more, and understand his metaphors. He says so much, but a lot of it feels like inside jokes and dream-like hallucinations. He wrote the book over 8 years with writer Dana Vachon. There are a lot of famous cameos, like Jim, they are caricatures of reality. The photo on the cover of the book was a screenshot taken accidentally when Jim Carrey was told he had 10 minutes to live. (In Hawaii, 2018, when the warning system told everyone they were dying…) He sat down and pondered what he had been grateful for in his life, feeling peace. When he didnt die, all that was left was the peace and fear within the memory of that moment, and the photo. I believe that in this book, which is actually a work of satirical science-fiction, he addresses that moment before death when we feel most alive. He releases this image of Jim Carrey he has been holding on to so desperately because he realizes it had nothing to do with his essence at all. In many ways he addresses what true love is, and where he can and cant find it. He makes peace within a crumbling world where peace doesnt seem to exist anymore. It resonated, feeling both depressing and inspiring at the same time.

Arguably one of the more difficult to describe books I have read recently lol. A semi memoir about the recent years of his life along with a kind of satirical view of Hollywood and celebrity-ism. And because it\’s Jim Carrey, it\’s wild. Things in here: A darkly honest view of what it\’s like to be a celebrity. Memory regression sessions Caricatures of other celebrities The one time he almost played the Chinese Dictator Mao Zhedong …and Nicholas Cage fighting aliens It\’s an absolute page turner. Very engrossing, and a crazy trip through a fractured mind. Highly recommend if your game.

Firstly I got this book because I grew up watching Jim Carrey on television for the longest and wanted to really get into the book. I still haven\’t finished by the way and trying my hardest to understand it all. I would often times find myself skimming through pages because… I just can\’t get it. I love him as an actor but there were wayyyyyyy too many scenes of Hollywood which bored me beyond tears and sex robots???? Sex this affairs the description of women\’s parts and the literature overall… I just can\’t… I really tried to stick with this book but my brain just rejected it. I know it\’s supposed to be a weird novel but this goes beyond mind warped.. Sorry Jim.. When it comes to this book not everyone is a Yes Man/Woman.

I am not one for reviews. As you can tell. If you don\’t get this book then you believe you are real. That is all. 5 stars.

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