Book Review: "Alec Guinness: A Positively Final Appearance"

This book served as my biography for February, as I have challenged myself to read a biography each month. I chose it for the very simple reason that I didn’t know much about Alec Guinness, but had often heard his name. I thought the book would be quite informative as I tried to learn more about the life of an actor whose name I knew, but not much more.

I was wrong.

The book is a meandering diary of (about) a year in Alec’s life. And I mean meandering. While some of the things Guinness does are interesting, he basically recorded his journal and published it.

If you don’t know much about British culture, you will get very few of the references in the book. He often speaks of theater (for obvious reasons), but enjoys all types, so that many of the references are of plays and actors few have ever heard of.

One quality of this book that is redeeming is that Alec often mentions his wife, to whom he has been married for over forty years. In a book written by an actor, that is a rare quality, indeed!

Unless you are a fan of Alec Guinness, British pop culture, or diaries, this book is not for you. I’m just glad I made it through it!

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Illustrations to file:

Page 2; final paragraph; file under “handling pressure”

Page 6; final sentence; file under “aging”

Pages 52-53; long paragraph; file under “aging/humor”…with one edit for language sake. (an archaic word that has changed meaning)