My Booky Wook

My Booky Wook

Cover of the hardback edition
Author Russell Brand
Illustrator Nic Jensen
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Memoir
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date
 15 November 2007 (hardback)
10 July 2008 (paperback)
Media type Print (hardcover, paperback)
Pages 353
ISBN ISBN 978-0-340-93615-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-340-93617-7 (paperback)
OCLC 302057286
Followed by Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal

My Booky Wook is a memoir, written by English comedian and actor Russell Brand, published in 2007 by Hodder & Stoughton. It was released in North America and Australia in 2009 by HarperCollins Publishers.

Summary

This "warts and all" account of Brand's life follows, in vivid detail, the star's life from his troubled childhood in Gray's End Close, Essex to his first taste for fame in Stage School up to his turbulent drug addiction and his triumphant rise to fame from RE:Brand to Big Brother's Big Mouth to Hollywood.

Chapters

My Booky Wook is divided into four sections. The title itself is in the style of the fictional Nadsat language from A Clockwork Orange; Brand explained the reference during his appearance on Have I Got News For You in December 2007.

Part I

  1. April Fool
  2. Umbilical Noose
  3. Shame Innit?
  4. Fledgling Hospice
  5. "Diddle-Di-Diddle-Di"
  6. How Christmas Should Feel
  7. One McAvennie
  8. I've Got a Bone to Pick with You
  9. Teacher's Whiskey
  10. "Boobaloo"
  11. Say Hello to the Bad Guy

Part II

  1. The Eternal Dilemma
  2. Body Mist
  3. Ying Yang
  4. Click, Clack, Click, Clack
  5. 'Wop Out a Bit of Acting'
  6. The Stranger
  7. Is This a Cash Card I See Before Me?
  8. 'Do You Want Drama?'

Part III

  1. Dagenham Is Not Damascus
  2. Don't Die of Ignorance
  3. Firing Minors
  4. Down Among the Have-Nots
  5. First-Class Twit
  6. Let's Not Tell Our Mums
  7. You're a Diamond
  8. Call Me Ishmael. Or Isimir. Or Something...

Part IV

  1. Mustafa Skagfix
  2. A Gentleman with a Bike
  3. Out of the Game
  4. Hare Krishna Morrissey
  5. And Then Three Come at Once

Critical reception

The book garnered mostly positive reviews. The Sun called it "candid, funny and moving." The Observer claimed it was "better written and more entertaining than any number of the celebrity autobiographies that clog the shelves of bookshops." However, some reviews were less complimentary: Private Eye Magazine called it "dismal and masturbatory." Comedian Stewart Lee, whom Brand cited as an influence,[1] said of the book "you can read Russell Brand's autobiography and dismiss it as rubbish if you like or you can dismiss it as rubbish without reading it, to save time."[2] The book won the Biography of the year at the 2008 British Book Awards[3] and the Outstanding Literary Achievement at the 2009 Spike Guys' Choice Awards.

Origins of book title

The book title "My Booky Wook" was first mentioned on the 24 September 2006 episode of his former radio show, The Russell Brand Show.

Film adaptation

Brand planned to star as himself in a film adaptation of the book, originally scheduled to be filmed by British director Michael Winterbottom at the end of 2008 or early in 2009.[4] The project has since been shelved by Brand, who did not want American audiences to learn of his "chequered past" without reading the book first.[5]

Sales

The book has sold more than 600,000 copies since it was released.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Kiely, Ed (2010-03-05). "Comedy, controversy and more comedy". Varsity (Cambridge). Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  2. ↑ Sharp, Rob (2000-03-16). "Who says you can't do jokes about religion on the BBC?". The Independent. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  3. ↑ 2008 best biography
  4. ↑ Brand turns 'Booky Wook' into film
  5. ↑ Hilton, Beth (2008-05-31). "Brand scraps "Booky Wook" film". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  6. ↑ Fletcher, Alex (14 June 2008). "Brand: 'Book will be about philosophy'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 29 March 2015.

External links