Nevertheless: A Memoir
By Alec Baldwin
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
About this ebook
“A thorough and sophisticated effort to answer an interesting question: How did an indifferently raised, self-flagellating kid from a just-making-ends-meet, desultorily functioning Long Island family, in Massapequa, turn into Alec Baldwin, gifted actor, familiar public figure, impressively thoughtful person, notorious pugilist? . . . Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving . . . . Baldwin writes with great knowledge about old films, the art of acting, what he has learned from other actors, and about the differences among television, film and theater. . . . He’s a highly literate and fluent writer.”—New York Times
One of the most accomplished and outspoken actors today chronicles the highs and lows of his life in this beautifully written, candid memoir.
Over the past three decades, Alec Baldwin has established himself as one of Hollywood’s most gifted, hilarious, and controversial leading men. From his work in popular movies, including Beetlejuice, Working Girl, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cooler, and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed to his role as Jack Donaghy on Tina Fey’s irreverent series 30 Rock—for which he won two Emmys, three Golden Globes, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards—and as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, he’s both a household name and a deeply respected actor.
In Nevertheless, Baldwin transcends his public persona, making public facets of his life he has long kept private. In this honest, affecting memoir, he introduces us to the Long Island child who felt burdened by his family’s financial strains and his parents’ unhappy marriage; the Washington, DC, college student gearing up for a career in politics; the self-named "Love Taxi" who helped friends solve their romantic problems while neglecting his own; the young soap actor learning from giants of the theatre; the addict drawn to drugs and alcohol who struggles with sobriety; the husband and father who acknowledges his failings and battles to overcome them; and the consummate professional for whom the work is everything. Throughout Nevertheless, one constant emerges: the fearlessness that defines and drives Baldwin’s life.
Told with his signature candor, astute observational savvy, and devastating wit, Nevertheless reveals an Alec Baldwin we have never fully seen before.
Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin is a multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor, producer, comedian, and philanthropist. He has also been nominated for an Oscar and a Tony Award and the author of the New York Times bestseller A Promise to Ourselves. He lives in New York City with his wife, Hilaria, and their three children.
Read more from Alec Baldwin
Nevertheless: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Nevertheless
54 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/53.5/5 stars
Nevertheless: A Memoir was exactly what I expected it to be: Alec's life story. I have always loved his voice and I was thrilled to discover that he performed the audio himself.
His childhood growing up on Massapequa, Long Island was interesting. I enjoyed hearing how his love of books and movies came about and what life was like with 5 siblings.
It was also interesting to hear about how his career got started, how his love for politics developed and what it was like working with various Hollywood actors, directors and agents.
He definitely has some choice words for many in the legal field, especially those involved with divorce cases. He explains, or attempts to, the horrible voice mail he left for his daughter and he also talks a bit about his actions towards the paparazzi.
Overall, I enjoyed listening to this and learning more about Mr. Baldwin. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Baldwin has lived an interesting life and appears to be quite candid in the novel. Certainly feels that he was hard done by when working through the family court system.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alec Baldwin starts his book with his early childhood and ends in the present day, all the way up to the election of the current president. I thought he spent too much time on his childhood. I wanted him to hurry up and get to the good stuff.Once he finally did, I was greatly rewarded. He included details about his marriage to Kim Bassinger and their divorce, the angry voicemail he left his daughter Ireland, his physical altercations with the paparazzi and more. I loved it. Dishing behind the scenes dirt is the primary reason I read celebrity memoirs. Baldwin is definitely not lacking self-confidence. He apologizes for most of his bad behavior but it’s usually of the, “I’m sorry but…”variety of apology.Baldwin pulls no punches when talking about Hollywood insiders and fellow celebrities. I have a feeling he burned a lot of bridges with this book and couldn’t care less. One example is when he talks about being forced out of The Hunt for Red October and replaced with Harrison Ford. “One thing [Ford] does not have is an Oscar, which must frustrate, if not burden him, after his long career…Ford is “a little man, short, scrawny, and wiry, whose soft voice sounds as if it’s coming from behind a door.” Other times, he is less subtle, calling people assholes and the like outright. I listened to the audiobook, mostly in the car, so unfortunately I didn’t write down anymore examples. I wish I would have because they were great.Baldwin narrates the audiobook himself and is fantastic. His velvety voice was made for voiceovers. I was surprised that he is also really good at doing impressions. He did the voices for all of the actors he quoted and they all sounded just like whichever celebrity it was.I recommend Nevertheless to anyone who loves memoirs of famous people like I do. It is highly satisfying and you will not be disappointed.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Baldwin is an interesting guy. He certainly was not brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He describes the struggles he faced as a young boy in New York. He covers a lot of ground – – his early career, movies, politics, marriage to Kim Basinger, issues with the paparazzi etc. He talked about his time on 30 Rock and his admiration for his fellow costars, especially Tina Fey. Baldwin is pretty candid about people he has worked with in the movies and on television.
Seems like he was not a fan of Whitney Houston. When he was a host at SNL, he complimented her on her singing and she basically gave him a diva response.
Baldwin has a few other books to write I am sure but this is a good start… - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5For the most part Alec Baldwin provided a thoughtful and heartfelt accounting of his childhood, family, growing up, his schooling, and then his unexpected life-choice segue into a career in acting. Baldwin is a smart man and surprisingly not pretentious. But his reputation continually threatened to derail the so-far well-crafted memoir as this reader waited for the perpetual shoe to fall. And it did. Eighty percent into this rather interesting and revealing memoir Baldwin went on the inevitable attack. But bringing ex-wife Kim Bassinger into the fray as well as their daughter together, and the messy divorce with the rabid lawyers, only served to promote my expectation of Baldwin’s anger and disgust to eventually explode. Using the last twenty percent of his book to address the horrible current state of affairs in our country’s politics in parallel with his perhaps justifiably troubled relationships with women tainted an otherwise good book. All in all an interesting experience and certainly the only Baldwin composition guaranteed I shall read from this point on. But I certainly appreciated the opportunity.