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Review: Choose Your Own Autobiography

Review: Choose Your Own AutobiographyTitle: Choose Your Own Autobiography
Author: Neil Patrick Harris
Genre(s): LGBTQ+, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Pages: 291
Source: Library
For: Book Club
Rating:
Sexual Content: 1 Flames

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There's content in this book that may be triggering to some readers. I've tried to include the possible triggers in this book at end of my review.
Goodreads Synopsis

Tired of memoirs that only tell you what really happened? Sick of deeply personal accounts written in the first person? Seeking an exciting, interactive read that puts the “u” back in “aUtobiography”? Then look no further than CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY! In this revolutionary, Joycean experiment in light celebrity narrative, actor/personality/carbon-based life-form Neil Patrick Harris lets you, the reader, live his life. Choose correctly and you’ll find fame, fortune, and true love. Choose incorrectly and you’ll find misery, heartbreak, and a hideous death by piranhas.

My Thoughts

My IRL book club has done a memoir-of-choice-month in July for the last three or four years. This year I chose to read CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Neil Patrick Harris (NPH).

I’ve been a fan of NPH for a while. I loved him as Barney Stinson in the sitcom HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and as Dr. Horrible in Joss Whedon’s DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-ALONG BLOG. And, I thought it’d be fun to read his memoir.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY is written in the style of the choose your own adventure novels. This style lends mostly to true stories about NPH with the occasional “if you want to listen to your own horrible death, keep listening” anecdotes. Like most celebrity memoirs, NPH narrates his own audiobook. He even breaks out into song every now and then. Even though the choose-your-own-adventure style would’ve worked better in book form, I think the audiobook is still worth listening to.

So pluck up your courage and take that risk! Add another story to the book of your life. Even if it doesn’t go the way you planned or wanted, you’ll still learn from it.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY focuses on NPH as a whole rather than just one aspect of his life. It focuses on his acting, love of magic, coming out, finding love, and starting a family all while giving him a chance to be funny. I really loved a lot of the over-the-top parts. I especially loved listening to the sometimes true, sometimes comedic notes from his friends. My favorite parts, though, were the stories about his husband and their kids.

Despite the choose-your-own-adventure format not quite working in audiobook form, CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY was fun to listen to and I’m glad I read it.

Have you read CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY? If so, what did you think?

Trigger Warning

There is a trigger warning for bullying, derogatory comments toward gays, and drug use.

About Jenni Elyse


Hi, I'm Jenni. I’m an eclectic reader. I mostly read fiction and I favor fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, mystery, thrillers, and romance. The more kissing in a book the better!
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10 replies
  1. Roberta R.
    Roberta R. says:

    LOL! This sounds unique for sure! I must admit, though, that I’ve only see NPH in one of the recent Doctor Who specials with David Tennant! Shocking, I know.

  2. Margaret
    Margaret says:

    I liked him in Dougie Howser, M.D. (sp?) I’ve never heard of that style autobiography–intriguing. My daughters used to read books where you could pick between a variety of actions to give you different endings. They were fun!

    • Jenni Elyse
      Jenni Elyse says:

      I only saw Doogie Howser, MD a few times. It wasn’t a show my parents or my older siblings were into so, subsequently, I wasn’t either. I’ve heard it was a good show, though.

      I’ve read a few choose your own adventure books and really thought they were fun as well. I could never not die in them, though. LOL.

    • Jenni Elyse
      Jenni Elyse says:

      Yes, agreed. I’ve only read a couple of choose your own adventure books, but they were fun until I got bored with them, lol. I could never find a way to the end of the book in one piece. 😂

    • Jenni Elyse
      Jenni Elyse says:

      I really love listening to celebrity memoirs as well. It’s fun to hear it in their own voice. I’ve been wanting to read Patrick Stewart’s.

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