BOOK: Red Carpets And Other Banana Skins - Rupert Everett

Title: Red Carpets And Other Banana Skins
Author: Rupert Everett
Genre: Autobiography
Publisher: Abacus (Edition May 2007)
Pages: Paperback 406
Language: English
Rating: 8/10

Summary: Actor Rupert Everett (probably best known for his role in My Best Friend's Wedding) gives a very detailed insight in his life so far. Not afraid to name names and to show the dirtier side of showbiz, he tells us all about the struggles and the victories behind the scenes.

Review with excerpt
I was looking forward to reading this book; I first saw Rupert in The Comfort Of Strangers (a film I watched for Christopher Walken) and I have paid attention to his work ever since. Plus I was promised some juicy gossip about other famous people *g*. The book certainly delivers on that issue, maybe even to a greater extent than I had hoped for. It confirmed some of my suspicions about the sillyness of the glitter and glamour. But the book is more than just a tabloid from a reliable source: it's really Rupert's life journey. Of course that is not all fun, some parts of the book deal with death and disease: he lost quite a few friends along the way. I was also saddened by his acounts of the homophobia he encountered in Hollywood.
It's a captivating story, from the first 'Tales From The Crib' about "Roo's" upperclass childhood until his rise and fall and rise in the Lubed Desert. The massive amount of pictures that are included are fascinating too.

I have only one tiny complaint, that I would like to illustrate with this little snippet from the chapter called 'London':
"At some point, biking from one latitude to another within that shimmering pink triangle, indulging, as I almost invariably did when alone, in waking dreams of the legendary screen career that was awaiting to unfold before me, I was beckoned from a passing Rolls-Royce and joined instead, for a brief amateur career, the ranks of the oldest profession.In the prevailing winds of change I was simply fulfilling my duty as a Thatcher youth. 'Get on your bike and work,' was Norman Tebbit's message to the unemployed. (He was Thatchers's gruesome henchman.) I got off mine and jumped into a passing limousine.

However, more than enough has been said about my brief foray into commerce, both by myself and others, so I will only quote my bank manager [...].

NONONONONONONO! Rupert: just because it was said before, doesn't mean everybody heard you. Dammit.

I also would have liked to read something about the plastic surgery, because I seriously think he ruined his face with that. But I still love his voice and that comes across all through the book, whether he talks about his 'Nanny' or his adoration for Julie Andrews...
I highly recommend this.