[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOl8WWeyzvk]
Neil Patrick Harris:
Choose Your Own Autobiography
Author: Neil Patrick Harris and David Javerbaum
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Source: Blogging for Books
Genre(s): Autobiography, Humor
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Spoilers: Low
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As funny as it might sound, Neil Patrick Harris isn’t kidding when he says this is a ‘Choose Your Own Autobiography.’ Styled like the old ‘Choose Your Own Adventure‘ books of our youth and written entirely in second person – with the exception of some guest spots which still refer to the reader as ‘you’ – the book places you in the shows of beloved Hollywood family man, Neil Patrick Harris.
I thought maybe it was just a little gimmicky when I first heard about it. I mean, how do you pull off a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure‘ autobiography?
And yet, some how they did.
Seriously, I wasn’t expecting it to be such a charming and fun book. I was all smiles and laughs the entire time I was reading it and it actually does read like a it says it does. You can’t read from beginning to end I went back and sorta did just so I could find all he little jokes, hidden pages, and other stuff I missed initially. To get to the correct ending you need to pass through certain parts of the book, skipping others.
It’s weird for a book to have this kind of “replay” value. But it’s part of the charm.
If you’re a Neil Patrick Harris fan you should definitely pick this one up. You’ll get great insight into this completely awesome human being and you’ll get to follow his awesome career. I’ve been a huge fan of NPH since, well, Starship Troopers. It was just so great to just see how down-to-eath, honest, and grateful he has always been in his career. From his discovery at acting camp to his Doogie Howser days to How I Met Your Mother and parenthood, it’s just awesome to see not only how he got from Point A to Point B but how he felt about it, too, from his own perspective.
You basically are Neil Patrick Harris and I really hope his real internal monologue is as hilarious as this book. It’s just great. And the book is supplemented by random intermissions where friends pop in to talk about their memories of Neil Patrick Harris, magic tricks, cocktail recipes, and Neil himself telling you just how great a job you’re doing finding someone as hot, sexy, and awesome as David.
And, if you don’t pick the right choices? Terrible things happen! It’s hilarious. You can embark on a complete and totally fictional magic career (which ends badly), sink into quick sand, get beaten up in a club, and just other ridiculous scenarios. But, if the book ends, you can always go back to the last page and fix things!
Because in the end you are going to get Neil Patrick Harris through his awesome, amazing life! Or, rather, you’re going to get you through your awesome, amazing life!
Final Thoughts:
This book was a lot of fun and if you’re a fan of Neil Patrick Harris you should definitely pick this one up. You’ll get a kick out of all the stories and how excited he is about just about everything. You’re going to have an absolute blast with it, I promise. Make mistakes, pick the wrong choices, then go back and do it all over again and again. It’s totally worth it.
English