I have enjoyed Matthew McConaughey as an actor so when I saw he had a book out, Green Lights, I decided to give it a try. That was about three months ago. I waited and waited for the book from my online library and finally, it was my turn. So, was it worth the wait?
It was. It was funny and insightful.
I think I would have preferred actually reading it though. As I was writing this review I went on Amazon to get the links. I saw that these are a few of the pages from the book…
They look like a fun read with pictures and actual notes from his journals. I feel like I missed out a bit by listening instead of reading.
The book is a little of a where I got to be and him giving some advice on thinking things through. I’ll admit to feeling a little frustrated from time to time. In the book, he explains that he wanted more out of life than being a romantic comedy actor. So he waited it out for about two years before a different style of script came his way. That’s great and awesome if you have the financial ability to just live for two years with no income coming in but how many of us can do that?
He tries to make a point that we should decide what we want and wait it out to get what we want. That’s all nice and dandy for millionaires, but average American’s can’t do that. That’s why Nashville is filled with people with amazing voices that are waiting tables.
Maybe that was just me but I did get a “privileged” vibe now and then. Overall though, I still liked the book.
Here is what Amazon had to say:
“I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.
Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges—how to get relative with the inevitable—you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.”
So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.
Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.
It’s a love letter. To life.
It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights—and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.
Good luck.”
Amazon readers gave the book 4.7 stars. I’ll be honest. I don’t usually read biography books so it’s a little bit harder to know what to judge the book by. I enjoyed it. It was a fun listen. If he has another book out, I’d likely listen to it too. So, with that, I’m saying 4.5.
There is some talk of drugs, partying, and a little sexual stuff. It wasn’t enough to scare me away or scar me for life. I wanted you to know in case you’re listening to the audio version and others are around.
If you want to give the book a try, you can find it HERE on Amazon.
Hmmm…. I’m currently reading Jenna’s book. I’m usually not that into the whole “what famous people have to say” genre, so I’ll probably take a pass on his book, but I’ve found Jenna’s book good so far.
I was given a book written by an entertainer for my 50th birthday. This guy described his life at 50. I had liked his music, but after reading how he got where he was, I wasn’t impressed with him anymore. I didn’t even finish the book. So I stay away from biography and autobiographies. Thanks for sharing.
I guess I might be the exception to the rule…I really liked the book. I had listened to the audio book. I felt like he was sitting in the same room as he told stories of his life. I thought my husband would enjoy it, so I listened a second time on a long car ride.