Book Review: Life Itself

I remember reading about the blogging that film critic Roger Ebert was doing as he neared the end of his life, writing with depth about art, mortality and, yes, life itself. But I never got around to his blog, alas, and then, he was gone, succumbing to cancer. His memoir — Life Itself — is an interesting read, bringing us back into his life and career in the media business and then into his struggles with cancer itself. The disease took away his voice, and most of his jaw, but not his ability to write and say what he wanted to say.

Ebert does not make his life story a sad story. Instead, he brings honesty and raw emotion to his view on what makes a life worth living, and along the way, his words teach us something about how to look at the world through films, and therefore, through art. The book is a bit inconsistent, though, and you can tell these chapters were stitched together from blog posts and musings of Ebert over the years. Still, his pieces pack a lot of power. I found more than a few similarities between Ebert’s entry into journalism to my own (covering high school sports, asked to do art reviews, etc.) but of course, his accomplishments on his own and with Gene Siskel far outweigh my own pop culture reference points.

I had bought the book for my sons, both of whom love movies and have more than a passing interest in the business, but this book is more a biographical sketchbook than a dive into how to view a movie. Which is fine. I learned a lot about Ebert as a writer and thinker, and a person, than I knew before, and I came to understand the courage of not giving in until your last breath, to know that words may still carry you forward even when all else seems dark. That, in essence, is Life Itself.

And you may know that a documentary on Ebert is now out, too, based on the book.

 

Peace (in life),
Kevin

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