Rating: 
Summary: A great book for any Michael J. Fox fan!
Review: As a Michael J. Fox fan of 17 years and still going, this was a great book. I've been a fan since the age of 9 and this book just proved what a great guy he really is. It's incredible the way he and his family are able to deal with Parkinson's, when most would just fall apart. You don't have to be his #1 fan to read this inspiring book, it's great for everyone!Please ignore the review that says he got Parkinson's from drinking too much Pepsi! That person is clearly an idiot and did not read the book!
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Written, a Pleasant Surprise!
Review: With Lucky Man, Michael J. Fox has proven that he is not only a great actor in both comedic and dramatic venues, but he is also an amazing writer with a knack for storytelling. Although his story does not follow a chronological timeline, it is still wonderfully laid-out, and fairly easy to follow. Each section starts out with the date and location of the author, and each section is intricately matched up with the rest. It's almost as if Fox is putting together a puzzle of his life, piece by piece, and we are there to witness it. It is written with such powerful words and feelings, that I'm very glad he chose to write it himself. The passages, especially the ones dealing with his Parkinson's disease (a major player in the story), are extremely moving. You really feel like you are a part of Fox's life, as he is moving through the bulk of his career. It's funny, the second Back to the Future movie was playing one weekend when I was at that exact stage of the book, Fox describing his life on and off the set around that time. It really gives you a glimpse into the "real" life of one of Hollywood's most loved actors. In short, a brilliantly written, compelling book. A must read for men and women alike. Thank you, Michael J. Fox!
Rating: 
Summary: Great reading for any man
Review: This biography by Michael J. Fox, who sadly contracted Parkinson's disease from drinking too much Pepsi, is one of the best I've ever read. I don't have so much interest in his films other then Teen Wolf, which is one of my all time faves, but it was still a good read. He talks mostly about his life today, suffering from illness, having children, his wife and that, rather then centreing it too much on his film career. It talks a lot about Whos' The Boss, the show he starred in, though. And many of the anecdotes are very funny. I think that's what's good about it, it's funny and touching. It also gives alot about the disease he has, which is good because I began the book with really no idea. So, summing up, good book, funny and moving. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: above and beyond--pure courage
Review: Makes you wonder if you would have the courage displayed by Mr. Fox. He shows how he came to this decision but it has to be more than that. His love for his wife and children are greatly shown and his love for life follows in order. I hope his courage and commitment will be seen by all and this dreaded affliction will be counquered in the near future.
Rating:
Summary: A winning autobiography
Review: Reading Michael J. Fox's memoir, Lucky Me, was a complete joy. He tells his life story in a funny, friendly, and exceptionally modest way, as if he were sitting and chatting with his best friend. Michael grew up in a Canadian military family that moved around a lot. He got his first acting job as a teenager, then dropped out of school to try his luck in Hollywood. The tv series Family Ties brought him stardom, and the rest is history. This is not a Hollywood insider's kiss-and-tell book, however. Indeed, there is no name-dropping or gossip about the rich and famous. He focuses, instead, on how the love of his parents, siblings, wife, and four children has kept him grounded, helped him overcome alcoholism, and now gives him strength in his battle with Parkinson's disease. Fox loved his work, and faces life without acting, because of the increasingly debilitating symptoms of PD. He is hopeful for a cure, takes an active part in educating people about it, and helps raise money for research. This is a quick read, engagingly written, short on self-pity and long on gratitude for his career and his family. I recommend it to his fans and to those who want to learn more about Parkinson's disease.
Rating:
Summary: Heartwarming, Sensitive and Well-Written
Review: I was always curious about Fox's story when the news of his disease broke out. In this book, he goes completely in deep about his background from when he was a child to pretty much current day. As you've probably read, it starts out with the twitching of his pinkie quite some time ago (roughly 10 years) and after he is definitely diagnosed with having Parkinson's, his story takes a huge step back -- all the way to before he was born and then the story completely begins. We learn about his very heartwarming family and about how he grew up in Canada as a smaller-than-usual child. Fox had such a youthfulness about him as well as his shorter height, that he was cast as a 12-year-old in a Canadian sitcom when he was already 16. From there, it moves onto his trip to Hollywood where he and his father drove down from Canada and hoofed it around Tinsel Town looking for agents. He talks about his experiences with "Family Ties," "Teen Wolf" and of course "Back to the Future," which I'm sure most of you would like to know about (as well as his Parkinson's.) His journey from struggling actor selling off pieces of his couch one-by-one in order to have money to eat moves to the BTF explosion and how he skyrocketed into stardom. He not only goes into his marriage to Tracy but how his excessive drinking (accompanied by his denial of Parkinson's) actually suffered his marriage to the point where he quit drinking completely. Fox never comes out and says that he was an alcoholic, but he definitely compares himself to one. His Parkinson's is well illustrated for those out there who know nothing about it. He describes the symptoms, his treatments, what happens when he doesn't take his medication and actually goes into great detail about his brain surgery that was performed while he was awake. Fox didn't have a ghost writer and says that only his brother-in-law helped him with writing the entire book. If this is the case, he is quite the natural writer, never really straying from his outline and not only writing with incredible detail but very funny quips and comments. He's a great writer. I'm only giving this four out of five stars because Fox left out some information in his life. One in particular would be his big, long-time romance, now good friend Nancy McKean. They were so heavily publicized in the 80s that I'm surprised he never mentions her at all. The other reason would be because he pretty much says that although fame was surreal and it was easy to get caught up in, he never lost his head and appreciated his fans. This for a fact, I know is bull. I had known a boy who was a huge fan of his, to the point where he emulated himself after his Marty character down to the type of skateboard he had. Well, he had an opportunity to meet Fox here in Chicago when he was filming "Light of Day" and when he did he said that Fox was so nasty to him that he cried that night and threw out his skateboard. So obviously, Fox hasn't been that great to all of his fans. I know it seems small, but I'll never forget how upset this guy was and when I read about Fox's "appreciation" for his fans, it bothered me enough to write this in the review. With that, I suspect that Fox left out a number of things in his memoir to be private. Yes, of course celebrities need their privacy, so I suppose that that's why there's lots left out and probably because Fox wanted to concentrate on his disease in the book rather than tabloid fodder. (Oh, and he goes into great detail about how they treated him during private moments as well.) Good book. Well written. Hope he finds what he's looking for.
Rating:
Summary: Lucky Fox
Review: It is hard to remember or belive now, but in the 1980's, Michael J. Fox was a huge celebrity with a top-ranked TV show and several blockbuster movies. This is his story of a life transformation brought about by a debilitating condition, young onset Parkinson's disease. Michael divides the first 40 years of his life into four chapters. In the first, and to me least interesting, he is a typical lower-middle class Canadian Army brat, who has minor success in local TV and theatre productions, while struggling with schoolwork (he never finishes high school) and normal adolescent social and relationship problems. Things pick up a little in the second chapter, where he decides that his minor success in Canada is the stepping stone to a Hollywood career. Michael nearly starves for three years in a run-down LA apartment, waiting for agents and producers to call, until the phone and the power are turned off for non-payment. By a near miracle, Michael lands the job on Family Ties and begins the third chapter, noted by excessive drinking, hard work, major career success, a string of going-nowhere relationships, and rampant spending on homes and cars. Halfway through this chapter, Michael is diagnosed with PD, but decides to keep it a secret for nearly a decade. Michael pops pills at just the right time to keep his symptoms hidden, while sneaking off to weekend medical consultations and procedures in hidden locations. He learns to sit on his hands to hide the shaking if the meds are not timed just right. Finally, the fourth chapter begins. Michael has a family, a loving and beautiful wife, and a committment, ultimately fulfilled, to quit drinking, reel in his other excesses, and confront his PD. Michael's doctors had earlier told him that his PD would limit his career to about 10 years. Particularly interesting are the decisions he makes about how to best use these ten last productive years. Michael attempts to break out of the hopeless typecasting that he has been pigeon-holed into by appearing in Woody Allen films and other roles. Finally accepting that due to his height and looks, he has no chance to age gracefully like fellow sit-com stars Woody Harrelson or Tom Hanks into leading man roles, Fox pursues directing and accepts that he does not need to take every role to continue earning as he did in the 1980's. A string of box-office failures brings this point home in the 1990's. Michael Fox has put together a fascinating autobiography, that everyone should read to get some perspective back in their life. It is not particularly well written, as Fox likes to jump around almost randomly, nearly skipping major sections such as the Back to the Future sequels, and dwell endlessly on minor characters and incidents from his youth. It is a honest reflection on how life and one's expectations and objectives change from youth to mid-adulthood.
Rating:
Summary: A touching memoir from a great person and actor.
Review: As is the case for most of us who grew up during the 80's, Alex P. Keaton and Marty McFly are childhood friends that we grew to love and enjoy being around. To meet the man behind the curtain in this wonderful book was no disappointment. Fox does a great job of sharing his life story and his frank views on celebrity as well as his life with P.D. are engaging. THE ONLY REASON I DID NOT GIVE THIS BOOK 5 STARS: What is the 'long story' on why Fox chose to do 'The Frighteners' down in New Zealand? I consider it to be one of his finest works and was intrigued as to his views of Peter Jackson as a director and the making of the film. Write another book Mike, PLEASE.
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Summary: Acting on Epiphanies!
Review: Lucky Man is a stylishly written, self-deprecating memoir that will be irresistible to Michael J. Fox fans and those who have a loved one suffering from Parkinson's disease. The book has the same witty approach that you would have expected from any of the comic characters Mr. Fox played during his distinguished career. I was drawn to the book both because I admire Mr. Fox as an actor and because my father recently was diagnosed as having Parkinson's disease. I thought this book would help me understand more about the disease and how to cope with it. My high expectations for learning more about Mr. Fox and his acting career, and understanding more about the experience of Parkinson's disease were vastly exceeded. Mr. Fox begins the memoir with the experience of discovering his first tremor. He was recovering from an alcoholic binge the night before, a frequent occurrence in that stage of his career, and was inclined to think that somehow the two were connected. That's just the beginning of a long period of denial during which he avoided working with a neurologist, even after he accepted the diagnosis. From there, the book travels backward to his youth in Canada and the frequent moves that his family made because of new assignments his father received while in the military. You find out how a kinetic, precocious and diminutive youngster found himself frustrated by high school and dropped out before graduating to take on the challenges of television. Not surprisingly, his meteoric career left him unprepared to handle the new challenges and responsibilities. Mr. Fox candidly describes the various bad decisions he made without wallowing in them. He had a series of epiphanies throughout his life to date that have informed him of what he was doing wrong. He has had the courage to act on those epiphanies, and has been rewarded for taking those actions. The memoir's main theme is how Parkinson's disease turned out to be a blessing in disguise, forcing him to address many of the weaknesses in his life, which included boozing, delegating the details of day-to-day responsibilities, being over-focused on the commercial side of his career, not being enough of a family presence and not facing his demons. If you have liked Mr. Fox on the screen, you'll probably like him better after reading this fine memoir. He has a strong sense of family, and you will meet a remarkable one in the Foxes through him. His wife, Tracy, is very special too, and you will see the kinds of support that can really help a patient with Parkinson's disease. The disease and its potential for a cure are well described. All of us should be grateful to Mr. Fox for taking on a public role as an advocate in which he has been willing to let us all see the deterioration that the disease has brought to his neurological control over his body's movement. In fact, I decided to read this book after seeing a television interview that Mr. Fox did during the NBA playoffs this year in which he unconcernedly chatted on in an amiable way while his body twitched and jerked uncontrollably. It was a remarkable example of true grace and poise. Through his visibility, Mr. Fox's foundation has raised millions and helped accelerate the use of many more funds to speed the developement of a cure. I agree that he's a lucky man. More importantly, he's a fine man. I'm glad he shared his story in this outstanding and open way. I also wish him well in finding that cure, and being able to use it in his own life. Where in your life has a setback turned out to be a blessing? What are you struggling with today that could be helpful to you? What are you not facing up to yet? Those are the questions that this memoir will and should raise in your mind.
Rating:
Summary: A Lucky Man Indeed
Review: One of my favorite shows growing up was Family Ties. Naturally, I was sadden to hear of Michael J. Fox's illness. In his Memoir, Fox discusses his childhood, which led to the beginning to his career. He further details his career through its end which largely resulted from his illness. Lucky Man is a fun and heart-warming book. The wit demostrated by Fox reminds me of his character on Family Ties, Alex. P Keaton. The humor effectively adds dept to the stories. The stories from his childhood can bring a smile to anybody's face as hey recall memories of their childhood. The story of his acting career reads like many actors before him, but ends differently. Despite this, Fox does not want you to feel sorry for him. His illness created within him the opportunity to discover his true self. For that, he is grateful. It is in the face of tradegy that many people discover their true self. In this book the reader discovers not only a quality entertainer, but a great human being. The one flaw I find in the book is that it is hard to follow at times because it does not follow a chronological order. However, this will not be a problem if you read it in a short period of time. I had a great deal of trouble putting the book down.
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