There and Back Again : An Actor's Tale

Rating:
Summary: A conversation with a good friend
Review: I am avid reader..and this book was fun. I quickly got sucked in and read it in three days. Sean's candor,honesty and rambling makes it seem like I had a wonderful interesting conversation with a friend. I believe Sean was very brave to write this book and to tell things like he see them. He shed some light on himself and filming itself. I could easily tell how much emotion and intellengece he puts into his craft.
I will gladly read it over and over.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Candid
Review: I found this candid look into Sean Astin's thoughts and experiences interesting. I liked him before, and like him better now. He is honest about the struggles he goes through and I didn't find any of his comments about other people mean-spirited at all. He simply tells the way he feels. Thank goodness somebody finally gives some insight on what happened with Stuart Townsend. It was an important element that no one was willing to talk about. And I appreciated the little part on Viggo, though I wish it had been more. Like many Ringers, I care about all of these actors and want to know more about them, so Sean's honesty is very welcome.

I think it requires a certain amount of intelligence, maturity and empathy to really get where Sean is coming from. A sensitive person growing up in a pit like Hollywood where everyone is smiling in your face and stabbing you in the back, is going to have painful experiences. I commend Sean for having the perspective to see his own mistakes and admit to them. I hope he goes on to achieve all that he desires.

Rating:
Summary: I Don't Care What Others say, I Liked It
Review: I just read this book, and as I am very picky about my reading material, I liked it despite others' cutting complaints about it. The book is after all, about SEAN, NOT LOTR. He did a good job on the book and is a hard worker just trying to realise his dream (lofty as that may be). Don't be a sheep....read the book and decide for YOURSELF if it was worth the price. It was nice to read about the PRE-LOTR Sean Astin.


Rating:
Summary: Very personal insight to behind the scenes
Review: I thought this was a good book. Sean should give himself more credit and not tear himself up all of the time or get depressed about things so easily, but it is completely normal. It was good to know that things are hard on everyone, no matter what you do.
The book was easy to read and it was interesting to hear someones view points of behind the scenes. He was not afraid to say what he really felt and he should be applauded for that. Way to go!

Rating:
Summary: Very honest and insightful
Review: I'm surprised at the people who think this book was full of insults. I can't think of a single insult. Sean does talk about his feelings in a very honest manner, but I don't think anyone can take what he says to mean that he either thinks less of the person, or that he is trying to get the reader to think less of his fellow actor. And since those reviewers are so fond of personal attacks in their descriptions, I'll add one of my own: their idiots.

The books is honest and deals with the inner workings of hollywood to a greater degree than most. For instance, did you know Sean was originally paid $250K for his work on the movies, a very small sum of money considering the time involved.

Rating:
Summary: That is not to say....
Review: If all the "However" and "That is not to say that" were deleted, the volume could have been 10 pages shorter. The book is interesting but not brillantly edited.
I don't find Sean Austin to be particularly self-indulgent, but I do get the feeling that he is in a constant state of frustration. He's a wonderful actor and, from all accounts, a fine producer/director. While reading this book, however, I had the feeling that Gollum was ghost writing for the author.

Rating:
Summary: More like a TattleTale -- Trite and Vindictive
Review: If you're a fan, don't read this book. Why? Because you will end up disliking him and reluctantly confronted with the truth: which is that he is a Wannabe, Backstabber, Arse-kisser, and Crybaby. Not Samwise but Gollum! He is so insecure that if another fellow actor doesn't pay much attention to him, he, craving the approval he needs, has to insult them -- how trite and vindictive. I wonder what PJ, Sir Ian McKellan, Ian Holme, and even poor Stuart Townsend think of him now...if they bother to open this book that offers nothing but base and demeaning comments about the LOTR experience and others (especially actors with more calibre and decency than he will ever have).

Unlike McKellan's own website, which freely offers wonderful email exchanges between him and his fans, never disparaging anyone's character, consistently gracious about giving information, Sean Astin is a money/power opportunist, demeaning everyone at one stroke. Hopefully by reading this book sitting at a bookstore, everyone, fans and non-fans alike, will see what a petty, jealous, and ugly person he truly is without spending a dime...I don't care how well he portrayed Sam. When I read it at the bookstore, glad that I didn't bother buying it, I couldn't help but laugh at how he kept repeating that he took the hardest major in college ("English"), while he had to have a co-author to help him write a book which read like a junior high spam book that gossipped about everyone. Now that we know what an ungrateful and petty braggart he is, may we never have the misfortune to see him on screen again.

Rating:
Summary: Not just for LOTR fans
Review: Sean Astin's book is a quick and interesting read. He writes about his past movie experiences as well as those during the making of Lord of the Rings. He offers insight into the movie world and gives his observations of friends, directors, and costars.

I enjoyed him sharing about the challenge of crying on cue. He is brutally honest and his self deprication becomes tiring. He seems to feel sorry for himself a great deal. Although this illustrates that actors are human, it sometimes seems as though he doesn't enjoy his work. If it were up to him he would be a director rather than an actor. He talks about some of his directing projects including a piece that appears on the Two Towers DVD.

He doesn't want to be labeled, especially with his mother's (Patty Duke) bipolar disorder; however, the book left me wondering whether he has depression. Even though he is hard on himself, I did not lose respect for him.

The ending is hurried and lacks the detail of the opening. Still, it is an easy weekend read and not just for Lord of the Rings fans.

Rating:
Summary: An ACTOR'S Tale...
Review: This book is not, as many first assume, a backstage look at the filming of the Lord of the Rings movies. If you buy this book for that reason, then you will be sorely disappointed. If, however, you are looking for an autobiography of Sean Astin, with a glimpse at the inside workings of the movie industry and the pitfalls of Hollywood, this is the book for you. Not everyone will fall in love with Sean Astin after reading this book. This isn't Samwise Gamgee's autobiography, after all, and Sean Astin is definitely NOT Sam. Just because you love Sam, or Sean's portrayal of Sam, doesn't mean that you will come out of reading this book believing Sean to be an all-round great guy. But the book does give a fairly accurate portrayal of a somewhat flawed (aren't we all?) human being in the actor's own words. If you're curious about the LOTR movies, get the extended DVD's and watch the special features. If you want to know what it's like growing up in Hollywood and starting out in the acting biz, read the book.
My only major complaint concerns the editing of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Are all movie actors this introspective?
Review: This is my first film star memoir, so I don't have a lot to compare it to. I have been a big Sean Astin fan since LOTR started coming out, and didn't know what to expect from this, but I was interested enough in the LOTR production that I figured it would be an interesting read.

"There and Back Again" isn't really a literary sort of read... sometimes it comes across as stream of consciousness storytelling from someone who likes to talk (and I think that Astin alludes to being this way within the book). Nearly every time he starts to talk about a particular event, there's at least one tangential story thrown in the middle. However, I did find it to be quite a page-turner for some reason.

What DOES come across in this is Astin's personality (or at least it seems like it MIGHT be his personality--obviously I haven't met him). He seems like a very introspective, likeable guy, who freely admits his insecurities. Like a lot of other reviewers are alluding to, it seems sort of crazy that he'd admit to some of these insecurities in what I imagine to be a very cut-throat industry.

The book briefly alludes to his career prior to LOTR, primarily so the reader can understand Astin's reactions when he gets the opportunities to work on LOTR. And it covers the period during and after the filming, up to and including the release and publicity of the third film.

There's a good mix of him glossing over certain events, and focusing in detail on others.

I'd recommend this if you are a Sean Astin fan. If you aren't, it might come across as a little tedious and self-involved, yet also enlightening.