Book #18

To Hell and Back: An Autobiography by Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf's bizarre and spectacular life story is scarcely credible. After surviving an abusive childhood, during which he was almost murdered by his alcoholic father, he starred in one of the biggest stage and film musicals ever, then went on to record the third best-selling album of all time.

I'm not usually one for non-fiction, and particularly not celebrity autobiographies.  I find them to be generally full of name-dropping, exaggerated anecdotes, and a confused timeline. I picked up this one because I've always been a fan of Meat Loaf, but unfortunately found it to be no exception to the rule.

The book is easy to read, and the writing is nothing miraculous. The chapters are nice and bite-sized, and can stand alone as small tales on their own. The trouble was, I was never sure where we were in time; most of them were entirely devoted (understandably) to the ins and outs of Meat Loaf's experiences in the music business, but this isn't something I have an interest in. The names dropped here were insane, and most of the stories added nothing apart from the fact Meat had met these people.

I suppose I was looking for sex, drugs, stage-diving, fights and nonsense like that, but it seems Mr Loaf has left a lot of these scenarios out of the book for dignity purposes. There was a feeling of something missing, a secret being kept, and it was rubbish.

This would probably be more amusing for a die-hard Meat Loaf fan, or someone interested in the music business. Apart from the episode with his dad trying to kill him with a knife (which, unsurprising, is what made me buy the book), there isn't anything too meaty (I am hilarious) for anyone else to sink their teeth into.

Note to self: no more autobiographies for a while.