Extremely well-written & brutally honest
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I decided to purchase "Without You" due to my appreciation of "Rent". I saw the show back in Broadway in the late 90's and was blown away by it's music. I still appreciate & love a number of songs on the Cast Recoring & last year saw the movie version & loved it. I was already aware of the tragedy of the untimely death of "Rent"'s creator Jonathan Larson & on seeing this book by Rapp decided it could be a good read.
I read the book far quicker than I would most books and found it hard to put down. That's not to say it's a classic and I did spend a lot of time shaking my head in disbelief at Rapp's description's of his actions throughout his life but it really is a good read.
Rent is very heavily featured throughout the book although if you broke it down I'd say approximately 70% is "Rent-free" so to speak. It's not a straight auto-biography & the book actually begins with Rapp's original audition. He does however rewind back to his youth for large chunks of the book but he's certainly not self-indulgent enough to think that many people are going to be as interested in large parts of his life as say they would be of much more popular "celebrities".
Although Rapp writes of his thoughts with regard to Rent & Larson it's his relationship with his late mother that is the primary focus of this book & although I did at times find this a little labourious it's a fascinating and extremely sad insight into the mind of a son knowing he will soon lose his mother. What's particularly refreshing is Rapp's brutal honesty with situations which really makes it stand out from other less sincere auto-biographical accounts.
One thing that I did find mis-leading however was that nowhere on the jacket or inside pages does it mention that a large part of the book features his homo-sexuality & in particular his mother's attitude toward this. No matter what you think, it's a fascinating account of his struggles with this and at times quite hard to read but I did suspect that this side of the book had been ignored, do the publishers think this will scare people away ?
As the book progressed I did feel that Rapp opened up in terms of detailing the less-appealing side of his character & I increasingly found myself thinking less of him so to speak but credit to him I guess for telling this "warts-and-all".
Overall if you're a fan of Rent I'd recommend reading this. It's not a full-on account of the show but it heavily fetures in Rapp's tale and everything else aside it's a highly interesting read.
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A Heart felt Memoir
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If you like the musical or the film RENT then this book will give you an insight into one of the original cast members and the journey he made through success, grief and dealing with his own issues surrounding his unique relationship with his mother. I couldn't put the book down. Well done Anthony. We wait for another book with great anticipation.
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