Just ignore him, by Alan Davies

ISBN: 9780349144368
Amazon ID: B083XP5P67

You might think "Ooh, Alan Davies - he's really funny on QI", or maybe you liked him in Jonathan Creek, or you've seen him doing stand-up comedy, and therefore an autobiography might seem like a welcome insight to the world of an entertainer.

Think again.

This is the most sordid, depressing, and unpleasant biography of anybody that I have ever read.

I'm not saying it's not well-written; I'm not saying it's not true; I'm not saying anything about the cathartic effect it has hopefully had for Alan to have written it, but if you're expecting the "mundane boy to celebrity adult" story you might expect from the autobiography of a television personality, forget it. It is not your average celebrity biography, with all the expected ups and downs.

This is a very unpleasant book. He's clearly had a very unpleasant life, and for that I do not envy him at all, and he has my sympathies, but this book needs a mental health warning on its cover, to protect the innocent reader.

Do not read this unless you want to read about child pornography, sexual abuse, shoplifting, vandalism, stealing from family, stealing for friends, and ostracising siblings.

There is nothing in this book to celebrate the life that Alan has now, so either:

a) he's not that impressed with his life, working with Stephen Fry on QI, or having been the star of Jonathan Creek (which does at least get a meagre mention, which is more than QI gets), and therefore he doesn't think it worthy of including, or

b) he's planning on a sequel, which is all about the good bits in his life, now that he's got the awful parts out of the way, and he just didn't bother to mention this on the blurb on the back of this book, since it might make some people think twice about buying it.

My advice is: don't.

You won't enjoy it, it's not what you'd expect from a television celebrity biography, and it doesn't come with the necessary health warning on the cover.

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