A Young Man's Passage... (A Young Man's Passage - Julian Clary)

Member Name: Daniel K

Product:	A Young Man's Passage - Julian Clary
Date:	11/01/06 (682 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An interesting read, funny, well-written

Disadvantages: A bit rude and crude in places

After being a fan of the comedian and entertainer Julian Clary for a number of years, I was fairly pleased and surprised when, in 2003, he announced he was writing his autobiography. After nearly two years of waiting, it was finally released last April, and I couldn't wait to read it. Although I already know a fair bit about Julian Clary, whilst reading his autobiography there was still plenty of stuff I didn't know, and needed to learn about him!

One thing I will say now, if you are easily offended by taboo subjects like gay sex, then this book may be best avoided, as it's mentioned quite a bit - not too surprising, seeing Julian is one of the best-known gay comedians from the last twenty years. There are a few bits in the book that are quite shocking, but nothing that I thought was too bad.

This book goes right back to before Julian was born, briefly looking at his family history, before he goes on to talk about his birth, via help from his mother. Julian then describes his early childhood for the rest of chapter one, and what he remembers from this time. Julian has two elder sisters, and mentions them a lot early on, as well as his parents and other relatives, and what they remember about him as a boy.

Julian also talks a lot about his school life as well, and how he attended a Catholic school, but did not really enjoy it there, generally disliking both the teachers and most of the other pupils. He doesn't go into too much detail about his lessons, but does talk a lot about stuff outside of school that interested him at this time.

After leaving school, Julian attended Goldsmith College in London to study drama; again, he does not talk too much about what he was learning, but more about his outside activities at this time, which included several part-time jobs and his first proper work in acting and performing.

During this time, Julian intersperses his own thought and memoeries with letters he received from close friends and family at this time - this crops up in many parts of this book, but is most noticeable around Julian's time at university. As the book goes into the Eighties, Julian remembers moving into his own place, a bedsit, and also about his early work in showbiz; he also mentions how he came to get Fanny the Wonderdog, his famous sidekick who was an important part of Julian's act.

The middle section of the book has some nice photos of Julian at various stages in his life, sometimes featured with friends, collegues and members of his family. The second half of the book begins to focus more on how he became famous and got more high-profile work throughout the Eighties. It also focuses on Julian's relationships at these times, too.

But as Julian was becoming a household name in the late Eighties/early Nineties and touring his comedy act around the world, he has to deal with the death of his partner. This section of the book is clearly very personal to Julian, as he spends a lot of time telling us what he remembers of this period. After this, Julian understandably becomes more and more depressed, despite achieving his goals of becoming famous - he explains to us that it was due to this being the reason behind his now-infamous remark made at the 1993 British comedy awards.

It's at that point that the book cuts off, leaving it open ended for Julian to write another book on his life since then. I really enjoyed reading this book, it was funny, touching, and I learnt lots of stuff about Julian that I didn't know. The book is 312 pages long, and it has eleven chapters in total, plus an epilogue; It also has a white cover with a bright picture of Julian on the front cover, as well as the title in bright lettering. There are several small photos of him on the back and on the inside covers.

I read the hardback version, which cost around £12.99; there is also a paperback version of this, either out recently or out very soon, too. The book was published by Ebury Press. I think if you have an interest in Julian Clary, his work on TV, or celebrity autobiographies in general, then you would probably find this book interesting; if not then you may not enjoy it at all. Overall, I would recommend this autobiography, as it was an enjoyable and fairly easy-going read.

To find out more about Julian, visit his website at: www.julianclary.net/

Thanks for reading! :-)

Summary: An interesting autobiography, worth a read.