Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
Finished June 10th, 2007
Rating: 5/10
Non-Fiction Five Challenge Book #2
I was expecting this book to be different then what it was. I guess I should have had a clue based on the subtitle "a spiritual autobiography" that it wasn't going to be a true memoir. The book started out very good as Poitier discusses his childhood in the Bahamas however the book lost me in the middle and end as Poitier talks about a variety of topics and his philosophy on those topics such as religion, racisim and mostly about the art of acting (which didn't really interest me). The book jumps from topic to topic as it is not in chronological order as a typical autobiography.
There were some really interesting stories mentioned however he chose to not go into much detail which was disappointing as I would really have liked to read more of those stories.
I finished the book with a better understanding of his views on various topics however I still feel like I never got to know him by reading this book which was my intent in choosing it.
Although I gave the book a rating of 5/10 as it was average to me, I would recommend it to others who are already familiar with Poitier and are interested in reading more about Poitier's views rather than a biography about his life.
I have never actually seen any movies that Sidney Poitier has starred in so I will have to make a point to rent some of his movies.
2 comments:
I bought this book because I think Poitier is a great actor and an interesting person. I'm disappointed to learn that it dwells more with his views than his experiences. Still I look forward to reading it.
You may get more out of it then I did since you seem to be familiar with him already as I really only knew about him from the couple of times he was on Oprah. In his introduction he did mention he wrote a book about his life in Hollywood before this book so I may try to read that one whereas this book was just about life in general and what he has learned in his 70+ years. I hope you like it and am interested in what you think so look forward to your review.
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