Anthony Rapp's WITHOUT YOU: NOW WITH NEW REVIEWS- Page 4

[LariTheLoud]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 9:38pm

Congrats, Anthony! YAY for the book being published!

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 2/9/06 at 9:46am

I hadn't seen this before - a review from Billboard. Congrats!

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/book_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001919780

[saschasf]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 2:20am

First a warning, this does contain spoilers.

I. of course, was interested in this book, just by its contents of it. An ooriginal cast member reliving his experiences on Rent, seemed like a no brainier to buy. Also from both his interviews, and his posts on this very board, I knew Anthony Rapp was extremely well spoken. The added family angle also fascinated me as a subject, In short, I knew I would like it before I read it.

The major stuff that happens in the book has already been discussed. But it is the little details that made the book even more amazing to me. His mom always wanted him to play someone "normal." Thinking about his character, Mark, he was probably the most normal character in Rent. I consider him basically a normal guy in kind of extraordinary circumstances. I loved the part where Jonathan Larson is all schoolboyish about having a crush on a girl he meets at Anthony's party. He seemed so confident and self possessed, and yet like all of us, had his oown insecurities. One aspect that interested me greatly was his relationship with the guy he met, shortly after starting on Rent. My ex seemed similar in personality to his ex. Also, I do not say this because I admire him, or want to be him, but Anthony and I do have similar personalities. I could very much relate to how he dealt with different situations. I know people have said they were amazed by his honesty, but that is the only way I would do a memoir, or biography is to be honest. One of my favorite authors is a gay man named Paul Moneette. One of the subtitles
for one of his books is "essays or personal and otherwise". I do not think that Anthony bared all, but he was extremely personal, just like Paul Monette.

Now, a note on what age people should be to read this. I think mid teens is best. I also truly believe that parents should read this with their kids. Not only is the mother's illness and death VERY emotional, but there is a bit of teenage sex. Also, young teens may not totally understand Anthony's slap to his lover. He explains it, but a younger teen just may not get why that happened.

All in all, it was just a beautiful book. I am so glad he was honest, and I look forward to meeting him in SF.

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 10:44am

i love him even more after reading this book beacuse of his honesty.

[Alix7272]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 9:58pm

I've been thinking about Without You since I finished it about a week ago - about what I loved, what I liked, aspects of it (not the content of the events that transpired, but writing-related observations) that disappointed me, and about the moving story - and it has become important to me that I articulate my thoughts about this book instead of having them continue to swim around in my mind. I can do so better in writing that in conversation and often make discoveries that way, maybe similar to how Anthony describes saying something before he knows that that is what he is thinking or what he will do. Never having posted a real review before (not that this will be one, I don't know what it will end up being), I figured I'd give it a shot since I'm writing this anyway. I skimmed a few of the other reviews before and after reading the book, and I know that some of my feelings will overlap, so I apologize for my yet-another-review post. So here I go in an attempt to organize my thoughts:

People keep saying it, but it is worth repeating. The book is frighteningly honest and real. Maybe we are finding that aspect of it so striking, because in the world of reality TV and little raw emotion displayed, Anthony’s descriptions of his feelings relating to his mother and the actions that they lead to are refreshing and incredibly alive. His conveyances of his experiences are bold, upsetting and joyful in turn, confident, hard to comprehend at times, and, despite some deeply sad topics, left me feeling uplifted, as Anthony allowed himself to cleanse over and over. In his honesty, Anthony is remarkably generous.

I always find seeing and reading the notes of Jonathan Larson in the Rent bible or hearing his voice at the end of tick, tick…Boom! eerie and both distant and close at once. In Without You, I felt that Anthony provided another link to him, adding a piece to the puzzle, but Jonathan only became real when I heard Anthony read We Begin aloud at Tuesday’s book signing at Barnes and Noble. Those were moving moments and silence, and they will definitely add great dimension to future readings of that passage.

Although I got a pretty complete sense of Anthony’s relationship with his mother, I felt a need to see more of the happy times with Todd. Maybe there was a length issue involved in going into more detail, but I found myself wondering why Anthony was still with him. He told us a little bit but never showed us. Part of the answer may be in that Anthony is a person, not a crafted character, and love is sometimes irrational. I respect that and am not judging his choice, but love is still based on something. Isn’t the point of writing to articulate that something, however hard it may be? Anthony did talk about why they got together and the support, but I was craving to know more about the good times, maybe in the beginning and middle of the relationship, to substantiate the rest. Perhaps it had to do with not wanting to sever another relationship as his mother was dying, which he did mention towards the end, which is totally valid, but…

Some of the most touching moments in the book for me were when Anthony described his friend who had AIDS and paralleled his story with the others. The memories of filming Adventures in Babysitting (which I must see) and the memorial services were also highlights for me.

Reading one post that said this was the best book the person had read in a long time, combined with Anthony’s articulate writing on the boards, raised my expectations. Perhaps consequently, I was not especially impressed with the writing. After last year’s English class, I tend to pay more attention to the writing, as opposed to the plot, than I did previously when reading for pleasure. Anthony’s writing has a comfortable, gentle flow and is easy to read and read quickly. Similarly, it was has a simple feel, making it very accessible but sometimes not as polished, which is OK and fitting, as if we’re peering into his diary. The writing is smooth and accomplishes what it needs to without calling attention to itself. I was frustrated at points that the language seemed repetitive and, as a result, less specific. However, after hearing Anthony read a chapter and thinking about it more, it very much reflects his extremely articulate speaking voice, his inner voice, and that does shine through.

I feel like there’s a lot more to say, but I’ve done enough rambling and thinking out loud for now. I can’t believe I just wrote so much. If anyone is still reading, which would definitely surprise me, I hope there was something worthwhile somewhere in all of that.

Updated On: 2/25/06 at 09:58 PM

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 11:54pm

Wow! I missed this thread...now I have to go back and read all 4 pages....oy

Here is my blurb for now...it's not much seeing how much everyone else wrote
___________________________________________________

"WoW!" has never been such an understatement.

I finished it within the first 24 hours I got it. I could not put it down.

One I got to about page 150, the tears started...and didn't stop.

The only books that I’ve read under 24 hours are: "Without You, "My Sister's Keeper" and "A Million Little Pieces." However, the latter 2 were read on vacation. This book I've read every bare second I had, even from walking from one college class to another...bumping into people with tears.

Through my years, I've read Chicken Soup for the Soul Books and many self help books. They have all had an impact on me in some way or another. However, "Without You" just opened my eyes to a whole new world. Anthony writes purely from the heart...so genuine.
He never failed to put a little cute witty comment in. It's was
good to sometimes laugh a little in between the heartbreaking parts of the story.

Reading this made me fully realize that everyone has feelings. Everyone is human. Whether we are famous, disabled, homosexual, deaf, tall, left-handed, little person or anything else, everyone has feelings deep within that aren't often expressed so prominently or straight forward.
This book has taught me so many things that I probably knew in the back of my mind but refused to accept. Not only to accept others but accept yourself for whom you are and love yourself no matter what because NOT loving yourself is not really living.

It's so wonderful that he really let us in on his life and was very open- I'm sure the book has really helped other people open themselves up.

I am not religious but I do believe that both his mother and Jonathon Larson are looking out and thinking what a tremendous, caring, outstanding actor, son, and mentor he has become.

EDIT:
I've just read all 4 pages of this thread and every single thing rings true.

I'll add a bit more of review/opinion but everybody has already expressed it so well.
---

Although many different opinions were expressed, they were all heartfelt and believable.

I suppose you can call this an "incomprehensible book"-in a good way. There is no simple review you can write for such a book.
He puts so much depth into his writing that it's hard to pick out specific parts.

The person whoever said the thing about peering into his diary is so true. He obviously wrote the book for people to read but something in the back of my mind kept telling me that I shouldn't know such things.
There were some points where I could just imagine someone walk into the room and snatch the book because I was reading something I shouldn't have been.

And yet, there it was...the words right in front of me- the book I bought.

He did not leave one door unopened. It's like he spread his wings and flew. As I was getting to the last few pages, I was only hoping for 1 more page, 1 more page, 1 more page...

His bluntness, detail, and honesty were ever so impressive. There was no way he made hiself 'holier than thou' but also there was no way that felt bad for himself. It was wonderful to see how he could express himself so well without putting in any kind of bias for him to look good.

The book flowed so well, even with the flashbacks. The story was so sad but vibrant at the same time.

I only hope that Anthony knows how talented he is in so many ways. The people in his past, present and future should only know how lucky they are to have come in contact with this truly wonderful person.

ALIX- I read your whole review- you are a wonderful writer and I have no idea why you said that you can't write a review. You were very descrpitive and detailed in what you wrote and I was surprised that you were surprised that people would still be reading it by the end.

Updated On: 2/28/06 at 11:54 PM

[Alix7272]

Posted: 3/12/06 at 11:53am

Thanks so much Q! I enjoyed yours too.

[Broadway4Life2]

Posted: 3/12/06 at 1:29pm

What else can I sat that hasn't already been said? Q and Alix I agree w/ you wholeheartedly that the book is an immensely fast read. I'm not a speed reader but I did finish the book in exactly a week of buying it.

I loved the fact that you get to see just how close he was to his mother. And that made me realize that I need to be more open w/ my mother as well.

My favorite parts of the book were the confrontation betwwen he and Todd ( and I agree w/ you Alix in that I also wanted to see more happy moments between them, on the plus side he does seem to be happy w/ Rodney now). While I was reading that chapter I hadn't realized that Anthony could actually have that much anger in him. And also the part when he's walking w/ Todd and just falls to groud and starts sobbing. Yes, there was evidence that he was not afriad to show his emotions earlier in the book. But this really did it for me. I was literally in tears myself at this point. It shows just how much of that grief had been longing to come out since he hadn't had time to properly grieve except for the memorial service.

On a happier note, I felt the book really let you see and feel just how close the OBC was. We all know that they really bonded during the time of Jonathan's death. But I hadn't realized that they also bonded over the fact that the other 14 cast members and crew had tried desperately to help Anthony through his crisis. It made me wish I had more like that.

This book helped me find out that I really do enjoy writing.

Believe it or not, I actually sent Anthony a message on myspace saying all the things I am now and was surprised when I got a reply back (and yes it really is him). I wish he and Rodney all the best.

In closing, the most touching moment for me was when I read the message his mother wrote for the wall at the Nederlander. I wish she here w/ us so I could tell her just how much that message made me smile and cry.

Thanks for reading

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 3/12/06 at 1:38pm

Oh, Alix-- I LOVE your review, and you so articulated so many of my feelings about this book. I love and admire its honesty and found parts of it to be quite touching, but felt oddly detached while reading other parts. And I, too, was a little disappointed by the writing itself... I had such high expectations based on other reviews and reading Anthony's faultlessly articulate posts here. The writing style of the book is very simple, for the most part, which works.... but there are instances of borderline pretentious word choice, and there is a good bit of repetition.

Again, I actually did enjoy reading Without You, but I'm so happy to read a review that shares my thoughts on both the positive and negative aspects of the book. Updated On: 3/12/06 at 01:38 PM

[Alix7272]

Posted: 3/16/06 at 10:26am

Thanks so much! It's nice to hear that other people agree. I've never written about a book before outside of school assignments, but I loved working on my post, which I actually did on and off throughout a day while running errands with my mom.

Sweetestsiren, I really like what you articulated about the writing. That's just how I felt too.