Product Description

Michael J. Fox has a reputation for being young, smart, witty, and energetic. Ten years ago, when his little finger started trembling uncontrollably whilst on location, he suspected something might be up. Shortly after he was diagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease. For almost ten years he kept it a secret, depending on drugs to get him through his working day (incredibly earning some of his best notices ever for his hit sitcom Spin City). He has now been forced to retire, despite only being in his thirties. Yet he regrets nothing. Incredibly, he considers himself a lucky man. Lucky Man is the amazing story of his life-changing experiences. Both moving and very funny, it is mercifully free of schmaltz. A remarkable book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #269291 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The same sharp intelligence and self-deprecating wit that made Michael J Fox a star in the Spin City television series and Back to the Future films make Lucky Man a lot punchier than the usual up-from-illness celebrity memoir.

Yes, he begins with the first symptoms of Parkinson's disease, the incurable illness that led to his retirement from Spin City (and acting) in 2000. And yes, he assures us he is a better, happier person now than he was before he was diagnosed. In Fox's case, you actually might believe it, because he then cheerfully exposes the insecurities and self-indulgences of his pre-Parkinson's life in a manner that makes them not glamorous but wincingly ordinary and of course very funny. ("As for the question, 'Does it bother you that maybe she just wants to sleep with you because you're a celebrity?' My answer to that one was, 'Ah... nope.'")

From a Canadian, working-class background, Fox has an unusually detached perspective on the madness of mass-media fame; his description of the tabloid feeding-frenzy surrounding his 1988 wedding to Tracy Pollan, for example, manages to be both acid and matter-of-fact. He is frank but not maudlin about his drinking problem, and he refreshingly notes that getting sober did not automatically solve all his other problems. This readable, witty autobiography reminds you why it was generally a pleasure to watch Fox on screen: he's a nice guy with an edge, and you don't have to feel embarrassed about liking him. --Wendy Smith

Review
Michael J Fox found fame in the Eighties in the Back to the Future movie franchise; in the Nineties he starred in the hit US TV show Spin City; and for most of his career he kept secret his illness: Parkinson's Disease. These memoirs do not recount the usual Hollywood tale of stardom won, lost and won again (clearing up after the chemical implosion, the basic recovery narrative), but deliver a less common tale of consistent professional accomplishment achieved against the odds. But Parkinson's is predominantly a late-life ailment and Lucky Man is therefore inescapably a bad luck story: in medical history the recovery chapter for Parkinson's is still unwritten. But the retired actor turned author has turned terminal misfortune to good use, not least by writing a book that demonstrates that even sickness can be a gift when an attempt is made to understand it properly. A unique book about a far from unique predicament.

Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
‘... reaches heights of real power when it comes to describing the effects of Parkinson's… compelling reading… his book often has the intensity of a thriller'

Customer Reviews

A winning autobiography
Reading Michael J. Fox's memoir, Lucky Me, was a complete joy. He tells his life story in a funny, friendly, and exceptionally modest way, as if he were sitting and chatting with his best friend.

Michael grew up in a Canadian military family that moved around a lot. He got his first acting job as a teenager, then dropped out of school to try his luck in Hollywood. The tv series Family Ties brought him stardom, and the rest is history. This is not a Hollywood insider's kiss-and-tell book, however. Indeed, there is no name-dropping or gossip about the rich and famous. He focuses, instead, on how the love of his parents, siblings, wife, and four children has kept him grounded, helped him overcome alcoholism, and now gives him strength in his battle with Parkinson's disease.

Fox loved his work, and faces life without acting, because of the increasingly debilitating symptoms of PD. He is hopeful for a cure, takes an active part in educating people about it, and helps raise money for research. This is a quick read, engagingly written, short on self-pity and long on gratitude for his career and his family. I recommend it to his fans and to those who want to learn more about Parkinson's disease.

The most interesting, touching and enthralling book I've rd!
I've never written a review of a book in my life, but was telling someone about this book last night and thought to myself I must put some comments up here.

This book is just brilliant. Yes, of course it does talk about his Parkinsons disease, but there is so much more to the book than this. Autobiography's can always be so self absorbed and padded out with detail on publicity that we all know about already, but this book is just educational!

He talks about the problems of families, stardom, being a role model, his relationships good and bad, the horrible disease of Parkinsons (Which I knew little about before I read this) and then where all of that has left him now.

I would thorougly recommended this book to anyone. You will not be dissapointed.

You start reading wishing you knew him & end feeling you do.
...I thought it would take me a fair while to read, but boy was I wrong! Not only is his writing so very easy to read, his story was so much more detailed and moving than I'd thought it would be. You think you know it all already, but you're not even close. This book is like a jigsaw, with sad pieces and happy pieces, which Michael J Fox magically moulds together to create his life story. The two main things that shocked me most with this book: the sincere honesty of his personal life and the ease and professionalism with which he writes. Is there anything this gifted man cannot do?! After reading this book, I can honestly say there isn't one thing I would have liked to know more about. He lays open his personal and private life for all to peruse - so much so that I actually felt guilty in parts when reading about his problems. You're in tears one second and laughing the next. All profits go towards the Michael J Fox Parkinson's Foundation and this made me feel very proud when I'd read the book - not only have I got a really good book that I will undoubtedly read several times, but I've also indirectly donated to help people like him. This book gives you hope and courage through reading about Michael J Fox's hope and courage...Jennifer Haylor