I Am What I Am

What’s this? Another autobiography by John Barrowman? Madness!

If you don’t know him - - I don’t know how you managed this, the man’s been doing EVERYTHING lately - - John Barrowman is an actor. And, of course, by actor, I mean actor/singer/producer/entertainer. For most of his career, he’s made his fame doing musicals, including a role in The Producers (he’s the blonde singing Nazi in ‘Springtime for Hitler’), and in the past couple of years he’s expanded that fame to include Captain Jack Harkness of Doctor Who and Torchwood.

Yeah, yeah. Another Torchwood related entry. You can deal for the sake of reviewing, right?

Good.

As I was saying, this is the second autobiography that Barrowman’s published. The first book, Anything Goes, was a straight out (oh the lulz¹) autobiography. He wrote about where he comes from and how he got to where he is today. You know, all the things you expect in an autobiography. His heroes, his influences, his mistakes…

And the fan response had enough questions and reactions to that book to warrant a follow up. Hence, I Am What I Am.

This book is a lot more relaxed than the other. There’s no obligation for him as a writer, and no expectation for us as readers, for a chronology of his life because he’s already covered it in Anything Goes. While both of them read a lot more like a conversation than a book, I Am What I Am is even more like a friendly chat.

It’s just a bunch of stories, most of which are hilarious. It’s a fun book, full of excitement and normal life and honesty. I haven’t read many autobiographies or biographies, but from what I’ve seen, this is probably the most fun you can have. I definitely recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of John Barrowman. Hell, even if you’re not, it’s pretty interesting.





¹ If you didn’t know - - I don’t know how you couldn’t, everyone makes a point of talking about it - - John Barrowman’s gay.