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“Ebert is exceptionally good company. Like Christopher Hitchens and Kirk Douglas, he works prodigiously and narrates his Job-like woes with a surprisingly chipper voice…and a captivating, moveable feast it is.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“Candid, funny, and kaleidoscopic…This is the best thing Mr. Ebert has ever written…The book sparkles with his new, improvisatory, written version of dinner-party conversation…Its globe-trotting, indefatigable author comes across as the life of a lifelong party.”
— New York Times
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“Thoughtful, entertaining, and emotional…Ebert comes across as smart, bighearted, and eccentric…and writes with unflinching candor about difficult subjects.”
— Entertainment Weekly (A-)
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“Tales from childhood, interviews with film stars and directors, funny and touching stories about colleagues, and evocative essays about trips unspool before the reader in a series of loosely organized, often beautifully written essays crafted by a witty, clear-eyed, yet romantic raconteur…Ebert’s work as a film critic sent him traveling, and his wonderfully personal essays on places around the world where he seeks solitude are highlights of the book, rich in reflections, imagery, and sensory detail.”
— Washington Post
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“[Ebert’s] silence has made his inner voice more vivid, and—as he himself says in his introduction—the book is proof of it. In particular, he summons his youth and those who were close to him then—family, friends, neighbors, teachers—with a wealth of detail that is at once a tribute to the vigorous fullness with which he has lived and to his power of perception, recollection, and description…The dialogue Ebert reproduces is a comic masterwork.”
— New Yorker
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“Ebert’s new memoir, Life Itself, is an episodic, impressionistic, and skillfully written exploration of his life, from his 1950s childhood in Urbana, Illinois, to his recent battles against thyroid cancer, which have left him unable to speak, or to eat or drink through his mouth. What shines throughout the book is Ebert’s humility, his down-to-earth and powerful sense of decency.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune
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“A gentle look back, Life Itself: A Memoir is as moving as it is amusing, fresh evidence that Roger Ebert is a writer who happens to love movies, not a movie lover who happens to write.”
— Associated Press
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“His story is inspirational, and his memoirs, Life Itself, are a pleasure to read…Spellbinding.”
— Boston Review
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“[A] candid examination of an extraordinary life…Reminiscences both witty and passionate from one of our most important cultural voices.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“Poignant…It’s the most personal segments, dealing with his struggle with alcoholism, his supportive wife, Chaz, and his recent illness, that give the book its considerable emotional heft. Ebert illuminates and assesses his life with the same insight and clarity that marks his acclaimed movie reviews.”
— Booklist (starred review)