Admit One

Admit One   by Emmett James.

 

 

Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Wheatmark (December 30, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1587369133

Product Description
Set in Croydon, South London, in the 1980s, Admit One details how self-deprecating writer Emmett James escaped from the pains of adolescence by going to the cinema. Through wry wit and observation, the writer reflects, obsesses, and rages about film and its correlation to our pasts. Life soon imitates art, and the narrator finds that his true calling is in transcendence from one side of the screen to the other. He decides to leave England for the only place where he can realize his dream of becoming an actor-Hollywood. We follow the narrator on his numerous adventures: as he jumps from forgery to pornography to crashing the Academy Awards under the alias of a nominated writer. All the while, the films that inspired each tale contextualize this humorous collection of stories. The narrator ultimately provides a unique insight into the fascinating industry of film, eventually himself stumbling into the biggest box-office grossing film of all time.

Mr James lists this as a Memoir... and it is exactly that.   He has taken a comical look at his life and how it wrapped around things he remembers from early childhood to grown up with movies.  It seems they have been his passion from the early beginnings of his life when his mother would take him to the movies that inevitably he slept through, to the day he left England for America and Hollywood.

It's a quick read and, as I said humorous, and true.

The book isn't long at 220 pages, since it is double spaced and even triple spaced between paragraphs. It looks a bit like they were trying to stretch it into a "book" .  That's not to say I didn't enjoy the read, I did.  And the only fault I can find with the book is that the cost is a bit much for a quick read paperback.

I think I expected a little more from the story.  But that's my fault.  It does read how the Amazon review states.  I generally think there is more descriptions and making me feel as if I were in England growing up, but instead It could have been pretty much anywhere.  The occasional mention of a town or of London, but the ambience was missing. 

But still a fun relaxing read.. which I think I needed.