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 Song of Himself
Celebrity autobiographies are exercises in exhibiting the overexposed. However, dignity and discretion are assumed by the reader. Consequently, the author is oblidged to spend the entire book repeating, in essence, "I don't mean to brag but..." Also, celebrity autobiographies are famous for their creativity. David Niven's is pretty par for the course. I doubt if more than 25% of the incidents included happened exactly as described, if at all. All the better for the reader. The truth is usually rather dull or unpleasant. The narrative itself is very readable in a relaxed chatty style. Who knows if he even wrote it himself. You never know. Maybe he wrote the bare bones out and gave it to a ghostwriter to pad it and make it sound like "David Niven" wrote it. Wouldn't be the first time. Who cares? It's a fun story filled with famous people being interesting.
David Niven, Actor and Author. He is what he writes...
Let me explain what I mean.
First of all, from the very beginning pages of the Book, I could sense the smooth flow of thoughts, pouring out of MAN Niven, not ACTOR Niven.
Second, I could also feel for MAN Niven and what he went through in his youth and early manhood.
David Niven is a born storyteller. He should have dared direct movies as well. He would have succeeded splendidly because one of the very first requirements for a director, both on stage, as well as on camera, is to know how to tell a story, and tell it in a coherent and organized way.
That he had chosen not to do it, means that he was aware of his limitations and probably preferred to stick with what he knew best: acting.
I bought this book just by chance at Heathrow, while traveling to New York, feeling bored to death by the many security checks and formalities to be undergone these days, in order to be able to travel from point A to point B on the globe.
I had absolutely no idea what it was all about, but the title intrigued me, also because I had heard about it some years ago, but didn't pay appropriate attention to it at that time.
So, here I went and bought it. Finally on board of my flight carrying me to the U.S., I opened it and before I knew better, I had already landed at JFK having read half of it.
I could have blasted the pilot for that, but it wasn't his fault. I am a slow reader. I have to savor all the finesses contained in a book, given that the same is worth the effort. Believe me, "The Moon Is A Balloon", is such a book.
During my entire stay in the U.S. I carried the book around and kept on reading it - I should actually say - devour it. When I finally came to its end I felt disappointed.
Not by the book and magnificent tales and accounts it contains, but having come to a point where there was nothing more to read.
This is a book that will leave you with a "hunger" to read more about MAN David Niven and what he has to say about his experiences.
It is not just what he says, but how he says it.
The descriptions of the people he met, the places he visited, the moods and colors of his world, all come to life vividly.
Perhaps because I am a stage director, interested in directing movies, I may have a distorted vision on this, but I could actually visualize what David Niven was describing.
Various wild images a la Charles Dickens, especially at the very beginning of the book, sprung out of my mind (even "The Turning of the Screw" popped up - go figure why...).
Then, while he was describing his experiences with the schooling system in England, I visualized sorts of crazy images half-ways out of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", mixed with "Blackboard Jungle" and/or "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" - the male version that is.
Later the encounter with his first love affair (I won't reveal more about it, you must read by yourself), I had flashes of "Of Human Bondage" and "Great Expectations".
His Malta adventure in the Army, almost sprung out from very early forties war movies, or thirties movies with Clark Gable.
Now I realize how deformed my professional mind is, but indeed I could feel being transported there, in his "Balloon", in his world, and felt part of his tragicomic life.
David Niven takes you by the hand and leads you into his secret garden, in which you discover the ugly sides of life, but also the very splendid tiny little pleasures that make his and everyone else's life pleasurable and indeed, worth living.
It is funny to think that David Niven's "Balloon" closely resembles to the one Jules Verne's created in "Around the World in 80 Days", and while this was a total work of fiction, Niven's own takes you much farther, than just around the world.
It takes you into a lesson of lived life, told by a human being who has truly learned from his mistakes and learned from them what life is truly all about.
The lesson though, never comes from a pulpit, it comes as a highly entertaining and fascinating account of experiences, at times very funny, at times very grim, but never, never boring.
I was stunned to finally witness that even a person like Niven, that was alive for most of my lifetime, could still enthrall and grip me with his writing style.
I usually have always avoided reading modern authors, or biographies of modern personalities, except maybe Science Fiction books (Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury or Arthur C. Clarke), since they all seem to resemble each other.
It is a continuous ego-trip with lots of whining and gossiping involved, but no true and genuine life experience and wisdom shared, and if is at all shared, it is in the form of "...let me tell you how to change your life, into a successful business-like one...".
Lots of preaching from insignificant and dull people I wouldn't even like to meet in person, even if I had a chance to do so.
David Niven never preaches, he just tells you how it was and the ways he managed to work himself out of trouble and into a very useful and respectable life.
I absolutely love his book.
Alas, David is not among us anymore, because if he were alive today, I would absolutely want to know and meet him in person, and perhaps even work with him.
I am over fifty, but I get a sense that with a person like him, I could still learn a lot in matters of life and how to survive even the most adverse of situations in it.
Dear readers, allow me to suggest this book to all of you. You won't regret it. This is not just another boring autobiography.
This is a man's heart opened up to the world, for the best and the worst.
David Niven's soul lies in his lines and comes alive when these lines are read.
Bless you David, wherever you may be, my thoughts are with you.The Moon's a Balloon
Simply a great read.
David Niven was not always a star. He had to go away and learn his trade in "B" movies before being allowed to enter the big time. He learnt that trade well but, unlike some who were destined to become greats of Hollywood, he also put his entire acting career on hold whilst he served as an officer in a fighting unit throughout WW2.
This book tells the first half of his life's story and what a story it is. Like every biography ever written, the best bits do not happen at the beginning, so some readers, therefore, might find it slow going at first. Though many will not. But then we meet the rich and famous stars of Hollywood from another era and learn a little about each of these people and their various relationships as we move from one to another and sometimes back again.
Written in David Niven's own hilarious style, there is so much humour here that you "will" find yourself insisting others read this book. In fact, it is so funny - especially his descriptions of the wrong use of English words by foreign movie directors, one finishes the book in the knowledge that had David Niven not become an Oscar-winning movie star, he would easily have achieved great success as a writer.
The underlying theme, of course, is David Niven's life and, as one reviewer has already said, this book leaves you wishing you had met this man. Me too.
NM
Simply a great read.
David Niven was not always a star. He had to go away and learn his trade in "B" movies before being allowed to enter the big time. He learnt that trade well but, unlike some who were destined to become greats of Hollywood, he also put his entire acting career on hold whilst he served as an officer in a fighting unit throughout WW2.
This book tells the first half of his life's story and what a story it is. Like every biography ever written, the best bits do not happen at the beginning, so some readers, therefore, might find it slow going at first. Though many will not. But then we meet the rich and famous stars of Hollywood from another era and learn a little about each of these people and their various relationships as we move from one to another and sometimes back again.
Written in David Niven's own hilarious style, there is so much humour here that you "will" find yourself insisting others read this book. In fact, it is so funny - especially his descriptions of the wrong use of English words by foreign movie directors, one finishes the book in the knowledge that had David Niven not become an Oscar-winning movie star, he would easily have achieved great success as a writer.
The underlying theme, of course, is David Niven's life and, as one reviewer has already said, this book leaves you wishing you had met this man. Me too.
NM
Simply a great read.
David Niven was not always a star. He had to go away and learn his trade in "B" movies before being allowed to enter the big time. He learnt that trade well but, unlike some who were destined to become greats of Hollywood, he also put his entire acting career on hold whilst he served as an officer in a fighting unit throughout WW2.
This book tells the first half of his life's story and what a story it is. Like every biography ever written, the best bits do not happen at the beginning, so some readers, therefore, might find it slow going at first. Though many will not. But then we meet the rich and famous stars of Hollywood from another era and learn a little about each of these people and their various relationships as we move from one to another and sometimes back again.
Written in David Niven's own hilarious style, there is so much humour here that you "will" find yourself insisting others read this book. In fact, it is so funny - especially his descriptions of the wrong use of English words by foreign movie directors, one finishes the book in the knowledge that had David Niven not become an Oscar-winning movie star, he would easily have achieved great success as a writer.
The underlying theme, of course, is David Niven's life and, as one reviewer has already said, this book leaves you wishing you had met this man. Me too.
NM
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