Synopsis:

Madly Deeply is a rare invitation into the mind of Alan Rickman—one of the most magnetic, beloved performers of our time.

From his breakout role in Die Hard to his outstanding, multifaceted performances in the Harry Potter films, Galaxy Quest, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and more, Alan Rickman cemented his legacy as a world-class actor. His air of dignity, his sonorous voice, and the knowing wit he brought to each role continue to captivate audiences today.

But Rickman’s ability to breathe life into projects wasn’t confined to just his performances. As you’ll find, Rickman’s diaries detail the extraordinary and the ordinary, flitting between worldly and witty and gossipy, while remaining utterly candid throughout. He takes us inside his home, on trips with friends across the globe, and on the sets of films and plays ranging from Sense and Sensibility, to Noël Coward’s Private Lives, to the final film he directed, A Little Chaos.

Running from 1993 to his death in 2016, the diaries provide singular insight into Rickman’s public and private life. Reading them is like listening to Rickman chatting to a close companion. Meet Rickman the consummate professional actor, but also the friend, the traveler, the fan, the director, the enthusiast; in short, the man beyond the icon.

Madly, Deeply features a photo insert, a foreword by Emma Thompson, and an afterword by Rima Horton.

Rating:

Review:

Inspired by the Tom Felton memoir I decided to give this one a listen. Seeing that I am a huge fan of Alan Rickman and knew that he kept diaries for many years, I had hoped to find something inspiring, sweet, fulfilling, or even insightful. Unfortunately, this book badly needed an editor.

“Jurassic Park—what the hell is the plot? Great dinosaurs.”

While the quote is amusing, this is about as deep as the book ever goes. There is an awful lot of musings about friends coming over for dinner, or a new person that Alan had an encounter with, or something that happened during his day to day. Unfortunately, that’s about all there is. The writing is disjointed with little explanation of what is going on. Names are dropped with no explanation of who those people are until much later, events are described but not explained to the reader at all. This could have had a lot of potential if an editor went through the bits about the daily life and extracted the interesting tidbits and then tidied those up for publication. Instead we get over 400 pages of disjointed thoughts, incomplete sentences and random asides.

A disappointing result that could have been so much better. I gave it two stars because there were a few laughs but I ended up calling it quits about a third of the way through. I just couldn’t listen to another dull British day.

“Good food but on my top ten hate list would be over-attentive waiters – I like watching my wine glass get emptier. I am close to slapping the arm of the next waiter who refills my glass after every sip.”