Blessings in Disguise - Book 9

Blessings in Disguise by the British actor Sir Alec Guinness is the first of his three memoirs.  This first one was so well received that he was inspired to pen another two after it!  However, weirdly, his books are now out of print.    This first book was on the New York Times best seller list in the 1980s.  The author is a cultural icon from playing the role of Obi Wan Kenobi.  He also is an amazing writer.  Why is this out of print?  Why are all three out of print?

This memoir is not organized chronologically, but rather each chapter is loosely centered on a particular person or event.  He does start off with his childhood and how he became an actor but the rest of the chapters often talk about his long term friendships with other actors, the ones who mentored him and were part of his theater life before World War II.  He also tells of his World War II experience as a British Navy Captain of transport ships.  After the war he talks a bit about how he got started in films.  He is witty, erudite, tongue-in-cheek, generous, penetrating and self-deprecating.  He is also rather understated when he relates stories about various actors and actresses and how completely neurotic and insecure they were!

Alec Guinness makes me miss my parents.  He was of their generation.  I remember watching Bridge On the River Kwai with my dad when I was about eleven.  I've seen bits and pieces of his movies over the years.  Now I want to go on an Alec Guinness binge.  Actually we watched Bridge on the River Kwai the other night and we also watched the first episode of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  I think the fact that the book made me feel so nostalgic is due to the fact that Guinness is feeling that himself as he looks back over his life and the many friends he had that have already passed away.  In a way the book is really a collection of his tributes to them.

Another element I enjoyed in this book is how Guinness talks about his conversion to Catholicism.  He focuses on it particularly in one chapter but it is woven throughout the book as well.  He casually mentioned read St. Theresa of Avila, or visiting Lourdes.  Or going to Mass somewhere.

The other understated thing in the book is his long and very happy marriage of I think 62 years to Merula, a young actress he met while doing the play Noah in 1935.  They married in 1938.  They had one son, who also became an actor but not nearly at the caliber of his father.  He never married apparently.

I look forward to reading his next two memoirs and also the official biography written by Piers Paul Read.

Two thumbs up!  For more books reviews got to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.