I didn't go into this book with any clear expectations of what I was hoping to read about Jon Cryer's life. I wasn't a huge Jon Cryer fan in the 80's, and now I know why--he wasn't in much. I never watched Pretty in Pink when it was first released. Oddly enough, I loved him in Hiding Out, which according to him was not a well received movie.

I just thought it would be an interesting to see his take on what life was like in the 80's Brat Pack scene. And he wasn't in the Brat Pack group. Jon makes it clear in this book that he has disdain for the Brat Pack. I'm not sure if that's because he was included in that group or because he tried desperately to not be labeled that way. It was a bit uncomfortable. He is a self-proclaimed insecure, socially awkward person, but then he embraces it. I think that sets a tone for the entire book though. He gives us vignettes into aspects of his life and events that happened. but never really dives deep or explores greatly any aspect. For instance--his first marriage he barely gives a page to it. The only time it is mentioned is as he is as he is beginning to go through the divorce process. For me it was "whoa, when did he get married and have a kid" He explains a bit of that in the acknowledgements about wanting to keep his kids lives private, and I completely respect that. However, I believe the emotions of falling in love, getting married, having a kid, getting divorced would have given greater insight into his what was going on in his life professionally.

I always wondered why I never saw more of Jon Cryer in the movies, and he explains here how he tried to distance him self from "being Duckie" and reflects a little bit on this, and whether it was good or bad career move. Mostly I felt that Jon held himself to a higher standard of acting that he thought he was being offered. As much as that might have been a detriment to his career, good to him for sticking to his beliefs. But this book makes him seem so pompous about it. I really am torn. Well he did have some flops, it was because he cared to extend him self out there. I do feel that some of his script choices might have been made on more of "wow, i'm totally geeked about this as a kid, i want to do it" versus what was better for him as an actor.

Several reviews of this book talk about how they were excited for the Charlie Sheen bits, some saying that they wanted more-its the only reason they picked up the book, some feeling that too much time was devoted on it. For me, it was more about Charlie than Jon and I didn't like that tone. It didn't match the rest of the book where Jon offered more on what he thought then the actions of others.

All in all, I'm left with the wonderment of why Jon Cryer chose to write this book. As I didn't feel like he gave us much to understand Jon Cryer as a person, and more of a story telling of this stuff that happened in his life.