I was not expecting this to be written in an epistolary format. About 98% are Alan Rickman's personal thoughts, uncensored opinions, and harsh critique notes written in his journal. There are footnotes and an index. The illustrations were a nice addition. Even though this was written by Alan Rickman, he did not write this book. His editor wrote and narrated this book. I feel that even though Alan Rickman wanted his editor to write this book, I don't think he wanted it written this way. I almost DNF'D this, but I wanted to hear his thoughts, so I struggled on. It is a very hard read. I gave it a three star because I took two stars away for the format alone.