Customer Reviews

The House That Hugh Laurie Built: An Unauthorized Biography and Episode Guide

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This new book is advertised as a biography of Hugh Laurie. It really isn't really much a biography. The book contains just basic thumbnail sketches of ALL the actors in the TV program "HOUSE", including Hugh Laurie. Most of the info written about him is lacking in depth or lengthy research, and almost all of it refers to episodes of British TV programs no American can relate to as we've never seen any of them. I'm a huge fan of HOUSE and the wonderfully gifted actor Hugh Laurie, but this book is not worth the money in my opinion. I know nothing more about him after reading it than I did before reading the book. Everything in the book has been previously written in magazine articles and other mediums. If you'd like a complete episode guide from the first 3 seasons this book is fine, but if you want a biography of Hugh Laurie, wait until a real biography is written at some future date.

I saw the book at my local Barnes & Nobles bookstore. It's a pretty thick and heavy book, and big. It's not the size of ordinary paperback books.

Unfortunate thing - all is black and white; very very very few pictures, but very very wordy for those that like that kind of thing.

Basically, it gives you a biography of the main characters such as when they were born, how they got started in acting, what they did previously, and how they got the job on House.

After that, the big half of the book is basically a summary of each episode from Seasons 1 - 3 with trivia facts or memorable moments from each episode.

The book is definitely about "House", not Hugh Laurie himeself. Just used his photo and name on the cover.

I got my copy of this book over the weekend and read it all through in one long sitting.

I was disappointed that there were so few pix, however the smoking cover shot of Hugh Laurie is so hot that I have to put the book face down on the side table to avoid incinerating the room!

I definitely enjoyed the detailed episode guide for the first three seasons. Nothing in the author's analysis was really new for those of us who have been dissecting the show for a long time but it was good to see all the cast details, plot overview, major themes, and intriguing mistakes toted up in one convenient place. The writing is not brilliant, but servicable and even amusing on many ocassions.

I was quite struck by the absence of "shipping" in the episode descriptions: the author neutrally notes the passing interest of House in Cameron but sees it as teasing only, he continually picks up on Cuddy's sexy interactions with House beginning with episode 2 of season 1, and he totally skips any hint of House/Wilson.

This is noteworthy because I think this approach represents the way that most casual viewers and serious fans watch the show: strong interest in House as a character of humor, genius, sorrow, and intrigue, little interest in romantic entanglements. The author's insights are balanced, not worshipping House but seeing him as the difficult, tortured, hilarious, enchanting, complex, and discomforting character that he is.

Appropriately, the book devotes four sizeable chapters to Hugh Laurie and one each to the other five actors. All of these essays are syntheses of the articles, interviews, online discussions, and biographical summaries many obsessed fans have been reading since the show began. No new material that I could see, but again, it is quite good to have so much compiled in one convenient place. I was not so familiar with the extensive professional resumes of Omar Epps and Lisa Edelstein, so those chapters were particularly interesting to me.

The chapter on David Shore was good in that it captured information from several Canadian newspaper interviews that offered challenging insights into how the entertainment industry works in North America.

This book was definitely not an expose in any sense of the word: the approach is highly respectful (but not cloyingly worshipful) of Hugh Laurie, his personal life, and his many professional accomplishments.

Overall, I think this would be an excellent gift for someone who is just getting to know the show and wants to catch up quickly on the phenomenon that is Hugh Laurie. I am quite glad that I bought it.

This book gives the reader a reasonable introduction to the main characters on the hit show House, MD, although most of the information contained in the biographical sections of the book is likely available on Wikipedia. The episode guides are interesting reading, but need some work, and the number of errors seem to increase with the seasons. Perhaps some of this can be explained by a difference between what actually aired and what was scripted, but the details are error prone often containing multiple misquotes and outright incorrect information such as the wrong medication or condition. The "Booboos" sections of the episodes often directly contradict multiple medical references such as the current edition of the Merck Manual and others. In the episode differential sections, the flows of the episodes are also sometimes misordered or incomplete. The Exam Room section details are also incorrect some of the time, at least when compared to the DVD/aired version of the episodes.

Still, I enjoyed reading the book and picked up a few details I had missed when first watching the episodes. Also, some of the conclusions drawn were definitely food for thought.

This book appears as if it were rushed to market to capitalize on the show's fame. There is, sadly, nothing new or insightful about the actors in the biographical portion of the book. All the information in the book can be found through other sources. I was also disappointed with the book's poor editorial quality. There are glaring errors on almost every page: misspellings, grammatical errors, misplaced paragraphs are all clearly noticeable. It may serve as an introduction to the show for non-fans, but there is nothing new in here that House fans don't already know.

I'm a big fan of everything Hugh Laurie, particularly House, and Jeeves and Wooster. This 'autobiography' was a complete waste of money, without a single redeeming feature. There are no original interviews with Hugh or other cast members of House. The 'biographer' seems to have relied on Google as his primary research tool.

i ordered this item in may 07 and could hardly wait to get it as i have all his dvds - both comedy - BBC work he did insol;df Black Adder and A bit of Fry and Laurie is
amoung the best comedy i have ever seen and i'm 55 years old! i also have dvds of his dramatic work (Pride and Prejudice...)and the entire House series as well as his books - The Gun Seller which i recommend highly, (and am looking forward to The Paper Soldier; HOWEVER...as stated by another reviewer i wish i could have kept the cover and just returned the rest of the book which could not be further from a biography, unauthorized or not!
in addition, and the episode guide included info like ...in episode 'x', cane used to press elevator button; this book went back, sadly (inlcuding the cover) but if ever a title was misleading and literally false advertizing, this is it...and since the mailing was delayed, my anticipation (from the beginning of may to 31 oct) was destroyed totally upon receipt...buyer, beware

After reading this book, I found many things wrong. For instance, the Band from TV female singer's name is Bonnie Somerville, not Lisa Somerville. The author needed to have the correct information before writing this book. I did enjoy the episode guide. I would not recommend this book for true HOUSE fans.

This book is interesting, but it only covers up to season three of the show. One very annoying thing is that the author keep referring to Hugh Laurie's New Jersey accent. I know people from New Jersey, my next door neightbor is from New Jersey. Neither House not Hugh Laurie has a New Jersey accent!

I question how much truely insider information the author had.

okay, this is a good book for the scope it takes on...an analysis of the first three seasons of everybody's favorite medical misanthrope, Dr. Gregory House and his supporting cast of characters (including his ubiquitious cane)....considering the show just finished season six.

however, if you're not really familiar with the show, which i assume is who this book is aimed at, this book can be confusing at times.