Amazon.com Review
The day
Good Morning America entertainment critic Joel Siegel brought his son Dylan home from the hospital was also the last day of his chemotherapy for colon cancer. Siegel began writing
Lessons for Dylan two years later, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. The result is a tender and entertaining "just in case" autobiography/tutorial for his son. Siegel’s life is the curriculum; he instructs his son with vignettes from the family album, his battles with the "witch of cancer," his divorce, the death of his first wife, adventures as a reporter, and his star scrapbook including interviews with the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, and Brad Pitt. He writes movingly of the Holocaust’s shadow in his family. Yet the Jewishness he passes on to Dylan is more cultural--a recipe for brisket, a history of Judaism in four jokes, and a great introduction to speaking Yiddish.
Siegel's self-portrait has a Zelig-like quality: he registers voters in Atlanta, meets Martin Luther King, attends a Ku Klux Klan meeting, writes jokes for Bobby Kennedy, visits Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love and invents German chocolate for Thirty-One Flavors in Los Angeles. He is an engaging writer, stronger in storytelling than self-reflection. His occasional self-importance, saying for example, "that was before I was Joel Siegel," detracts from his wonderful intention of talking to his son. When his reporter’s voice speaks louder than his newfound wisdom as a father, Siegel seems to be writing for a wider audience. --Barbara Mackoff
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Good Morning America's entertainment critic Siegel, who at age 54 was diagnosed with cancer shortly after the birth of his first child, has turned his potential tragedy into a warmhearted memoir written as letters to his son, Dylan. Siegel covers a wide range of topics and tells many fascinating stories, ranging from details of "three cancer surgeries and chemo and CAT scans and six months of radiation in the past five years," to personal descriptions of movies that he hopes to watch with his son one day. He offers anecdotes from his various jobs writing in advertising, for radio and as a joke writer for Bobby Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. He also gives great short histories of his previous marriages, his famous interview subjects (including all four ex-Beatles) and his Jewish heritage, including a hilarious glossary of Yiddish words that includes 29 words for "schmuck." Most touching are Siegel's various pieces of fatherly advice, from how to recognize one's life work ("follow your passion") to how to deal with bullies ("If you fight back and get hit, it hurts a little while; if you don't fight back it hurts forever"). While Siegel is currently healthy, his memoir stands as a powerful account of a life well lived and as a beautiful testimonial to the love of a parent for a child.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
