Here's The The deal: Don't Touch Me
Here's The The deal: Don't Touch Me - Howie Mandel, and Josh Young 3/5
This is one of those biographies that I was quite interested in reading for obvious reasons. The problem that I had was if I had to give it a bad review someone would just call me an asshole for disliking it. This is a guy that suffers from OCD and ADHD and he probably had a hard time writing this book so I should be fair. As both a reader and a reviewer it's not helping anyone if I lie and say that I liked a book simply because the author has mental health issues. That's not how this works. I read the book and give you an honest opinion, If that makes me an asshole so be it. I think if I lied and told you it was a brilliant book and you bought and thought it sucked you would still call me an asshole for lying.
The fact is that the book feels like someone with ADHD wrote it, or told it to the ghost writer. Howie had help with this one, but the thing is that if you have ever seen his stand up you know exactly what you're in for. At times it feels a bit disjointed and rushed, but in a way I expected that. What I didn't expect was that Howie is kind of a dick. He pulls these practical jokes on people that are often cruel and not all that funny except to Howie. The thing that I really wanted to read more about was his OCD and how it truly affects his daily life. What kind of triggers he has and just how bad these truly affect him. It's never discussed in length. It's just kind of glossed over and you just have to accept that he doesn't like shaking hands, and that the OCD is a major factor in his life.
He talks about therapy, but he doesn't really tell you how it's helping him with his illness. We do get to read about his heart issues and he takes you into the thought process that he has about dying and how he actually called people to say goodbye because he truly thought he was going to die. He also talks about the loss of his father to cancer. This is a book that could have offered so much more but Howie held back quite a bit and it brings up more questions about his overall struggles with his mental health issues. That's why I bought the book. I was expecting a whole lot more than was offered.
As it stands Here's The Deal is a light book that gives you a glimpse of Howie Mandel. His rise as a comic and his OCD and ADHD. The most surprising thing is that he's a bit of a dick who at times tries to come off as a decent family man who is truly thankful for his success despite his being a dick. I don't know if every reader felt the same I did as they read it and I came away less of a Howie Mandel fan because of this book. Sure, he's funny and he's made me laugh, but he's still a dick.
This is one of those biographies that I was quite interested in reading for obvious reasons. The problem that I had was if I had to give it a bad review someone would just call me an asshole for disliking it. This is a guy that suffers from OCD and ADHD and he probably had a hard time writing this book so I should be fair. As both a reader and a reviewer it's not helping anyone if I lie and say that I liked a book simply because the author has mental health issues. That's not how this works. I read the book and give you an honest opinion, If that makes me an asshole so be it. I think if I lied and told you it was a brilliant book and you bought and thought it sucked you would still call me an asshole for lying.
The fact is that the book feels like someone with ADHD wrote it, or told it to the ghost writer. Howie had help with this one, but the thing is that if you have ever seen his stand up you know exactly what you're in for. At times it feels a bit disjointed and rushed, but in a way I expected that. What I didn't expect was that Howie is kind of a dick. He pulls these practical jokes on people that are often cruel and not all that funny except to Howie. The thing that I really wanted to read more about was his OCD and how it truly affects his daily life. What kind of triggers he has and just how bad these truly affect him. It's never discussed in length. It's just kind of glossed over and you just have to accept that he doesn't like shaking hands, and that the OCD is a major factor in his life.
He talks about therapy, but he doesn't really tell you how it's helping him with his illness. We do get to read about his heart issues and he takes you into the thought process that he has about dying and how he actually called people to say goodbye because he truly thought he was going to die. He also talks about the loss of his father to cancer. This is a book that could have offered so much more but Howie held back quite a bit and it brings up more questions about his overall struggles with his mental health issues. That's why I bought the book. I was expecting a whole lot more than was offered.
As it stands Here's The Deal is a light book that gives you a glimpse of Howie Mandel. His rise as a comic and his OCD and ADHD. The most surprising thing is that he's a bit of a dick who at times tries to come off as a decent family man who is truly thankful for his success despite his being a dick. I don't know if every reader felt the same I did as they read it and I came away less of a Howie Mandel fan because of this book. Sure, he's funny and he's made me laugh, but he's still a dick.
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