The New York Times Book Review - David Kamp
Dave Itzkoff's new biography of Williams…is undertaken in [a] generous, appreciative spirit…Though Robin, at upwards of 500 pages, is exhaustively reported and doesn't shy away from the abundant messiness in Williams's personal life, it never crosses the threshold from critical assessment into bonkers character assassination…nor does it marinate in sordidness…What we get is a straightforward, chronological account of how an introverted wealthy kid…blossomed into a sui generis comic force of nature…Robin is as definitive an account as we're ever likely to have of the man, but, like the shape-shifting genie he voiced in Disney's Aladdin, Williams was not entirely of this earth, and a part of him will always elude capture.
Publishers Weekly
03/19/2018
According to this perceptive biography from Itzkoff (Mad as Hell), comedian Robin Williams was a man driven by a deep need for adulation and acceptance. Itzkoff introduces Williams as a brilliant, imaginative child left to his own devices in a sprawling mansion in the suburbs of Detroit, then describes his sometimes contentious relationship with his Ford executive father, his time in a community college drama department, his training at Juilliard (where he met lifelong friend Christopher Reeve), his breakthrough role on Mork and Mindy, and his long movie career. Along the way, readers meet the people who sustained him for much of his life, in particular the comic Billy Crystal, who perhaps knew him best, and his second wife, Marsha, who for years supervised much of his professional life. Nevertheless, Williams was consumed with misgivings about his stature as a star, a doubt that found expression in drug and alcohol abuse, and in his struggle to find film projects that could harness his manic talents. Itzkoff goes into detail on the debilitating illness (Lewy body dementia) that some of those close to Williams believe caused the comedian to commit suicide in 2014. Meticulously sourced and comprehensive in scope, Itzkoff’s work gives Williams’s many fans a rare glimpse of the man behind the celebrity. (May)
From the Publisher
A New York Times Bestseller
Named a Best Book of the Year by Vulture, San Francisco Chronicle, AARP The Magazine, Mental Floss, The Sunday Times, and Writer's Bone
"A must-read."—Vogue
"Dave Itzkoff allows readers a rare intimate look at Robin Williams in this honest and emotional biography of the late entertainer. . . . Robin is a fresh look at a man loved by many but truly understood by few."—Time
"Will make you weep in missing him just as much as you laugh in remembering him."—Entertainment Weekly
"Immersive, intimate and incredibly detailed. . . . A revealing, warts-and-all portrait of a man of great talent trying to design a career and a life while being buffeted around by a cacophony of contradictory voices and impulses. . . . The result of exhaustive research and fan-like devotion."—Merrill Markoe, Washington Post
"A breathtakingly good biography, exhilarating a lot of the time, yet disturbing, too, and one of the best books ever written about anyone who sees no way out of life except by trying to make people laugh. Or is it weeping? Who can tell in a storm?"—David Thomson, San Francisco Chronicle
"A generous, appreciative biography of Robin Williams by a New York Times culture reporter. The author, who had access to Williams and members of the comedian’s family, is an unabashed fan but doesn’t shy away from the abundant messiness in his subject’s personal life."—The New York Times Book Review (editor's choice)
"Terrific. . . . Itzkoff captures the ebb and flow of Williams’s career beautifully, with respect and with honesty. . . . [Here is] a life that was both miraculous and troubled, told in an artfully shaped, fact-filled book that honors the truth of his life."—Boston Globe
"There will never be anyone quite like Robin Williams, and there may never be another celebrity profile or biography quite like this again either. It’s not hyperbole to say that New York Times correspondent Dave Itzkoff’s engrossing and all-encompassing biography of one of the most beloved actors of the second half of the 20th century will change you."—Fortune
"The biography we've been waiting for. . . . [A] meaty, well-researched, moving story of a man who could never quite come to terms with his own brilliance."—Booklist
“This well-written page-turner is the definitive biography of the genius of Robin Williams, whose life redefines the highs and lows of the American dream.”—Steve Martin
“[A] page-turner. . . . [Itzkoff keeps] us clued into so many aspects of Williams’ life, with finesse and foreboding, but no showy sentiment. His writing is simply imbued with Williams’ special intimate connection.”—Newsday
"[Williams'] life was one of compulsive creativity and genuine kindness and perpetual insecurity and frequent infidelity and uniquely electric imagination. Dave Itzkoff’s biography 'Robin' gets its hands around as much of that life as possible. It's an incisive, comprehensive, very fine book. . . and the author captures it with grace and evenhanded perception."—Chicago Tribune
"Reveals the heart and soul of an icon."—Christian Science Monitor
“In Robin, Dave Itzkoff manages to straddle the man and the myth of Robin Williams, all the while helping us see why we fell in love with both. He has written a book about the truth and pain that lies in comedy, and the price paid by a sensitive soul.”—Amy Poehler
"[A] really great book - a living chronicle & secret history of 50 years of American pop culture - and you should pick it up!"—Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys
“Dave Itzkoff’s Robin is much like the man himself—warm, funny, frenetic, with a core of darkness and empathy. It gets at that darkness, and shows how it fueled, beautifully, the manic brain and kinetic body of the man himself. An amazing read."—Patton Oswalt
"Thoughtful and devoted. . . .a must-read."—Harper's Bazaar
"This book should be on everyone's summer reading list. It's certainly on mine."—James Corden
"Many who never knew [Robin Williams] were hit hard by the loss — how could someone so dizzyingly funny encompass such darkness? Dave Itzkoff’s well-researched, thoughtful biography fills in some of those shadows."—Seattle Times
"Captures the magic and the sadness of Robin Williams' life ... a well-researched and solidly written biography."—Dallas Morning News
"A revealing portrait of the motivations of a quiet comic genius whose explosive persona moved millions."—Kirkus
"Meticulously sourced and comprehensive in scope, Itzkoff's work gives Williams's many fans a rare glimpse of the man behind the celebrity."—Publishers Weekly
“Williams may well be one of those people who are impossible to fully understand, but this book is as close as anyone will ever come.”—Chuck Klosterman, author of But What If We’re Wrong?
“Dave Itzkoff has produced a remarkable and empathetic portrait, packed with satisfying detail, of a comic whirligig who could break your heart.”—Julie Salamon, author of The Devil’s Candy and Wendy and the Lost Boys
“In his probing and compassionate biography, Dave Itzkoff does justice to both the blazing light and the dark corners in his work and life. Robin is deeply reported, finely attuned to the ebb and flow of a long and singular career, and ultimately very moving.”—Mark Harris, author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back
“This engrossing book paints a stunningly complete picture of both the man and the comedian. A triumph, and a tragedy."—Alan Sepinwall, coauthor of TV (The Book) and author of The Revolution Was Televised
Library Journal - Audio
★ 09/01/2018
New York Times reporter Itzkoff delivers a detailed and revealing biography of comedian and actor Robin Williams. Born to a Ford Motor Company executive and his socialite wife, Williams grew up comfortably in Detroit and later San Francisco, where he discovered acting. He studied in New York at Juilliard and then went on to find fame at the age of 27 in the TV series Mork and Mindy. Films followed with a string of flops sprinkled with hits and four Oscar nominations. His meteoric career was matched by a tumultuous private life that included drugs and alcohol, infidelity, divorces, and health issues. His 2014 suicide came as a shock to the industry. The author goes into detail about Lewy body dementia, which may have factored in Williams's death. Extensive interviews with family and friends give this biography authenticity and offer an astute psychological analysis of the troubled actor and funnyman. Fred Berman narrates and captures many of the tics and manic delivery of his subject. VERDICT This well-written work will be a must-listen for Williams's fans and those who enjoy celebrity biographies. ["Williams's entertaining and mostly enjoyable life story will appeal to fans of…movies, entertainment, and stand-up comedy": LJ 5/15/18 starred review of the Holt hc.]—Phillip Oliver, formerly with Univ. of North Alabama, Florence
JULY 2018 - AudioFile
Narrator Fred Berman’s youthful enthusiasm percolates through his performance of this in-depth, detailed, and quite revealing biographical analysis of Robin Williams’s life and career. Williams’s transition from stand-up to the situation comedy of “Mork and Mindy” was a career turning point. And, as with many fine comedians, Williams also had talent as a serious actor, which is mined and discussed. But, despite his brilliance, self-doubt, various addictions, and, later, serious illness got the best of him. As is well known, Williams took his own life in 2014. Close friends, associates, and family members offer fresh points of view. This audiobook’s brutal honesty is matched only by its sincerity and admiration for its subject. W.A.G. 2019 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-03-19
A New York Times culture reporter uses both straight reporting and insightful analysis in the first major biography of Robin Williams (1951-2014).After discovering his talents as a comedian and actor in his late teens, Williams was clearly going places—but where? As Billy Crystal described one of Williams' early performances in the book, "it was like trying to catch a comet with a baseball glove." With his madcap stage antics, trademark rainbow suspenders, and rapid-fire shifting from character to character, he mesmerized audiences everywhere, first in the small comedy clubs of New York, then on TV, and eventually in Hollywood films. "But who was he?" So asks Itzkoff (Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies, 2014, etc.) in the prologue of this comprehensive examination of Williams' long career as an actor, family man, and friend. The author portrays an artist who, though not necessarily tormented, was driven by his insecurities and addictive personality to seek constant and immediate validation through his performances. From a stint at Juilliard, through his early success with Mork & Mindy, and finally his big breaks with Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, and Aladdin, Itzkoff chronicles his career arc and friendships with the likes of Christopher Reeve, Billy Crystal, and Richard Pryor, among countless others. Through their perspectives, along with those of his parents, children, and wives, the author draws out the many different Robins the world has come to know—but as the Itzkoff shows, there was so much more. His suicide came as a major blow to nearly everyone around him, and many are still puzzled by this final act from an artist who seemed to have it all. Itzkoff explores all the theories, including the surprising and probable one involving Lewy body disease, which caused crippling dementia and robbed Williams of his ability to perform.In this solidly reported and much-anticipated book, Itzkoff delivers a revealing portrait of the motivations of a quiet comic genius whose explosive persona moved millions.
