Brat

3.5 stars. McCarthy is a gifted writer and has a clear and concise way of telling a story. It's surprising that such an anxious, introverted person not only wanted to be an actor, but was successful at it. The memoir makes it pretty clear that his insecurities caused his behavior to make him seem acerbic and stand-offish. So, while the story was interesting and well-told, there's a missing warmth that keeps you from embracing it wholeheartedly.

As a teenager I was somewhat aware of the group of young actors just a bit older than me that were labeled the “Brat Pack.” Out of all of them, I liked Andrew McCarthy the best. That was a long time ago, and not a huge part of my life, but it was enough to make me pick up this memoir, which I liked quite a bit.

McCarthy tells about his early family history, discovering his vocation to be an actor in high school, his experience of moving to New York to study theater at NYU, and finding his way into the acting business, all as a lead up to focusing on the 1980s when fame found him. It's not a gossipy story, though. He mentions people he worked with, but his focus is more on his own experience–his approach to becoming a professional, his struggle with anxiety, and his developing drinking problem. He alludes a bit to his later career, but this book is mostly about the 1980s.

Written in a conversational, self-deprecating style, with accompanying black and white pictures.