PositiveThe Washington Post... a big, sprawling, meticulously researched and, for the most part, compelling biography that tells us everything we ever wanted to know about the man and then some. Brando lived a messy life, so maybe it’s appropriate that his biography is somewhat messy, too, with its not-quite-chronological arrangement ... Mann ably captures Brando’s blossoming in New York’s theater world ... In the prologue, Mann also makes the questionable assertion that \'Brando’s acting, as great and as important as it is, is not the most interesting thing about him.\' But our interest in him, our interest in Mann’s book, springs from his best acting — not from his admirable political activism, his Tahitian island getaway, his frequent affairs, his numerous wives, his many children, the attempted suicides of several people around him, the murder one son committed or the suicide of his daughter in Tahiti. That’s all grist for a bio, but it’s not the main attraction.
