...to his surprise (and ours) he pulls himself together and delivers a thorough and sophisticated effort to answer an interesting question: How did an indifferently raised, self-flagellating kid from a just-making-ends-meet, desultorily functioning Long Island family, in Massapequa, turn into Alec Baldwin, gifted actor, familiar public figure, impressively thoughtful person, notorious pugilist? ... The passages about his childhood are beautifully written and unexpectedly moving ... He says that he had no ghostwriter or collaborator for this book. That is impressive, because he’s a highly literate and fluent writer, but it also means that his authorial discipline can abandon him. He has a bit of trouble with transitions.
If Baldwin’s Nevertheless had a subtitle, it would be 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Defeated Egotist' ... What’s consistent is Baldwin’s dissatisfaction with himself and his life. Nevertheless is a blunt object wielded by a man of sharp intellect against his own soul ... It’s refreshing to read a celebrity memoir that is not painted in pastels and glossed with self-actualization, that does not ride off into the sunset after rewarding projects and hurdled obstacles. Nevertheless, because of Baldwin’s aimlessness, is many things: the confession of an Irish Catholic hothead, an appreciation of film and theater by a sincere aesthete, and a 265-page therapy session — wherein the reader becomes an armchair psychoanalyst unable to treat his patient ... That Baldwin is both enraptured and besieged by his own celebrity is what makes him fascinating and combustible; the book itself is only occasionally so. Instead, it is elegant and petty, sometimes on the same page ... By its last third, Nevertheless is checking boxes instead of leaping from and around them — which is a shame, because Baldwin is a fierce wit and proven raconteur.
This readiness to dig deep, to peel back his insecurities and reveal the less flattering parts of his personality, is what gives Nevertheless its moments of clarity and charm ... his flaws are examined thoughtfully and with disarming candour. While some are treated with wryness or a resigned shrug, other more serious ones, such as his accidental drug overdose in his 20s, are offered up with a heartfelt desire to do better ... [the] acerbic moments are amusing enough but they are at odds with his earlier reflectiveness. A shift in tone between Baldwin’s pre- and post-fame existence is inevitable, though the difference here is marked, and the litany of slights, publicity cock-ups and professional hiccups tip him from self-aware to self-absorbed..
Some memoirs invite speed-reading until the juicier 'fame' chapters; but Baldwin, an eloquent writer who attempts to see his past through various vantage points, creates a vivid look at the boy who lost his distant father, whom he adored, too young; the burgeoning young TV star who abused cocaine and alcohol in his 20s, and the man who would gamble on movie fame over Broadway in the mid-‘90s — and come to regret it. Readers who come for showbiz dish will leave well-served. Baldwin careens through his own IMDB credits, talking frankly of his co-stars ... Baldwin holds little back detailing his relationship with Basinger, alternately giving her kudos in their early days and seething over her actions in their custody battles. Indeed, he offers an intimate look into the dissolution of their relationship. It's remarkably raw, human and relatable.
The first half of Nevertheless is swift, eloquent, witty; the later chapters are more diffuse and tend to get caught up in grocery-listing the remaining stops along Baldwin's resume, as well as his tangles with various agents, managers and publicists. Nevertheless. I'm glad I read it; the good stuff in it is very good.
Baldwin’s Trump-ian qualities of self-regard and remembering slights are on full display in this remarkably petty and oblivious book ... It’s understandable that Baldwin would want to use his memoir to reassert his point of view on various controversies, but the random snark, so to speak, about the media, Hollywood types, politicians, and so forth is beyond tedious, especially since there’s no real structure or finesse to the prose itself. Baldwin writes with no eye toward pacing, building an argument, or even consistency ... Ultimately, no Baldwin fan will find anything of interest in these pages, while those who hate him will find nothing but new ammunition. Trump will be thrilled: Nevertheless is Art Of The Deal-level disposable.
This section of the book, when he begins his career as a young actor, is fascinating and reads like the rags-to-riches movie script as he navigates his way among agents, projects and women by the seat of his pants … Those who have read Baldwin’s previous book A Promise to Ourselves, or have heard him in interviews will not be surprised that he is an talented writer … Alec Baldwin is a fascinating, complicated and sometimes controversial guy but newfound domestic bliss with his wife and three young children and a loving relationship with his daughter Ireland have given Baldwin a certain measured maturity as he looks back on his life.
