In his first and only official autobiography, music icon Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life, from his rollercoaster lifestyle as shown in the film Rocketman, to becoming a living legend.
... a hairplugs-and-all memoir that pushes the envelope for aging rock star candor ... If John had no material other than the job his foul-tempered parents did on him, he’d still have a riveting story to tell. But Me is a very crowded book by a man who’s kept a lot to himself until now. Earlier this year the movie Rocketman gave a reasonably accurate overview of the Elton John story — but it barely scratched the surface of what’s in this memoir. The lurid parts will get all the headlines. But the man’s hard-won self-knowledge is what the book’s really about ... carefully apolitical about anything but L.G.B.T.Q. issues ... Aficionados of rock star memoirs, take note: This one also gets into John’s bout of prostate cancer, complete with his surgery and use of adult diapers. The latter may be a first in the genre ... Even the worst of it can be ghoulishly funny ... the voice here sounds just right, even if it has been unfamiliar until now. It’s a gift to finally hear from someone who has delivered so many of Taupin’s words and so few of his own.
... magnificent ... While Me is as colorful as you’d expect from an artist famous for his outlandish stage costumes and outsize temper tantrums, it is also so much more than simply a dishy sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll tell-all. (Although it is, deliciously, that too) ... The scenes are by turns fantastical and poignant and shot through with an uproarious sense of humor ... It cannot be overstated that John is a scream, with Me boasting many gasping-for-air moments of comedy ... He is at his best when taking the piss out of his own, well-earned, reputation for obstinance and ill-advised decisions. The singer-songwriter is acutely aware of how ridiculous he, and by extension much of his life, is and the reader benefits from that awareness ... A steady stream of remembrances (Freddie Mercury, John Lennon) and revelations (including a bout with prostate cancer — means keeping a box of tissues handy advisable ... both deeply relatable and specifically alien in the way all memoirs of the rich and famous can be with a sense of voyeurism. But John suffuses the proceedings with a refreshing sense of humanity, not just a laundry list of songs and shows, deeds and misdeeds ... a riveting, laugh-til-you-cry, heartfelt page-turner.
... outrageously enjoyable ... That he has celebrity anecdotes to burn is not a surprise. But the self-mocking tone is more unexpected from a musician so grand that at his 2014 wedding party he had one table dedicated solely to the Beatles and their families. Yet while his extraordinary talent justified his personal excesses, it is his self-awareness that has counterbalanced the narcissism and made him such a likable figure ... It quickly becomes clear in Me that few people are more suited to the celebrity autobiography genre, given that he combines the most essential ingredients of the form ... makes sure there is a laugh out loud moment on pretty much every other page. This gives a pacy originality to what could have been a by-the-numbers celebrity ... credit really must go to Elton, whose extremely amusing voice very much drives the book ... [John] is utterly, astonishingly, hilariously self-lacerating ... his clear-eyed honesty and his ear for the comic line make him a deeply appealing memoirist.
