****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Desi Arnaz is someone I've greatly come to admire as I've learned more and more about him and someone who I think never got the credit he so rightly deserved while he was alive. Was Desi a perfect person? No, it is well known he fooled around alot while married to Lucille Ball ( and even his second wife,Edie) and had a major problem with alcohol but he also is responsible for bringing about television how we know it today."A Book" is Desi's bio about his life from the time he was born until 1960 when the "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" ( the sequel to "I love lucy" series, if you will) ended in addition to Lucy and Desi's nineteen year marriage. Desi goes into fascinating detail about his early life in Cuba ( his maternal grandfather was actually one of the creators of Bacardi Rum) including he and his family having to flee their home when the Batista dictatorship took over, he also tells great stories about beginning his music career in Miami, going to work for Xavier Cugat and then starting his own band, and winding up in the Broadway show "Too Many Girls" that would not only kick off Desi's acting career but also ultimately be responsible for his meeting future wife and co-star Lucille Ball.Desi does of course have plenty to say about Lucy. However, despite the fact that at the time the book was written ( circa 1976) , Desi and Lucy had been divorced for many years and were then married to different people, readers of this book will be able to instantly sense the sheer amount of love and respect Desi still had for Lucy.In fact after reading this book, I strongly feel that Desi and Lucy remained in love to their dying days. Even when talking about the rough times during their marriage ( being separated alot during their first years of marriage, Lucy filing for divorce in 1944, their struggles to have a baby,etc.), Desi never once has anything bad to say about Lucy nor does he ever attempt to put the blame on her for their marriage ultimately ending. Of course Desi also has plenty to say about the creation of "I love lucy", and there are plenty of fun little tidbits in there for fans of the show as Desi singles out a few different episodes and what went on behind the scenes.This book can be incredibly hard to find due to it sadly being out of print ( thankfully I kept an eye on the Amazon marketplace and finally found it for a very reasonable price) but if you can find it, this books is totally worth the read. I also highly recommend reading it with Lucy's bio "Love,Lucy" as it's incredibly interesting to read about Lucy and Desi's points of view on the same events.
