Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

A misery memoir from Alan Cumming that’s surprisingly thoughtful

A review of Not My Father's Son, by Alan Cumming. It's an autobiography that pits a kindly grandfather against a cruel father

issue 15 November 2014
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  • Not My Father’s Son

    Alan Cumming

    Canongate, pp. 290

Misery loves company. Anyone who doubts this old adage should pop into their local bookshop, because besides celebrity chefs and Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-style erotica, what keep the tills ringing are misery memoirs. The shelves are groaning with them. Their titles can vary from the merely toe-curling (Cry Silent Tears) to the queasily exploitative (Please, Daddy, No), but even if the names of the characters vary, all these books share the same basic plot.

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