Death is a mysterious dream,
and dreams are always
the most curious sport.
— Josh Brolin

Small book (226 pages) but dense in material. It hops all over the place with its 2-3 page mini chapters that describe moments in Brolin’s life. This haphazard sharing works in its favor, as being chronological would have made it feel too intensely dark for too long, especially the childhood years.

Brolin writes like a poet, wanting to get more to the essence of the memories than to belabor them with too many words. It makes for slow reading, but that’s ok.

There are many stories about Crazy Jane, aka Cat Woman (CB handle), aka Brolin’s mom, a predatory alcoholic. A memorable quote about her:

Nobody ever thought Jane would die, least of all us. She was armored with a character so unique and memorable that to die would be an insult to her mythology.

It’s difficult for a child to love someone like that. The way Brolin articulates his mixed feelings for his mother is raw and beautiful at the same time. His best writing in here is about the ambivalence.

There are unforgettable stories about happenings with Brolin and his children at all different ages, including one about an injured sheep in the highlands.

There are a stream of women in and out of his life, most just passing through.

There are some name-dropping stories and some stories where you have to guess who he is talking about. He says very little about his dad but does devote a few pages to dad’s wife, Barbra (yes, that Barbra.)

Brolin’s memoir reminds me of a lump of coal, but not in the usual way. Think of a heat source that brings power to those around it. This lump of coal has bright gems embedded in it. I believe this book would be hella good as an audiobook listen.

A couple more quotes from the book:

I listed many run-ins with the greats, the very thing that I know most famous people are interested in hearing:  parallel stories about other famous people doing normal things that get found out and adjusted into mythologies and stories that keep said famous people interesting and not ordinary.

I’m trying to remember men and women who’ve snuck into my psyche for only the few seconds after they’ve introduced themselves, then were let go like unwanted balloons.