Do not read Not My Father’s Son with the expectation of hearing about Alan Cumming’s fabulous life, and all the amazing stuff he gets to do. This focuses mainly on his childhood, which was incredibly shitty. He shifts focuses between his upbringing, and his experience with the TV show Who Do You Think You Are? as an adult, which afforded him the opportunity to find out all sorts of new information about his family. In fact, other than the fact that a non-celeb wouldn’t be featured on this show, there’s nothing about this memoir that really pegs it as written by a famous person. That being said, it’s an excellent story. Cumming mentions in the epilogue that he wanted to write a book based on something he was passionate about, and it shows.
“All I know is that I am the product of all the experiences I have had, good and bad, and if I am in a happy place in my life (as I truly am), then I can have no regrets about any of the combination of events and circumstances that have led me to the here and now.”
As I mentioned, Cumming had a really awful childhood — his father verbally and physically abused him (and to a lesser extent, his older brother), which his mother did nothing to stop. His father also had very public extramarital affairs, and flaunted them in front of the family and the town. Cumming broke ties with his father when he was in his 20s, but gets drawn back to him sixteen years later, when he gets the news that his father might be dying. Cumming has also been offered an in-depth analysis of his family history, courtesy of the TV show Who Do You Think You Are? He’s eager to solve one family mystery, involving his maternal grandfather, and ends up with a ton of new information about his father, as well.
I hope Cumming writes more memoirs — this one is very well-written and while some of the abuse described is absolutely horrifying, he maintains a hopeful and optimistic tone throughout most of the story. And the mysteries involving his family kept me hooked to the end.
