A Review: Green Lights
Title of Work: Green Lights
Author: Matthew McConaughey
Format:
Published: 2020
Started:
Finished: 2022-11-04\
Posted: Goodreads
Rating: 4/5
This one has been on my to-read list for a while but I think I had been putting it off under suspicion that it might be a self-helpy “how I made it against all odds!” sermon-disguised-as-memoir from another rich celebrity. Probably ghost written. I was recommended the title again recently by a close friend who thought I might find portions of it relatable given my current phase in life. Despite my apprehensions, I take these recommendations seriously and, having resolved to just read the damn thing and get it done, I couldn’t resist going for the audiobook edition read by the author. I figure if you’re gonna sign up for the McConaughey (MM) experience you might as well go all in and hear it from the guy himself, sit back and relax with his soothing Uvalde cum Hollywood drawl in all its signature glory.
Right away, I was pleased with the narrative and structure of this memoir. MM follows a loose, linear path from childhood through all the developmental stages of boy into man and onward through stardom. He has written extensively throughout his life and peppers these key life vignettes with poetry, quotes, bumper stickers, and personal proverbs. He does touch on the highlights of his professional career but mostly to give more intimate bearing and context to the reader within the broader life and fame. This is what I was going through personally when that movie blew up the box office and changed my public life forever sort of thing. MM gives more spotlight to his growth first as a fiercely individual man and then as a devoted husband, father, and son. Through conflict, romance, temptation, world travel, success, failure, the whole spectrum of experience the hero of any story may find himself subject to; he shares insights gleaned from a life of observation and aloof contemplation captured through a journaling habit. I saw myself and my friends in his struggles, triumphs, and reflections on the same. MM really has lived a storied life and, thanks to his practiced and deliberate writing, I suspect I would enjoy the story of this man’s life even if he had never become a household name, an Oscar winner and staple of contemporary pop culture, with famous one-liners we can all recognize and recite.