I enjoyed this book very much, but became wistful while reading it. I am the exact age to remember with fondness The Partridge Family and Cassidy's rise to mega-stardom.
I'd always assumed (because I heard it somewhere back then?) that he loathed the whole Partridge Family experience and in particular the pop music career it thrust upon him--but this was not the case. In reading the book, I learned he embraced it even then, sang his heart out on those records, did his very best and actually enjoyed it, and believed (and I agree) that most of it has stood the test of time. He just also wanted to do other things--in particular to make music with a much harder edge--but the Hollywood powers-that-be would not allow him to risk disrupting the money-making machine he'd become. That's what fueled his anger and frustration.
Cassidy seemed level-headed and decent throughout the book. I appreciated (and believed him) when he said that the mothers of his young fans should be grateful that he was the star their daughters adored, because he was instilled with the proper morals and decency not to take advantage of the 13 and 14 year olds who threw themselves sexually at him, because he saw plenty of hardened performers that weren't quite so selective. Yes, he went through creative depression and struggles to find himself and create new chapters after the fame and acclaim subsided. But he always seemed very grounded and idealistic, even in the midst of the angst.
He writes adoringly of his brothers, his step mother Shirley Jones, his co-stars (even Danny Bonaduce!), his mother and son. His relationship with his father was the biggest source of conflict throughout his life, but even that he could look back on with some pragmatism. Simple aging really does help with a lot of healing.
I grew wistful reading the book because it was published in 2007, when he really had come full circle and was in a happy and peaceful place. But of course, we now know he struggled with continuing alcoholism thereafter and passed in 2017. I appreciated the contentment he found at the end of the book, though.
This is recommended reading!
**** 1/2 Four and a half stars!
