Book Review: WALKING WITH GHOSTS by Gabriel Byrne

Walking With Ghosts: A Memoir by Gabriel Byrne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"They would look on the face of death itself and be reminded of the gift of life."

I've been deeply in crush with Gabriel Byrne ever since I watched his Professor Bhaer take Winona Ryder's Jo March to the opera."He's my tukayo -- we share each other's name, it must be destiny!!" I whispered dreamily to my 4th grade sellf.

I saw quite a lot of him growing up because -- how fortuitous! -- he was also one of my dad's favorite actors and THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK became an annual VCD rewatch.

And so when I heard that he WROTE A BOOK I didn't even think about ordering it, after some appropriate screaming from 'kilig,' of course.

Alas, no love is untested, and the pandemic delivery system worldwide made me wait six months before the postman finally delivered it to our door today. My faithfulness was rewarded!!! And so, upon returning home from the office, I immediately tore into it. And am now quietly sobbing at how quickly I finished it, how beautiful it was, how the last few pages mirrored so closely our own family's experience of loss.

Isn't it strange how sadness is present, despite our joy at finally getting what we want?

Sadness and joy, the twins of all lives. Byrne could have made a name for himself as a writer!! From his childhood growing up the eldest of six in Dublin, to becoming a seminarian, then embracing the seedier part of life as an adult hanging around pubs and folks with questionable morals before finding fame as an actor, only for it to bring about even more existential angst... my only complaint about the memoir was that it ended too soon. I would have happily read through more encounters with theater greats, more childhood memories, more wise insights from one who has seen and done it all.

I thought I'd recommend this book because it was written by THE ACTOR.

But having read it, I recommend the book now purely on its own literary merit.

And apparently the book is now a one-man theatrical show!! Something to look forward to : perhaps watching the book performed as a play, one day. <3

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