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The day Good Morning America entertainment critic Joel Siegel brought his son Dylan home from the hospital was also the last day of his chemotherapy for colon cancer. Siegel began writing Lessons for Dylan two years later, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. The result is a tender and entertaining "just in case" autobiography/tutorial for his son. Siegel’s life is the curriculum; he instructs his son with vignettes from the family album, his battles with the "witch of cancer," his divorce, the death of his first wife, adventures as a reporter, and his star scrapbook including interviews with the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, and Brad Pitt. He writes movingly of the Holocaust’s shadow in his family. Yet the Jewishness he passes on to Dylan is more cultural--a recipe for brisket, a history of Judaism in four jokes, and a great introduction to speaking Yiddish.
Siegel's self-portrait has a Zelig-like quality: he registers voters in Atlanta, meets Martin Luther King, attends a Ku Klux Klan meeting, writes jokes for Bobby Kennedy, visits Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love and invents German chocolate for Thirty-One Flavors in Los Angeles. He is an engaging writer, stronger in storytelling than self-reflection. His occasional self-importance, saying for example, "that was before I was Joel Siegel," detracts from his wonderful intention of talking to his son. When his reporter’s voice speaks louder than his newfound wisdom as a father, Siegel seems to be writing for a wider audience. --Barbara Mackoff
From Publishers Weekly
Good Morning America's entertainment critic Siegel, who at age 54 was diagnosed with cancer shortly after the birth of his first child, has turned his potential tragedy into a warmhearted memoir written as letters to his son, Dylan. Siegel covers a wide range of topics and tells many fascinating stories, ranging from details of "three cancer surgeries and chemo and CAT scans and six months of radiation in the past five years," to personal descriptions of movies that he hopes to watch with his son one day. He offers anecdotes from his various jobs writing in advertising, for radio and as a joke writer for Bobby Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. He also gives great short histories of his previous marriages, his famous interview subjects (including all four ex-Beatles) and his Jewish heritage, including a hilarious glossary of Yiddish words that includes 29 words for "schmuck." Most touching are Siegel's various pieces of fatherly advice, from how to recognize one's life work ("follow your passion") to how to deal with bullies ("If you fight back and get hit, it hurts a little while; if you don't fight back it hurts forever"). While Siegel is currently healthy, his memoir stands as a powerful account of a life well lived and as a beautiful testimonial to the love of a parent for a child.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Good Housekeeping, June 2003
"A candid look at battling cancer as a parent of a small child, written with humor and charm."
St. Petersburg Times, June 8, 2003.
"a tender autobiography in which the father shares childhood memories,..., his years in show business and humorous bits.'"
Library Journal, May 15, 2003.
"good laughs and interesting tidbits... a compelling [read]. His humanity and obvious love for his son are touching."
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 18, 2003.
"funny and tender... Siegel shares all the things he wants his son to know, just in case he's not around."
Book Description
Good Morning America's beloved movie critic shares with his son--and readers--what he's learned in fifty-eight years of an extraordinary life in this poignant, funny, wise, and entertaining memoir. At the age of fifty-four, renowned movie critic Joel Siegel both became a father for the first time and learned that he had cancer. Now, in Lessons for Dylan, Siegel shares all the things he wants his son to know--in case he's not around to tell him--about his family history and Jewish heritage, life's pleasures and sorrows, the challenges of growing up (at any age), and, most important, who his father is and what he values. Threaded throughout are stories from Siegel's extraordinary life: his path from an immigrant neighborhood to national television; his work in the civil rights movement, and his career as a critic. Siegel candidly addresses the more difficult passages of his life, including the end of his marriage to Dylan's mother and the experience of having cancer. But he also shares great stories from show biz (featuring Orson Welles, Marlene Dietrich, Paul Newman, Brad Pitt, Stevie Wonder, all four Beatles, and many more); lays out the History of the Jewish People in Four Jokes; and offers fatherly advice on sex ("ask your mother"), work, and what to cook for Rosh Hashonah (recipes included). Full of humor and wisdom, common sense and self-revelation, Lessons for Dylan offers lessons for all of us about what really matters in life.
About the Author
Joel Siegel graduated from UCLA and has worked as a radio newscaster, Los Angeles Times book reviewer, freelance writer for publications including Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated, and joke writer for Sen. Robert Kennedy. He has been an entertainment critic for WABC-TV's Eyewitness News since 1976 and for ABC's Good Morning America since 1981 and has won many awards, including five New York Emmy Awards and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith Public Service Award. He is also co-founder (with Gene Wilder) and president of Gilda's Club, a non-profit support facility for cancer patients. He resides in New York City.
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