Of Mule and Man

March 16, 2009
Actor-producer Farrell's 2007 memoir, Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist
, traced his spiritual odyssey from a working-class childhood to fame from TV's M*A*S*H
and his worldwide humanitarian efforts. Promotion of that paperback led him on an 8,882-mile book tour to 25 cities, documented in dispatches to the Huffington Post
. Now he collects his journal entries from that 36-day road trip with “Mule,” his nickname for the Prius hybrid rental car he drove from city to city in May and June 2008. For Farrell, the trip was an opportunity to network with the human rights and justice organizations co-sponsoring the tour, while meeting old friends, giving interviews and doing q&a sessions where he could speak out: “One woman asked me what I thought were the three most critically important things we had to do to get this country back on track. I said, 'Elect Barack Obama, elect Barack Obama, elect Barack Obama.' ” The book is nicely designed, with page numbers inside little road sign shapes; chapter headings list mileage, destination and such co-sponsors as the ACLU, Center for Victims of Torture and Greenpeace. Sidebars throughout detail the aims and accomplishments of groups like the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represents hundreds on death row. Farrell writes with an upbeat, optimistic attitude, infused with humor, insights and soul. As he drives across the landscape, he also drives home important social justice issues.

April 1, 2009
The actor best known for his portrayal of B.J. Hunnicutt on M*A*S*H demonstrates that book tours are every bit as tedious as imagined.

In May 2008, Farrell (Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist, 2007) rented a Prius (nicknamed"Mule") and looped across the United States on a 25-city book tour. Reading about his cross-country trip is like thumbing through a stranger's travel diary—it's chock full of meandering, superficial observations that ultimately don't add up to much. Even though each event was co-sponsored by individuals or groups dedicated to social justice, Farrell rarely reflects on the progressive nature of his tour—how it was conceived, what he hoped to accomplish, how it could serve as a model for other authors. Rather than weaving his involvement with these organizations into the narrative, the author includes dry summaries of their missions in boxed-off spaces. Moreover, he often undercuts his stance as an activist with his condescending tone. He sneers at right-wing radio hosts and their audiences ("I truly worry about the people who listen to this crap all the time") and resorts to ad hominem attacks against former President Bush, referring to him as"President Stupid" and a"the pathetic, smirking narcissist who occupies our White House." The larger problem, however, is that Farrell too often glosses over the unique aspects of his tour. In New Orleans, he met with Sister Helen Prejean, a renowned opponent of the death penalty, and instead of offering vivid scenes or telling anecdotes, he simply notes that they had a"great dinner and wonderful conversation." In contrast, Farrell dedicates nearly an entire chapter to getting an oil change at a Firestone dealer in New York City. Despite his forced attempts at whimsy—largely through unconvincing conversations with Mule—what his chronicles inadvertently portray is the mundane, repetitive nature of the modern book tour, where authors skip from city to city with little time to explore individual communities or interact with readers.

Slapdash and inessential.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2009
Farrell is best known for his role as B.J. Hunnicutt on "M*A*S*H", but off the screen, he has been a political activist, working with several human rights and peace organizations. In May 2008, he set out on a book tour for his autobiography, "Just Call Me Mike", which he chronicled in dispatches to the "Huffington Post". Those dispatches are gathered together here, along with additional information and resources. Farrell's politics are loud and clear in these vignettes as he frequently refers to the events happening in the late spring and summer of 2008, acquiring ammunition by listening to right-wing talk radio along the long stretches of highway between bookstores and public library readings. The descriptions of the landscapes and cities are evocative, but the flow of the story is frequently disrupted with his tendency to name-drop. The book will likely be appreciated by fans and like-minded activists, but others may be turned off by Farrell's polemics.Anna Creech, Univ. of Richmond, VA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.