My Adventures with God

February 13, 2017
Character actor Tobolowsky (The Dangerous Animals Club) is best known for his roles in the 1987 sci-fi spoof Spaceballs and the 1993 hit comedy Groundhog Day. Less known is his background as a Jewish Texan, on which these new stories are based. Tobolowsky employs a unique Pentateuch narrative arc to examine his personal creation myth, enslavement, a “Leviticus moment” of self-realization, a Numbers phase of losing friends and family, and a Deuteronomy stage of making “sense of the journey.” Through this device, a hilarious, poignant, complicated, and cautionary tale unfolds. “My first experience with redemption had nothing to do with forgiveness or renewal. It had to do with green stamps,” he writes, explaining that his mother used the stamps as credits for helpful deeds that could be later redeemed for prizes. Tobolowsky’s fast-paced, precise, wide-ranging, and impressive book draws on the I Ching, Talmud, Einstein, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and reruns of SportsCenter to create counterpoints when discussing his life of faith. “Thoughts of God are intended to create doubt,” he writes. “Doubt is integral to wisdom.” This is a well-told must-read for fans of Tobolowsky and for anyone interested in a comedic adventure with the divine. Agent: Jud Laghi, Jud Laghi Agency.

February 15, 2017
A tale of two Tobolowskys, divided by a positive midlife crisis.In the author's latest, ostensibly a memoir but difficult to characterize, prolific character actor Tobolowsky (The Dangerous Animals Club, 2012) revisits his past with an eye toward finding some order, and some religion, in the chaos. The first half of the book follows the author's life from his childhood in Dallas to the heady years of his burgeoning acting career in the 1980s. In the second half, Tobolowsky focuses on people and concepts related, in some way or another, to his return to Judaism. The two halves are very different in tone, subject matter, and approach. The author's banal account of his early career mirrors the sort of hedonistic life story one might expect from a baby boomer in the entertainment world: drugs, parties, and money (or the lack thereof) dominate many of the storylines. Readers will be only mildly amused by the time Tobolowsky quips, "do you know how hard it is to spend $800 a week on yourself when you are not buying cocaine? In 1985 dollars?" The concept of faith doesn't figure largely in the author's story until the mid-1990s and his rather sudden return to traditional Judaism. At this point, the memoir gains more gravity but also becomes less streamlined, turning from a TMZ-style tell-all to a collection of vignettes about faith, difficult decisions, and people important to him. To be sure, Tobolowsky includes some truly worthwhile stories, not the least of which is a lengthy treatment of an Auschwitz survivor he came to know and whose story he decided to share through film. The author succeeds as a writer in that his prose captures the imagination and keeps readers' attention; as a memoir, however, the book is aimless, oddly structured, and only tangentially related to his supposed theme. An uneven Hollywood memoir with a bit of divinity thrown in.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 15, 2017

In his new memoir, actor Tobolowsky (The Dangerous Animals Club) brings together short-story vignettes that describe his life and relationship with God along a similar arc as the five books of the Torah. First, there is the creation myth of Genesis, then the enslavement in Exodus, where we lose ourselves in work or love, escaping only to wander the desert. Next, comes the midlife crisis of Leviticus, in which we find purpose and meaning. Then we reach Numbers, where death takes friends and family alike and, finally, Deuteronomy where we share our stories with younger generations and try to make sense of our journey. Tobolowsky shares insight into his experiences with God, belief and doubt, and with renewed understanding of stories in the Torah. Of particular delight is "The Bargain," where he almost gets caught buying marijuana but is saved by a Charlie Daniels-esque drug dealer and uses the experience to find new meaning in the account of Adam and Eve. VERDICT For anyone with an interest in Judeo-Christian religion, autobiography, or short stories. Tobolowsky is an engaging storyteller with a gift for drawing in his audience.--Crystal Goldman, Univ. of California, San Diego Lib.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.