Lowe, actor and 1980s teen idol, delivers a keen and insightful look at how the movie industry packages a celebrity, the phenomenon of "objectification," and being "The Next Big Thing." His astute look into a Midwest childhood, as well as counterculture Malibu as a young adult, raises lifelong issues of isolation and detachment for him as he adapted the persona of "a people pleaser with very few personal boundaries." Lowe vividly records the making of Coppola's The Outsiders, witnessing the emergence of Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, and Patrick Swayze alongside his own career launch. He offers insightful anecdotes about people he knew throughout his career, such as Jodie Foster, Andy Warhol, Roman Polanski, Jane Fonda, Michael Dukakis, and Princess Stephanie of Monaco. In an era that he describes as self-indulgent, he discusses his alcoholism, his video escapade, and his life as defined by the term "Brat Pack." In the end of this honest memoir, Lowe tells of his reformed life, in which he got married, had a family, and landed a career-defining role in The West Wing. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Lowe, in case you haven't been living on planet Earth for some time, is a significant TV and movie actor. Again, unless you've been out of the loop lately, his career was nearly scuttled when a sex tape featuring him with two young women surfaced. But the point of bringing that sad and not-really-anyone's-business incident up is to say that Lowe survived to thrive again, and his charming, honest, even affectionate memoir is the story of strong guts behind a strikingly handsome face. Lowe recalls his early life in Ohio, his move with his mother and brother (Chad, that is, also an actor) to California, and his early advent into movies and television. A stable family life was never his to enjoy until he began his own. He certainly does not downplay the wild parts of his life, but neither does he act entitled to the high points of his career. Readers will appreciate learning of his hard work and of his learning from his past mistakes. A book to recommend widely. . HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: First serial rights sold to Vanity Fair (May issue), author appearances, and national media and review attention will generate buzz.--Hooper, Bra. Copyright 2010 Booklist

Lowe was a founding member of the Brat Pack, a group of young actors that included Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald, whose movies-The Outsiders, The Breakfast Club, and St. Elmo's Fire-defined the teen and twentysomething angst of the 1980s. In this candid memoir, Lowe shares the ups and downs of a Hollywood career that took him from teen idol to jet-setter to rehab to The West Wing. He began as an insecure child actor from Ohio whose New Age parents moved him to Malibu, where he hung out with the Sheen brothers and other young hopefuls. He wrote this memoir without a ghostwriter, and he is self-effacing, humorous, and forthcoming about his insecurities, rocky home life, and experiences during the age of excess that was the 1980s. Verdict Celebrity watchers will enjoy Lowe's insider stories of encounters with such greats as Cary Grant and Francis Ford Coppola. The first serial will appear in Vanity Fair in May, and Lowe will no doubt make the round of talk shows, so expect demand. [See Prepub Alert, 11/8/10.]-Rosy Brewer, Sno-Isle Libs., Marysville, WA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Lowe presents a well-modulated actor's memoir.Whatever readers' impressions of the actor, he understands them: "There is just no way anyone is likely to take a nineteen-year-old as pretty as I was seriously," he writes. "Even I wouldn't...People looked at me and made a judgment. It's the way of the world. I do it too, sometimes." Lowe doesn't strain to be taken seriously here, though neither does he follow the kiss-and-tell conventions of the actor's memoir nor the descent into hell of the recovering alcoholic's. Instead, Lowe presents himself as a Midwestern guy very much aware that he won the genetic lottery; who became obsessed with acting at a young age as an escape from his dysfunctional family; enjoyed (mainly) the perks that came with his emergence as a teenage pinup; suffered career reversals that let him (and the reader) know just how little control an actor sometimes has; and ultimately found serenity as a devoted husband and father: "(I'm) like most American men. In love with my wife, living in a normal town, and blessed beyond imagining with two precious, beautiful, and inspiring babies." The author goes into great detail about the making ofThe Outsiders, St. Elmo's Fire, About Last Nightand The West Wing,reinforcing the impression that his acting credits don't come close to matching the level of his celebrity. Lowe is discrete about his romantic relationships and the extent of his partying with what would be dubbed the "Brat Pack," opting instead for understatement (e.g., "Charlie Sheen is also one of a kind") or general appreciation ("Jodie Foster should be any actor's role model. She is certainly mine"). He treats the infamous sex tape that all but derailed his career so obliquely that the rare reader not aware of it will have little idea what he's talking about.Lowe writes, "I...genuinely like people." His memoir will make readers believe himand like him back.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.