Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman Hardcover – October 18, 2022

Before you read this, I highly suggest you watch all of Alan's films and TV episodes (around 70 credits, according to IMDB). I was able to find everything he did (outside of his plays) on streaming services, Youtube and Daily Motion. The only physical media I had to buy was The Search for John Gissing ($5 on Ebay). His older stuff is mostly on Youtube, harder to search for, and of mostly bad quality, but still completely worth watching. Like many others, I wasn't familiar with his body of work outside of the hits. My obsession with Alan Rickman began in 1996 when I saw him in Sense and Sensibility and still continues to this day. However, I had no idea just how versatile and gifted an actor he really was until I watched his other, lesser known films. After I watched all of his acting credits, the diary magically made sense.No doubt, this diary was poorly edited. I spent the whole time reading it with a highlighter in one hand and Google search in the other. Most of the people he spent time with were famous, in one way or another, so I found nearly all of them online. That being said, I had to work WAY too hard to decipher this diary when better footnotes could have easily done the job for me. There were also careless mistakes, like when he spoke of a woman named Rahda B. The footnotes said this was actress Radha Blank when a two minute Google search made it clear that the woman was obviously Radha Bharadwaj (who directed him in Closet Land).I find it interesting that people are accusing him of name-dropping. This was his private diary, which he never asked to be published, according to the foreword. These were not famous people to him, but his contemporaries. My husband works in construction, so all his friends are in construction. Therefore, it follows, that actors are going to be friends with other actors. And I noticed some feelings were hurt by his comments. Please keep in mind, people usually vent in their diaries. Also, Alan said during an interview once that he would never lend his name to a right wing cause, so I'm not understanding the outrage at his liberal leanings. The comments in the diary were not published opinions or social media posts, but the man's PRIVATE THOUGHTS. I don't personally understand why his wife allowed this to be published, but that was her prerogative. I would have loved instead an authorized biography with a few diary quotes thrown in.That all being said, I gave this book five stars because it felt like a genuine treat to know what was going on inside that beautiful man's head. Yes, he went to lots of fancy dinners and parties, but for the most part, he agonized over his work. He was jealous at times of other people's success, but he also hated succeeding when his friends were failing. There were a few juicy tidbits along the way (like his crush on Norman Reedus and his taste for bizarre strip clubs), but for the most part, this diary showed the life of a man that loved his friends and family and worked hard at honing the craft he so obviously revered.Rest in peace, Alan. Your forever fan.

Awesome book am really enjoying reading it

First, let me address the complainers. This is not a novel, nor a book that is supposed to read with flowing thoughts from one page to the next. It is a journal. Catalogued by date and location.With that in mind, it's brilliant. And I am happy Rima (his wife) allowed this to go to print. His words flow like art, and you can walk through his life with about 30 years worth of entries, all the way to the untimely end.No doubt it is edited, as it does lack mentions of Rima and anything related to the relationship. But, that does not matter. Buy it, sit back and enjoy what is a rare glimpse into this man's brilliant life.

I regret never getting to meet him in person. He always seemed so fascinating and "suffered no fools". In reading his diaries I found no real surprises, but gained a mental insight as to how deep he felt about life. I will be watching everything he has ever done with fresh, admiring eyes. If you are a fan of Alan Rickman read this book.

And relatable. One of the only celebrities that I would read a book that is so long for. Well worth it. The world lost a great man when he died.

omgosh i LOVEE this book bit Alan Rickman’s writing is hard to read on one of the pages 😭 other than that i recommend this for big fans of his ! and it did not come damaged which is something that i love

If you love Alan Rickman, this is a kill-your-hero kind of book. After years of setting Rickman up on pedestal for the amazing actor that he was, I was eager to learn more about the man, and I think I would have if this diary weren't so edited to exclude passages that might have given us more personal glimpses of Rickman outside of work.Instead, most of the entries are limited to his career and paint him as difficult, self-obsessed, arrogant, and hypercritical of his co-stars. This may have been born of his high standards for the craft, but the more you read, the harder it is to like him. There are several passages that really come across as blatantly sexist - one towards female journalists and another in which he complains about overweight women who wanted to dance with him. He also faulted Kate Winslet for not being encouraging to other actors when he regularly clashed people on the set. He also seemed to take a haughty, dismissive view of his fans.I assume his wife Rima made the ultimate decision to release the diaries and I respect the fact that she wanted to honor a notoriously private man by holding back the most personal information. From a reader's standpoint, however, the resultant impression is far more negative than positive.One caveat: if you are celebrity obsessed in general, an actor, or a theater major you'll probably find this book wholly satisfying. If not, it's just two decades of an actor grumbling his way through a stellar career, feeling largely dissatisfied with life when he wasn't eating or on vacation, and then dying at the end.

Beautiful story from a magnificent human being with a beautiful ending with friends and the love of his life .