Twenty-Five Pages

I've started to read the Heath Ledger biography I bought recently.

I've read a lot of celebrity autobiographies, but I don't often read biographies. So this genre is kind of new to me. And yeah, I do think there's a difference. With autobiographies, the subject chooses what we get to know and not know. I feel more comfortable reading them. I don't get that feeling of prying into aspects of someone's business that they might not want people to see.

But despite my ethical misgivings, I'm still reading the book. 

Am I enjoying the book?

I don't know.

I was kind of bored by the third chapter. It goes into great detail about the Ledger family history. I didn't feel like I was reading a celebrity biography. I felt like I was reading a history book.

I'm wondering if this is typical for celebrity biographies. 

I kind of imagined you'd just get a few paragraphs. Grandparents went on this ship. Parents went into this business. This cousin did this. I wouldn't expect the writer to stretch this out for a twenty-five page chapter.    

It's been quite awhile since I've read a celebrity autobiography, and I can't remember how much family history they provided.

I did recently read my friend's biography, and I definitely don't remember her having a whole chapter about her family history—grandparents, great-grandparents, great-uncles, etc.

I feel I should have liked chapter three of the Heath Ledger book more because it's not just general history, it's Australia history. But I have to be honest. Though I love Australia, and like small bits of Australia history here and there, I usually get bored by whole books of it.  

I'm fine with several paragraphs about a subject, but my mind drifts away when it's a whole book. Or a whole chapter. 

Though I might have been more interested in the chapter if it was less confusing. I had a hard time keeping track of who was who.  I got all confused about who was the great-grandfather and who was the grandfather.  

The full title of this Heath Ledger book is Heath: A Family's Tale.  So maybe I should have taken that as a clue that it's going to go into family stuff. Although I think I might have equated family with immediate family. Mom, Dad, siblings, and maybe some extended family. But I would have imagined their stories being told only in connection to their relationship Heath.  

Well, I'll continue with the book to see if it gets more interesting.

What I really wish, though, is that it wasn't a tragedy.  I wish it were about an actor who was still alive and working...and still with his family.