A warm, affectionate biography that captures the charm without ignoring the shadows. The love for Candy is obvious, and the behind-the-scenes stories are gold, but the structure can feel uneven. Still, if you’re a fan, it’s worth it for the heart and nostalgia alone.

i was sure this was going to be a great book to read and boy did it deliver. John Candy just seems like the funniest, sweetest person who ever lived. He spent his life trying to make everyone he came into contact with a little happier. This book is the tribute such a great person deserves. It's written by Paul Myers, Mike's brother, so he has incredible access. All of the SCTV people take part as well as Tom Hanks, Steve Martin and many, many others. This man was so beloved that when he died he had to have two funerals--one in LA and one in Toronto.

Sadly, Candy had some inner demons brought on by the fact that his dad died when he was young, but he worked hard to keep it inside so as not to bring down the people surrounding him. I wish he had been able to give himself the joy he gave to every other person he came into contact with.

Myers really makes the story flow. His pleasant writing style makes the pages fly by.

All in all, a delightful book about a delightful man.

Thanks to Netgalley who provided me with an e-galley in return for this honest review.

This book is a behind-the-scenes look at the life and career of John Candy (1950 - 1994). It dives into Candy’s rise from local sketch comedy in Toronto to Hollywood fame, while also showing the kind, generous and sometimes troubled man behind all the laughs.

Candy grew up in Toronto and got his comedy start at Second City. Thanks to Dan Aykroyd, he landed a spot on SCTV and became a breakout star with his big heart and even bigger characters. From Stripes to The Blues Brothers to Uncle Buck, Planes, Trains and Automobiles to Cool Runnings, Candy built a career on playing lovable funny underdogs. This book takes you through those roles and others (there are whole chapters on most of his movies).

The author spoke with a lot of Candy’s friends and co-stars (including Steve Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Tom Hanks, Martin Short and Dan Aykroyd) to show the deep affection and admiration so many had for him. Off-camera Candy was generous and thoughtful ... for example, buying Thanksgiving dinner for entire film crews, comforting homesick extras and always making time for people. The book also looks at Candy’s struggles with anxiety, his weight and the pressure of being “the funny guy.”

I was (and still am) a fan of John Candy. He passed away just over 30 years ago and I'm surprised it's taken this long for someone to write such a book about him. I enjoyed it and it was interesting to learn more about Candy. It's obvious that it's well-researched and honest ... though he knew better (his father had passed away young of a heart attack), Candy liked his smokes, rum & Cokes and food. It would have been nice, though, to have some photographs included as it's just all text.

Honestly, I don't know how to rate this book. The writing was fine and the book was informative about the life of John Candy but it just wasn't very compelling reading. I enjoy memoirs and biographies and I don't need salacious details about the subject but it seems like what you saw with John Candy was what you got. Everyone in Candy's life loved him, He was a warm hearted, generous and talented man who loved his family and friends and fans. He also dealt with anxiety regarding his health and trauma from the death of his father when he was five. But it just doesn't make for very interesting reading.

As a long time John Candy fan, and a bit of a student of comedy, I found this biography flawed, but satisfying. Myers does a thorough job of covering all the key events in John Candy's personal life and career. The interviews are thorough. We hear from the SCTV Alumni, Steven Martin, Candy's children, etc. It even includes a full eulogy from Dan Aykroyd. However I did find the style of writing to be a little clunky. Referring to people who had died at the time of the writing as "the late" is a bit awkward. For one, it makes it sound a bit like they were already dead at the time of the event. The other problem is, some people have died since the book was written so there is no mention of say, "The late Joe Flaherty." All in all though, I enjoyed the book, and it encouraged me to go back and revisit John Candy's work, including a few movies and the radio show that I had not heard of before.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this book but it sort of fell flat for me. It was nice hearing quotes from his close friends but the author's voice wasn't really present. In my opinion you can't really call it a book if its made up a majority of quotes.