Not My Father's Son

Genre: Non-Fiction

This is the story of Alan Cumming and his family. Raised in Scotland with his older brother, Tom, by his supportive mother and extremely abusive father, Cumming left home to study acting at the age of 16. His parents separated when he was in his 20's and he remained in good standing with his mother, but rarely saw his father. As an adult and a star actor (he appeared in James Bond, The Good Wife, and on Broadway's Cabaret), Cumming gets a phone call from his brother saying that, "He [their father] told me to tell you, you're not his son". Cumming begins to explore his family roots and to learn about his true heritage. This is more than a story about coming of age, it’s a story about families and learning to accept that sometimes evil resides right in our own homes.

Every one of us has a life story. Is there room in the world for more stories? Absolutely. Do those stories need to be a book? In this case, I don't think so. After finishing the book, I did some research on Cumming and read an article from the BBC about this book and, honestly, it told me everything I needed to know about Cumming and his life in those few pages. This book is about what his father did to him as a child and some about their relationship as he’s aged. He also speaks about his own relationship with his partner, brother and mother and a little about his experience as an actor. This is not to minimize his experiences or his pain, but there was nothing particularly enlightening or enjoyable about this book.