Lucky Man

Michael J Fox's memoir, Lucky Man, is an excellent read. It's a simple and straightforward, honest and sincere view of Fox's short span of 40 years.

He begins his memoir with the day he first felt what he would later learn was one of the symptoms of Young Onset Parkinson's Disease--a nonstop pinkie finger twitch. Beginning from this day, he accounts for his first year after diagnosis, then from chapter two until the last reveals with poignancy how he is able to honestly say, "The ten years since my diagnosis have been the best ten years of my life, and I consider myself a lucky man."

There are many people one meets within the pages of this book, probably none of them more pivotal than Nana and Michael's father. Nana is his grandmother, and it is she who believes in and encourages young Michael the most in his pursuits. She is known as the family prophetess, and on more than one occasion she had said to the family, "Don't you ever worry about Michael. He's going to be fine. He's going to do things you can't even imagine. And he'll probably be very famous one day."

As for his father, Michael's Dad was a good family man, but one who an adolescent Michael often contended with. That is, until he realized one day just how serious Michael was about his dream and decided to help him chase it.

Fox also reveals his story of that dream--his life as an actor. He tells how he felt undeserving of his wealth, and how he feared one day he would be found out and all that he had would be stripped away. He talks about the destructive actions he took to keep this from happening, and the experience he had which possibly saved his family and his life.

Throughout most of Fox's self-study is woven the finely threaded fabric of his life after his contraction of Parkinson's Disease. He tells how he initially responded to, came to accept, and how today he copes with, and is even grateful for his disease.

The story of his life, as Fox unfolds it, is unpretentious, charming, and often touching. The book's greatest quality, however, is its honesty. Fox often opens up and reveals intimate portraits of his and his family's life and struggles with not only a formidable disease, but also with just being human. This is what makes the guy even more likable than he already was.