For nine seasons Rainn Wilson played Dwight Schrute, everyone's favorite work nemesis and beet farmer. Viewers of The Office fell in love with the character and grew to love the actor who played him even more. Rainn founded a website and media company, SoulPancake, that eventually became a bestselling book of the same name. He also started a hilarious Twitter feed (sample tweet: “I'm not on Facebook” is the new “I don't even own a TV”) that now has more than four million followers.
Now, he's ready to tell his own story and explain how he came up with his incredibly unique sense of humor and perspective on life. He explains how he grew up “bone-numbingly nerdy before there was even a modicum of cool attached to the word.” The Bassoon King chronicles his journey from nerd to drama geek (“the highest rung on the vast, pimply ladder of high school losers”), his years of mild debauchery and struggles as a young actor in New York, his many adventures and insights about The Office, and finally, Wilson's achievement of success and satisfaction, both in his career and spiritually, reconnecting with the artistic and creative values of the Bahá’í faith he grew up in.
Now, he's ready to tell his own story and explain how he came up with his incredibly unique sense of humor and perspective on life. He explains how he grew up “bone-numbingly nerdy before there was even a modicum of cool attached to the word.” The Bassoon King chronicles his journey from nerd to drama geek (“the highest rung on the vast, pimply ladder of high school losers”), his years of mild debauchery and struggles as a young actor in New York, his many adventures and insights about The Office, and finally, Wilson's achievement of success and satisfaction, both in his career and spiritually, reconnecting with the artistic and creative values of the Bahá’í faith he grew up in.
★★★☆☆
Rainn Wilson's memoir covers everything from his being brought up in the Baha'i faith, those awkward high school years as a band and theater kid that ultimately played a big part in forming his personal style as a professional actor, and of course the acting career itself. He's arguably best known for playing Dwight Schrute on the American version of the tv show The Office. In fact, Dwight "writes" the forward to this book, and makes an appearance a few other times throughout.
I certainly find Rainn entertaining as an actor. His quirky brand of comedic timing works for me on screen, so I was curious to check this out. As it turns out, the presentation of this memoir had a strong case of "hamartia" for me (referencing one of the side discussions he gets into --- the philosophy of hamartia, and the use of it in archery, to mean "missing the mark"). I was struggling with the early parts of the book, the all-over-the-place quality of the writing wasn't making for a comfortable reading experience. It often left me feeling like I was being dropped in the middle of a tale without all the relevant backstory. Much of this book didn't read as naturally funny to me, though it was clear from start to finish that it was meant to have a comedic lean. For me, it read more like someone feeling pressure to be funny because he's largely known for his comedic work... so he amps himself up, overshoots, and presents something doused in trying-too-hard.
But you know, some of the issues I had with the writing maybe made a little more sense after reading this bit near the end:
"There's always been this strange kind of disconnect between playing oddball, mostly comedic characters and being a person who views himself as on a spiritual and artistic journey through life. As time goes on I am finding new ways to greater link these two seemingly disparate sides of myself. It was through the creation of SoulPancake and Lidé that so many of my personal passions have been pulled together: comedy and spirituality, entertainment and big ideas, the arts and service to humanity. I've been blessed with these two great outlets in my life. With SoulPancake, I've been able to combine creativity, humor, and service in a tangible, impactful way and with Lidé, I've been able to use the arts to help heal, educate and transform."
While the comedic aspect might not have worked so well for me, I was moved by the story of the birth of his son, and how the process nearly killed his wife --- literally. What he describes her going through sounded eerily similar to the scenario my doctors have painted for me over the years, the very real, very scary possible outcome should I ever try to bear children. I appreciated the amount of love he shows his wife, not only in describing this challenging moment in their lives, but throughout the several years of their union.
My wife was a wonder of strength throughout this horrific ordeal. I was a total mess, and she dealt with the pain and chaos like a fighter and a saint. In fact, this seems to be the story of our relationship as a whole. You'll often find me panicked and acting like an idiot, while Holiday offers incredible perspective, shows strength in adversity, and, for some strange reason, puts up with my incessant assholery. But it is our willingness to extend ourselves to support each other's spiritual growth that has made this marriage not only survive so many ups and downs but prosper as well. And for that I am volcanically grateful.
Also included in this memoir, he shares stories such as the path leading up to the development of his inspirational media company, SoulPancake, and the international humanitarian work he and his wife have carried out over the years.
A moment of irony to end on: You know my trouble with finding the comedy in this memoir with a comedic lean? In the penultimate chapter of this book, Rainn shares a list of "Ten Things I Know For Sure", and #2 on that list? "If you think you're being funny, you're not being funny." While I had a "well lookie there" moment with that one, I wholeheartedly agree with his #7: "SUSHI IS ABOUT THE FISH, IDIOTS. Sushi is raw fish. Fresh, oily, fatty, delicate, slightly cool, thinly sliced or expertly cubed sections of the delicious nectar of the sea. That's the whole point of sushi. When you eat rolls slathered with cream cheese, fried onions, flavored mayonnaise, syrup, tempura shrimp poppers, mango chutney, and deep-fried marshmallows, you're missing the entire point of sushi and should just go eat at Applebee's™".
Amen, good sir, Amen.
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