Insight into the comedian we knew and shed light on things we might not have known. If you admired the comedian and want to know more, give this a read.

Robin Williams was a man that I loved, I admired. He made me laugh. Made me cry. He was the reason I became an English major because I wanted to teach like the dead poets society. I loved the genie. I miss him.

4 fan-tastic stars

Robin Williams made us laugh. David Itzkoff’s biography of Robin fleshed out the TV screen/ movie characters into a complex human being. From the publisher, “Drawing on more than a hundred original interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, as well as extensive archival research, Robin is a fresh and original look at a man whose work touched so many lives.”

Presented in chronological order, the stories, emotions, disappointments and accomplishments fold into this well-organized biography. The book was long but didn’t bog down because of Itzkoff’s strong, clear writing. A list of Williams’ selected works and awards avails the reader of additional material to enjoy. The end also has extensive notes, including links to videos for the reader wanting to learn more. As a protected teen, there was much I didn’t know about Robin Williams (drug and alcohol use and affairs), but everything was presented in a factual balanced way. I admired Robin Williams, but never did I want to be in his place, despite him being rich, famous and very funny. I’m glad I got to know the person and his complicated self a bit better. The many quotes from family members and stars bolster Robin’s narrative.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gripping! You just know this story is going to inspire an Oscar winning film. This book makes you feel like you really knew him.

A phenomenal book about a phenomenal man. Robin Williams brought happiness and laughter to people around the world. This biography tells us about his life - the joys, the sorrows, the complexity.

I love biographies and autobiographies. I am also a huge fan of the late Robin Williams. I am not sure why I put off reading this book for so long. Anyone who is a fan of this amazing man needs to do themselves a favor and read this book.

Itzkoff not only shows the funny man we loved but he also shows how Williams struggled mightily with addiction and depression – topics he discussed openly while performing and during interviews – and with a debilitating condition at the end of his life that affected him in ways his fans never knew. Drawing on more than a hundred original interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, as well as extensive archival research, Robin is a fresh and original look at a man whose work touched so many lives.

Amazing book!!

Robin Williams - funny, sweet, generous. Robin Williams - lost in sadness. Dave Itzkoff does a beautiful job showing his readers all sides of this iconic man that spent his life giving us himself so that we could laugh. The book made me remember so many moments of my life, and now I miss him anew.

I was a teen when he hit the airs as Mork and feel as though I grew up with him. His early humor was so silly and although I loved him even then I think I became a genuine fan when he started making the sweet and dramatic movies of the 1990s, like Dead Poets' Society, The Fisher King and Patch Adams. And then of course there was Aladdin! Nobody else could have brought that character to life in the way he did. "Oh Captain, My Captain... I miss you."

This book is quite long. It may be a bit too long, and yet I have no suggestions of what should be cut from it. Itzkoff did a very thorough job writing this one, clearly did his job researching this one and conducting interviews with Robin's family and friends. He shared with us parts of Robin's childhood, career, and adult relationships. I loved every moment.

I enjoy biographies only if they expose the heart of the person. If you come away grieving a bit. If you feel like you visited your memories of a personal friend. This one does it all.

Thank you to Dave Itzkoff, Henry Holt and Co., and Netgalley for the ARC. I apologize for failing to review it on time.

Dave Itzkoff is one of the best celebrity biographers. He presents Williams as a quiet introvert who was far too adept at being what others wanted to be, meanwhile struggling to find himself in the process. When it comes to Williams' final days Itzkoff creates a heartbreaking tale, deconstructing Williams' disorder and giving us facts in a landscape of exaggeration and half-truths. A definitive read for fans of Robin Williams!

I absolutely loved this book! Itzkoff writes in a very engaging. Interesting and well researched way. Robin's story is one that is filled with the ups and downs of a Hollywood life, but he is shown here as also being incredibly human. His story is one that will stay with me. Would highly recommend!

Robin is a biography about the late, great Robin Williams. While I enjoyed Robin and his work, I didn't really know too much about him otherwise. The book begins with how he grew up and how he always found ways to make his Mom laugh. Robin ended up lonely because his Mom would often travel with his father, leaving Robin alone. He was always very modest and didn't believe that he was worthy of the fame.

It talked about his early days in comedy and how he wouldn't stay on the stage with the mic, he would sometimes go out in to the crowd and was able to project his voice enough to let the audience hear him and keep their attention.

There are chapters devoted to some of his more successful and major movie roles as well as details of some of the awards he won - and how in 2005 he won an award and essentially announced that he was drinking again.

At the end of the book is a selected variety of the movies and other works he performed in as well as some of the awards he won. Simply an amazing mind gone far too soon.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated. This book was released May 15, 2018 from Henry Holt & Company.

This is a bittersweet biography; the author portrays Robin Williams, not as a tormented soul who ends his own life, but more as a tender man desperate for talent validation. Thoroughly enjoyable book.

Firstly, I would like to thank the publisher for allowing this book to be given out to librarians and others alike to review. It has been four years know since the passing of Robin and it still sits heavily on my mind. I wasn't sure what to think of Robin's story written by someone other than Robin; how do you trust the life story of someone told through a voice other than their own? Yet, I feel Itzkoff told us so much more than I was expecting. This wasn't just the story of Robin the actor, but also of the father, the husband, the man, the human being. I cried, I laughed, I learned and I mourned all over again. I also will admit that I actually ended up listening to this partially through audio book and it helped process this book much easier. To hear someone say Itzkoff's words made it easier to read certain parts of Robin's life. Thank you, Mr. Itzkoff. I still miss Robin and I think I always will. But it was nice to remember him.

My first thought was oh, my gosh this is so much longer than the books I've been reading lately. A few chapters in, I thought now I know why and yet I'm learning nothing about what made him, "him".

Then we got rolling and it was akin to looking back at a yearbook. Many of us grew up with him, Mork and Mindy, Popeye, sneaking in those standup records, tv spots, and videos when our parents weren't watching and we saw him evolve into movies, first comedies and then the more serious, sometimes with success and sometimes...not so much.

The book doesn't and I don't think a book could explain where he got his comedic magic from and certainly not how he kept it up during those times that he was clean and sober. It's not a fault with the book, just a warning for the reader if you, like me were hoping to be able to connect the dots. Nope.

As an alcoholic, the hardest and also most relatable portions of the book for me are the times that he is off the wagon, getting on the wagon, or has fallen so far off the wagon that his family and friends are searching the tumbleweeds for him. Fear and always feeling the need to be the center of attention are just two of the horrible monkeys one can have on your back.

Still, he made it through with some bruises until the last couple years when his health mysteriously failed. As Itzkoff makes clear, Williams major bugaboo was fear and Parkinson's or what we later found out was Lewy Body Dementia is flipping terrifying for anyone. Addicts, especially addicts trying not to use, don't deal with unknown and terrifying well at all and when you throw in dementia and the occasional loss of control of your own body, my heart goes out to him and his family.

Overall this book failed for me largely because it was missing the warmth and charm of the real Robin Williams. Much too much time was spent on his childhood and younger years, going so far as to have quotes from a 5th (?) grade "girlfriend" that did not really know him at all. I fail to see how inclusions such as this help us understand the man he was. (There were many such inclusions.)

The book felt like the author collected as many facts as he could about the man and included them ALL, editing be damned. But he ultimately failed to unveil the man within and without the facts. Are we all just composed of facts? That fails to view the person as a whole and it was obvious that the essence minus facts was missing in this one.

I also grew tired of the examination of Williams' roles, including plots and reviews and quotes from the movies and do we really need these summaries? They bogged down the narrative and were another element that really needed some editing.

I did appreciate a clearer idea of Williams' final months. For me and for many others I'm sure, his death came out of nowhere but I can see now that it was clear it was something he had been struggling with for some time.

The recent sad news that Robin Williams had taken his own life drew me to read this comprehensive account of his life. How such a talented man, so beloved by his multitude of fans, could be so troubled is hard to fathom. Reading this book helped me to understand a bit more about this complicated man, and what motivated him, although its still hard to accept that a man who brought so much happiness to so many people struggled so hard to be happy himself.
The majority of the book described in detail his life from childhood on. And quite an extraordinary life it was. He started out as the son of a wealthy family in the outskirts of Detroit, often left alone for long periods to play by himself. During this time, he began developing his skills of imagining different people and scenes and acting them out.

As his career as a comedian began to take off, he struggled to adapt to continually changing circumstances, harming some of his most important relationships in the process, and fighting against various addictions. His strong desire to be respected as a serious actor was often frustrated as he made film after film without the accolades he longed for. He was recognized for a few films, but there is a sense that this was not enough and a lifelong disappointment.

Recommended for fans of Robin Williams, this is a long and comprehensive account of his entire life that will bring you many insights into this unique and talented man.

Note: I received an advance copy of the ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

An incredibly compassionate and compelling read, Itzkoff's ROBIN was a tough one for me. I enjoyed it, but losing several incredible and vocal mental health advocates over the last few years has been rough. Itzkoff clearly made good use of a wealth of research and has given what will likely be the defining biograpy of one of America's greatest entertainers.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This was a thorough, highly readable biography of Robin Williams. There are several hundred footnotes to list all the sources Dave Itzkoff used to put together this book. He did a good job showcasing not just the Robin Williams fans knew but the shy, approval-seeking man friends and family knew. An outstanding biography of a much-loved actor, anyone who wants to know more about Robin Williams should check out this book.

I still remember how stunned I was when I heard that Robin Williams had died, and then even more shocked when it came out that he had likely died by hanging himself with a belt. It just seemed such a wretched ending for the beloved comedian who’d brought such a wonderful humor into our lives. It broke my heart and I cried for what he must have been going through. I highly enjoyed this extremely well-researched book on him.

I feel it did a great job of covering his life including his family and career. He became famous for Mork and Mindy in 1978 when I was 18, so I was quite aware of him and his show and he became one of my favorites comics. This book shares some of what was going on behind the scenes during many important times in his life and career versus what was coming out publicly.

After his death, I read more about what authorities found and I watched a show that discussed what actually killed him and was found during his autopsy. It seems he’d been misdiagnosed with Parkinsons and he was having all sorts of symptoms and health issues, including the depression he’d been bothered by off and on his whole life at times. I find the book an engrossing read as he was just so private even with those he seemed so close with and most people felt they didn’t really know him well. An advance digital copy was provided by NetGalley, author Dave Itzkoff, and the publisher for my honest review.

Henry Holt and Co.
Publication date: May 15, 2018.

Sensitive, compassionate portrayal of Robin Williams. Input from his friends, particularly Billy Crystal, made for a very humanizing portrait of a larger than life personality.

Robin Williams was an amazing man. This book captures his essence. It's lengthy, but I wanted to read every word. I'm shocked by how much is in here about Robin. It helped me feel even closer to him than I already was. Growing up watching this fabulous mind was a pleasure and reading this helps since we can no longer enjoy the man that was Robin Williams.

Phenomenal read. Plan to buy just so I can read it again and again.