The Gospel Coalition

After a two-year battle with pancretic cancer Patrick Swayze died exactly two weeks before the release of his memoir The Time of My Life. Interestingly, Ted Kennedy died of a similar disease at nearly the same time and also just weeks before the release of his memoir. I suppose this is notable only because both of their books ended up on the New York Times list of bestsellers and, hence, on my reading list. The Time of My Life, co-written with Swayze’s life Lisa Niemi, is a well-written, fast-paced memoir that, at just less than 250 pages is just about the right size for a quick read.

Perhaps the most notable thing about Swayze’s life was that he remained married to his wife for thirty-four years. Married when he was twenty three and she nineteen, they remained together from obscurity to the peak of fame. She was still at his side when he died. Though they endured times of pain and separation, they remained married and, as far as I know, faithful to one another. Needless to say, this cuts against the grain of Hollywood and its widespread serial monogamy. Swayze and Niemi are among the few who managed to stay together for better and worse.

Though this is mostly a “vanilla” memoir of a life known mostly for roles in film rather than any great or enduring endeavors, there was one aspect of the book that stood out to me–Swayze’s attempts to describe what it is like to be as famous as he was at the height of his fame. “It’s hard to describe exactly what it feels like to be thrust into this kind of fame, but ‘whirlwind’ comes pretty close. Everything about you is just spinning. You try to touch it, to get a grasp on it, but it just spins faster and faster. If I had found myself in the middle of something like this when I was younger, when I first came to Hollywood, it probably would have destroyed me. In many ways, dealing with fame is the purest form of dealing with your demons.” He goes on to state that “the easiest way to destroy people is to give them exactly what they want. You might not realize it at the time, but the struggle to achieve something is, in many ways, much more satisfying than actually getting it. The very act of striving is what keeps you alive, and it keeps you grounded. But then, when the thing you’ve been fighting for is suddenly in your grasp, it’s all too easy to look around and say–is that all there is?”

“Is that all there is?” That is an interesting question from a man who very suddenly found himself achieving exactly what he had set out to achieve. He had found international fame, he was the sexiest man in the world, he was the envy of every man in America. And yet he had to wonder, “is that all there is?” Celebrities who are honest about their fame will often voice a similar question. Having given themselves to the pursuit of fame and having been thrilled by the pursuit, they are often robbed of the satisfaction they were convinced it would all bring. Those who have read the Bible and absorbed what it teaches will not be the least bit surprised.

In most ways The Time of My Life is just another celebrity memoir, right down to the seemingly-inevitable struggles with addiction (in this case, addiction to alcohol). It is not without its highlights, but on the whole it mainly describes the life of a man who was known for being known. He was gifted in many ways and had endless opportunities extended to him. He wrestled with issues of faith and found himself drawn mostly into the stream of contemporary Western-influenced Buddhism. But his greatest accomplishment, the one he will be remembered for, is likely to be Dirty Dancing. And in the end, that does not seem to be much of a legacy.

Verdict: Skip it