My young years

Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: Although I sometimes wonder how much of the book is fiction, I think the book is an incredible blend of Rubenstein's personal life with his public career. I literally could not put the book down. The book allowed me to put a personal life with the public figure and recordings that I have of him.

Rubenstein has a very flowing, easy-to-read writing style and includes details that made me feel like I actually met him and the people he knew. Like all great autobiographies that I read, this one made me want to know what happened to some of the people he met.

I was **very** disappointed when I finished the book and yearned for more information about his life. It was only when I came across the title on Amazon.com that I found he wrote another autobiography. I can't wait to buy it.

I first read the book when I was in college in about 1974. I couldn't put the book down. At the time Rubenstein was the greatest in my mind. I later bought a copy of the book at a used book store in Sonoma Valley.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: Terrific -- and it sounds like it really was written by Arthur (Artur?) himself. It's almost diary-like in its detail, and everything is fascinating. We get a lot of juicy personal stuff, including love-life stuff and, on the other side of the coin, his young failed attempt at suicide. My own favorite part of the book is his very detailed reminiscence of the piano competition that he entered, and LOST; what's interesting is how this great, beloved, infinitely-accomplished pianist and man-of-the-world apparently never lost his hurt and bitterness over this stupid competition -- kind of like if Derek Jeter or Barry Bonds went on and on about the time they got shafted by an umpire in Little League. I don't mean this as a criticism of him; if anything, the opposite -- it's an example of how much he was just like the rest of us, which probably was a big part of why we loved him so much.

Rating:
Summary: I can't believe I'm the FIRST to review this book!
Review: Terrific -- and it sounds like it really was written by Arthur (Artur?) himself. It's almost diary-like in its detail, and everything is fascinating. We get a lot of juicy personal stuff, including love-life stuff and, on the other side of the coin, his young failed attempt at suicide. My own favorite part of the book is his very detailed reminiscence of the piano competition that he entered, and LOST; what's interesting is how this great, beloved, infinitely-accomplished pianist and man-of-the-world apparently never lost his hurt and bitterness over this stupid competition -- kind of like if Derek Jeter or Barry Bonds went on and on about the time they got shafted by an umpire in Little League. I don't mean this as a criticism of him; if anything, the opposite -- it's an example of how much he was just like the rest of us, which probably was a big part of why we loved him so much.