Review: “Total Recall”

When it was revealed that Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to release an autobiography, the word that stuck out in the media was “tell-all”. Of course, this refers to the very public breakup of his marriage to political icon Maria Shriver following true accusations that he fathered a child with the couple’s nanny. While many knee-jerk reactions labeled Arnold as a “macho sexist with no respect for his wife”, it seemed fitting that he would have to spend some time to craft a response.

“Total Recall”, thankfully, only dedicates a few pages to the entire ordeal. The term “tell-all” is inappropriate. As the cover says, this is Arnold’s “incredible true story”. From growing up as a youngster in remote Austria, to climbing up the budding body-building circuit, to his kick-ass movie career, to his governorship of the mighty state of California, “Total Recall” has pretty much all of it covered.

Reading the book’s table of contents reveals them to be a timeline of these events. Arnold mostly sticks to the script to detailing how he rose to power. At face value, it feels like a super-extended Barbara Walters  interview.

Luckily, there are some anecdotes and plenty of interesting pictures littered throughout. While the picture grouping is pleasant enough to provide a break from the book itself, the anecdotes are few and far between. For instance, Arnold talks about how legendary comedian Milton Berle helped teach him the American sense of humor that he’d use in his classic movie one-liners. But Arnie doesn’t detail what he learned from Berle well enough. It almost feels like a name drop.

The book does do a good job of balancing the glitz and glamour of Hollywood life along with the later troubles Arnold would have as governor. His insight into how he earned money through real estate early on to how he became a better negotiator in Californian congress were interesting to learn about. And while he dedicates most of his book about his movie career, it only seems like he’s describing how it progressed without stopping for more details. (His comments on James Cameron were nice though.)

Is this book an action fan’s dream? Or is it just talk show fodder? Interestingly enough, it’s neither. Big time fans of Arnold will be interested to learn about his life. It’s “unbelievable” as the cover states. If only Arnold injected a little more personality.

[rating=3]