From Under the Truck

A Memoir

By: Josh Brolin

Narrated by: Josh Brolin

“Josh Brolin’s out to catch his breath between the slant-eyed suggestions and irrefutable evidence of his past. He hears voices, and he listens, reminding us with brutal honesty that our surroundings were never there to be carried, rather woven into the fabric of the freedom to be who we are.”—Matthew McConaughey

From Josh Brolin, a unique and decidedly un-celebrity memoir, by turns affecting, funny, uncanny, and unforgettable—read by the author, this edition features exclusive intro and outro music by Chris Stapleton.

Weaving a latticework of different strands, moving back and forth through time, Josh Brolin captures a life marked by curiosity, pain, devotion, kindness, humor. He recounts an unconventional childhood far from Hollywood. Raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, he was surrounded as a child by the wolves, cougars, and other wild animals gathered by his fearless and explosive mother, Jane Agee Brolin. Her tragic, early death haunts this book, and the force of her unforgettable personality is felt throughout. Brolin also brings to life his career in the film industry—from his breakout role in The Goonies to the set of No Country for Old Men—and the professional and personal ups and downs in between and since. With unflinching honesty but also great humor, he shares insights into relationships, addiction, love, and fatherhood, while letting the white space in between words speak for itself. Grappling with the mysteries of life and death in a way that will catch readers by surprise, From Under the Truck is an audacious and riveting memoir from a born writer.

All over the place

I was really excited to listen to this book. However, I found it so hard to follow as it skipped around from year to year. I never really knew where he was in the time frame of his life and also who he was referring to when he told a story.

Brolin is...

When Josh made his acting "comeback" the common refrain in America was along the lines of "He plays such a great manly man. Real gritty vibes. He's got that look." You would be forgiven in thinking he simply aged into the roles he's since made iconic. That he had merely been puttering around town running your same sort of errands while a bored Hollywood agent dusted off a headshot and decided to check in.

The reality of his life, since Goonies, would have buried most men. It did just that to the majority of his childhood friends. The grit and torture on his face, that continues to capture the imagination of audiences, is almost certainly something he wishes he had not needed to earn. The cost of "the look" is a price most sensible people would never ever want to pay. These stories are wild and humbling.

Literature wise, Brolin delivers the prose! I'm very impressed with the scenes and pictures he paints of his life. Having learned Josh filled over 90 journals, it shows. He communicates in metaphors that would make even Hunter give the floor. I might go as far as to say Brolin is a uniquely generational storyteller, emphasizing 'unique'. You can feel that this is his authentic soul he was willing to slice open and serve it to all of us tartare in the brine it's been sloshing around and fermenting in for fifty years. It is a wild flavor and you won't taste anything like it anywhere else.

Really hoped for more of a story.

I found the book interesting for the most part, but I am not a fan of how it was put together, I didn’t like the jumping back & forth, and the parts that had nothing really to do (in my opinion) with what he was saying at the time, I wanted to hear more about his career and personal life, the book does go into that, but I thought the format would be better, and I really like him as an actor, however, I do wish they would have had a different narrator, to me the reading lacked emotion, or something, I guess for lack of a better term. And way too much, I guess “Descriptive Writing”.

Beautiful

I loved this book and being able to take a step into your mind and the way you think I wish it didn’t have to end

The honesty in his voice

Sometimes I was confused if it was a story about him or just a story