The Pursuit of Happyness
by Chris Gardner
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Book Reviews of The Pursuit of Happyness
Book Review: Perserverance over Layers of Adversity
Summary: 5 Stars
The book follows the real-life story of Chris Gardner, a self-made entrepreneuer and investor, as he perserveres over a multitude of personal, social, psychological, and financial obstacles. The book presents Gardner's thoughts, raw emotions, and intepretations as the incidents are revealed from his memory.
The first act was a bit slow but captured the familial themes that motivate him in the latter portion of his life. Chris's step-father was verbally and physically abusive both to him and his mother. His mother was loving yet not always available due to run-in with the law. These circumstances cement Chris's desire to be a good parent for his son later on in his life. The second act presents Chris's self-awareness as a racial minority in California and a stint within the Navy. Throughout the latter Acts, Chris overindulges in various temptations that ultimately leads him to descend into a situation of being a single, black father living in poverty.
I feel this review wouldn't be complete without a comparison to the Will Smith movie. The movie covers only the latter adult portion of Gardner's life. The movie a good in its own right for presenting a character inspired and determined to overcome a row of circumstancial obstacles. However, the movie suffers from too many Hollywood cliches, too much insertion of grim comic relief (showing Gardner run frantically around San Francisco after thieves who steal his products) and most importantly inserted a messianic portrayal of Gardner as opposed to the real, aspiring but flawed portrayal in the book.
While I acknowledge its difficult to provide this much depth in a 2-hour film, I feel this skewed portrayal of Chris as some sort of ultimate role model waters down the message present in the book. Chris, while a good and decent man and father, admits he has cheated on his wife, has experimented with drugs. Nonetheless, Chris's thoughts exemplify a sharp individual who sees the forest for the trees, knows how to think outside the box, and doesn't allow certain personal or business relationships hinder his own success. Gardner's confidence in himself, his ability to learn new trades and skills under constraints demonstrate qualities that identify Chris as a leader who can inspire others regardless of their own circumstances. I was rather impressed and inspired by Chris's ability to bear and dismiss pessimistic stress-inducing rhetoric from his pampered, sheltered co-workers, manipulative employers, and racists clients in order to succeed as a stock broker.
Many of the readers who rate this book poorly due to the personal decision Gardner made in his own life have missed the essence of the autobiography. Gardner openly acknowledges that he made many selfish and wreckless mistakes in his life from start to finish. Even I will agree that Gardner makes many personal decisions during his ascension to wealth that I would probably never consider. However, the story of this book is Gardner's ability to combine heart, determination, and wits in order to escape the wilderness and pursue a life, vision, and positive sphere of influence within his own community. This valuable message is one I will never forget, which is why I highly recommend this book for others who want to put their own problems in perspective.
Book Review: Unimpressed and Uninspired!
Summary: 1 Stars
***This is a discussion about certain points in the book, and may be considered to some a spoiler, so please do not read if you want to remain surprised about the book's high points and/or outcome.***
I expected to read this book and feel inspired by the obstacles that were overcome by Chris Gardner as he rose from a poverty-stricken child living the hard knock life to a successful adult with many moral achievements. However, this was not the case. Shortly into the book, I came to realize that most of Mr. Gardner's problems were self-created. Sure, his upbringing was a contributory factor to some of his issues. But mostly, he made some very bad choices that resulted in some very bad outcomes.
First, I disliked how he constantly put his mother, the woman who allowed herself and her children to be beaten time and time again by her husband, on a pedastool. This was a woman who went to prison twice, once for welfare fraud and once for attempted murder, yet we are to believe she was the epitomy of moral conscience? In all fairness, it is respectable that Mr. Gardner continued to idolize his mother, even after his rough childhood and the abuse to which he was subjected at home. However, this woman exemplified so many reasons why she was the complete opposite of an ideal role model for a child.
Second, I thought it extremely irresponsible of Mr. Gardner to discuss not being able to afford to put food on the table for his wife and child some days, and in the next sentence to talk about getting high with his buddies to "take the edge off". Certainly the drugs were not always free. Was he spending the family's grocery money on drugs?
Third, I disliked how he rationalized listening to jokes containing the infamous "N" word from the rich oil tycoon, simply because this same man was fattening his pockets at the time. This tells the world that such a situation is acceptable, so long as someone benefits enough to overlook the insulting word. I also found it absolutely disgusting how Mr. Gardner, immediately upon hearing of this oil tycoon's death, sold every bit of stock in the man's portolio, even though he himself admitted that all stock sales should immediately halt once an estate is in probate. Mr. Gardner stated that the oil tycoon, in the days before his death, had requested that all of his portfolio assets be liquidated (never mind the history of 30-35% capital gains), and that Mr. Gardner was only carrying out his final "orders". I call Mr. Gardner's bluff on this one - he sold that stock just to make a final commission. Mr. Gardner showed a true lack of ethics in this situation.
Finally, and most disturbing, was how Mr. Gardner sent his son to live with Jackie after she had already once abandoned the child. She had proven herself once to be an unfit mother, yet Mr. Gardner sent his son across the country to live with her after he starting achieving personal financial success in Chicago. If his main concern was the welfare of his child, why did he not keep little Chris with him?
Overall, I am completely dissapointed with this book. Mr. Gardner may be hailed as a hero to some, but he is most certainly not a hero to me.
Book Review: The Pursuit of Happyness Book Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Lauren 4/31/07
The Pursuit of Happyness, By,Chris Gardner, ISBN-13:978-0-06-074487-8
ISBN-10:0-06-074487-1
What are the odds of a person who is desperate,pennyless,and, nearly homeless become to be a person who turned out to be a husband, father, and multimillion-dollar stockbroker? All he had to do was to listen to his heart and he pursued his dream. Would you imagine the world today if not everyone but majority of them would pursue their happiness as Chris Garnder did?
Chris Gardner was a man with many goals in life. But when he was little he had very little. Chris lived with his mom, three sisters, and stepdad in a cramped, worn-down, and rumpled apartment in San Francisco. Throughout his elementary and highschool years he has been abused by his stepdad, Freddy. Chris and his mom would always catch Freddy coming home drunk. Chris would always witness them verbally arguing and continously cursing at eachother back and forth. Right there I knew that Chris didn't deserve all of this. Finally, after his highschool years Chris left and went to serve for the Navy. He travelled around the world, meet new people who became his friends or enemies. Chris soon realized that joining the Navy didn't seem to make him happy. He knew that there was another path for him to pursue. That path lead him somewhere. It led him to meet the woman of his dreams. Chris was going to become a father. But after years of struggle for saving money he had to live on the street with his son, while his wife moved on.
Chris made a vow that no matter what happened in his life, he would be a committed father to his baby boy. After many challenges of living on the streets he continued his pursuit of happiness. One day on Wall Street Chris' life will soon change. He found a career that would make him happy, a stockbroker. Making millions of money a year. Chris and his son will no longer have to stay on the street because they can afford to buy a house. But being a stockbroker takes a lot of hard work. Chris has to commit everything he has in order to be chosen to the stockbroker of Dean Witters out of 30 people. Will Chris Gardner get the job and pursue his dream? You must read The Pursuit of Happyness to find out.
The Pursuit of Happyness is a nonfiction and biography. This book was phenomenal. It was an incredible and inspirational book to read. It showed me to never did up hope and always follow your dreams no matter how difficult it will be to achieve it. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs inspiration and to guide them to find their true self. This book was definitely a page-turner because it was so detailed and when you start reading it you can't stop turning the page. The plot was unbelievable because the way Freddy treated Chris was wrong. Chris and his family must of endured a lot of miserable pain throught those years.
Book Review: An inspiration for single parents - fast read
Summary: 4 Stars
Definitely buy, this is a fast read and you will be an expert on the real story before you go see the film. This is not a book for kids under 16.
Gardner with his ghostwriter tells a great story about a deprived child who strives and succeeds, keenly aware of his guardian angels in the form of gracious and intelligent individuals who step in and out of his life at the right moments. Gardner happens to be black but it is more the love and self-preservation instincts he draws from his mother and his hatred for the abuse she and the rest of the family suffer at the hands of his illiterate stepfather that form the molten core of his identity.
Don't expect Chris Gardner's book to resemble the Will Smith movie all too religiously. Many important distinctions have been smoothed over, such as Gardner's extramarital fling that leads to his becoming a father; the fact that his son is not five years old but a toddler still in diapers; the product placement of the Rubik's cube; the "unpaid" internship at Dean Witter. Did I mention he liked to smoke weed?
While Gardner's message is one of hope, not rage or vindication, you may find yourself pausing in the latter quarter of the book to wonder how deep his self-examination really went. You wonder how he reconciles the deep desire to be a model father with the deprivations and real dangers he subjected his infant son to. Or why he never secures his possessions and car from the idiot mother who stole them when she kidnapped his son. Gardner only once gets revenge, on his stepfather nemesis.
This young man had a dream that could be written off as purely materialistic, but that would ignore the fact that he had a poor family model to work from and little expectation of a warm, safe environment for his son "back home." The steep slide down to homelessness is totally plausible. Perhaps it didn't occur to him to abandon San Francisco - one of the most expensive cities on the planet - and find work somewhere he could afford an apartment, from where he could safely grow. You also have to wonder - how many people in 2006 would get away with this? Dragging your kid around from daycare to shelter and back, hanging out in the Tenderloin, while holding out hope that eventually you would strike gold?
Gardner suffers some very real trauma and is not maudlin or sentimental in his accounts. You flinch in self-defense and seethe with rage at the violence and stupidity of his mother's boyfriend. You wince at his mile-wide self-destructive streak while he rolls his eyes at his own folly, retelling his rampant sexual engagement with his mistress.
Get a copy, then lend it to a single parent you know. It's not a prizewinner but a competent auto-bio with a poor kid's version of what happiness is realized. It ain't perfect, but his heart is definitely exposed.
Book Review: Rags to Riches
Summary: 3 Stars
This autobiographical story of Chris Gardner chronicles his impoverished upbringing in Milwaukee, homelessness in San Francisco, and ultimate rise to riches through sheer determination and hard work.
Gardner's childhood was wracked with the violence and abuse of a step father who routinely verbally and physically abused their family. He found some solace in learning through reading books at the library. He ran with various crowds as a youth and generally stayed out of trouble.
After finishing high school, he went on to enlist in the Navy having heard exciting stories from his uncle of traveling overseas. However, the majority of his time in the Navy was spent as a medic stationed at a Marine military base in the States. Through his solid work as a medic he was introduced to a leading surgeon who opened a research clinic in San Francisco and asked Gardner to join him there.
He helped with the surgeon's research and was respected as a very knowledgeable expert in training medical interns on surgical techniques. He eventually married and after prodding from his wife sought higher pay through a medical sales job. After several years of marriage he had an affair which resulted in the birth of his son and breakup of his marriage. He continued the sales job for a short period of time until meeting a stockbroker with a nice car and decided to change careers.
The internship offered a very low stipend and he was forced to live out of motels, homeless shelters, and sometimes sleep on trains or public restrooms. His tenacity at the internship as well as commitment to study resulted in passing the securities examine required to be a stockbroker and ultimate hiring at Dean Witter.
He then went on to build a portfolio of business first in San Francisco then working on Wall Street. Currently he owns his own investment company based out of Chicago and has a net worth estimated upwards of $60 million.
I first read the book and then saw the movie and though the book offered a good story of honest hard work the movie in this case had a better feel good aspect to it. The movie covers only about a third of the book and focuses on the positive elements of Gardner's relationship with his son and pure determination in reaching his goals. The book in contrast incorporates a generous amount of profanity and detailed descriptions of his promiscuous behavior. While overall I would recommend the book as a good read, a cautionary note should be kept in mind regarding the "adult" elements of the book.