- Published: 1 July 2015
- ISBN: 9780099287568
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 288
- RRP: $39.99
Charlie Chaplin
- Published: 1 July 2015
- ISBN: 9780099287568
- Imprint: Vintage
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 288
- RRP: $39.99
This biography is like the wedge the Little Tramp liberates from beneath a docked ocean liner in Modern Times: it starts a thing of unstoppable momentum
Monocle
Compact, engrossing, intelligent
John Carey, Sunday Times
Chaplin's rise makes an enthralling story, and it's one perfectly suited to Peter Ackroyd's prodigious and idiosyncratic talents... Ackroyd acknowledges Chaplin's many human failings, while at the same time giving us a vivid sense of what made the man a genius
Lucy Hughes-Hallett, The Telegraph
Ackroyd digs deeply at the roots of a man who was a century ago the most famous person on the planet... bringing vividly to life the dark Victorian streets of south London
Gerard Henderson, Daily Express
Ackroyd brings a novelist's as well as a biographer's eye to the story of a man who "seemed to epitomise the human condition itself, flawed and frail and funny"
Independent
Perceptive and judicious
Rupert Christiansen, Literary Review
Writing at an energetic lick, Peter Ackroyd examines this glittering but tragic life with the cool detachment of a psychiatrist or judge. In his powers of insight, and agility in making his connections, he's second to none
Maggie Fergusson, Intelligent Life
Illuminating and timely... Ackroyd has written a model biography, as crisp and succinct as a Chaplin two-reeler
Standpoint
A beautifully judged book, driven by a powerful sense of life’s sadness
Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
[A] fine biography… The luxury of a short book about a vast life cannot be overestimated
Susie Boyt, Financial Times
[Ackroyd] brings his usual colour to a black and white world
Mark Smith, Herald
Ackroyd deserves uncompromising praise... Unputdownable
Illtyd Harrington, Camden New Journal
Ackroyd has turned in the best account of Chaplin's formation beneath the teetering chimney stacks of Victorian London, fragrant with the odours of dung, smoke and beer... Ackroyd is just the man to puncture the whoppers with which Chaplin embroidered his past, without being too much of a scold
Tom Shone, New Statesman
Ackroyd's analysis of the Tramp... is brilliant and unsparing... Wonderful stuff
Simon Callow, Guardian
A concise and balanced portrait
Brendan Daly, Sunday Business Post
An engaging biography that will enrich your subsequent viewings of Charlie Chaplin's films… Will satisfy fans old and new
Dave Lancaster, Cinemas Online
A beautifully written synthesis of the most important elements of Chaplin’s long career and his significance as an international figure… Hopefully this book will bring Charlie Chaplin the wider love and acclaim that he richly deserves
Vanessa Toulmin, BBC History Magazine
Haunting... Brilliant and unsparing
Simon Callow, Guardian
Compelling account of how Chaplin rose from poverty to be one of the most influential figures of the 20th century
Reader’s Digest
Ackroyd brings a sense of Chaplin as a man
Good Book Guide
Ackroyd paints a moving portrait of Chaplin’s final years… But it’s those early scenes of poverty and squalor in Victorian London that linger in the reader’s mind, as they did in Chaplin’s own
David Evans, 5 stars, Independent on Sunday
Brilliant
Martin Townsend, Sunday Express