The stated primary purpose of Joe Pantoliano’s second memoir, Asylum: Hollywood Tales From My Great Depression—Brain Dis-ease, Recovery, And Being My Mother’s Son is “to eliminate the shame” for anyone afraid to admit they have a mental problem and need professional help. The character actor known for roles from The Goonies to The Sopranos states that his clinical-depression diagnosis puts him in the same category as Lincoln (“That’s why Lincoln’s words made me happy. I recognized myself in them”) and “our greatest actors.” After listing famous fellow sufferers, Pantoliano says “I could feel myself in them, in their pain,” obliterating the distinction between offering himself as a relatable survivor for people with mental problems, and simple self-aggrandizement.
In spite of those putatively noble intentions, much of Asylum is stream-of-consciousness memoir, peppered with anecdotes both interesting (Pantoliano’s early industry days, being mentored by Robert Wagner ...
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