Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies
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Average rating3.7
Now a major motion picture starring Jim Parsons! A “heartbreaking but surprisingly hilarious memoir” (People) about the lessons, love, and laughter of the fourteen years a respected TV columnist shared with his late husband before he succumbed to cancer. For over a decade, TV fans have counted upon Michael Ausiello’s insider knowledge to get the scoop on their favorite shows and stars. From his time at Soaps In Depth and Entertainment Tonight to his influential stints at TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly to his current role as cofounder of the wildly popular website TVLine, Michael has established himself as the go-to expert when it comes to our most popular form of entertainment. What many of his fans don’t know, however, is that while his professional life was in full swing, Michael had to endure the greatest of personal tragedies: his longtime boyfriend, Kit Cowan, was diagnosed with a rare and very aggressive form of neuroendocrine cancer. Over the course of eleven months, Kit and Michael did their best to combat the deadly disease, but Kit succumbed to his illness in 2015. In this heartbreaking and darkly hilarious memoir, Michael tells the story of his harrowing and challenging last year with Kit while revisiting the thirteen years that preceded it, and how the undeniably powerful bond between him and Kit carried them through all manner of difficulties—always with laughter front and center in their relationship. “Engrossing, poignant, tragic, and hilarious” (Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies is “a story about love and loss, joy and heartbreak. And in the midst of personal turmoil, we learn that bravery comes in many forms” (The Washington Post).
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Spoiler Alert: This book did nothing for me
When reading the account of a man's husband dying of cancer within a year of being diagnosed, you know you are not letting yourself in for a light read. Written by popular TV news blogger Michael Ausiello, ‘Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies' is the tragic story of the final year of his husband Kit Cowan's life. As a fan of his TV reporting and after reading positive reviews for this book, I unfortunately came away from the experience unmoved and uninterested.
First of all, I am not a monster. It is obviously a very sad story and what Ausiello went through would push most people to the limit. After losing his parents at a relatively young age and then to watch his boyfriend, and later husband, slowly die from cancer is more than anyone should have to endure. My issue is more with the writing style and lack of editing of his account.
The relationship Michael and Kit had before the diagnosis was no fairytale. Kit was a serial cheater and had in fact moved to a separate apartment a few months before his terminal diagnosis. The pair were regular visitors of a couples counsellor for over a decade. This is not a judgement on their relationship or actions, but the knowledge of this made it harder to invest in their relationship and to swallow the great swathes of the book where they are referring to each other with cringe-worthy pet names like ‘Poopiedoops' (‘Peepiedoops' also makes an appearance, the origin of which was stomach-churningly embarrassing).
Ausiello's breezy, informal use of language is fine when recapping the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy but for a whole book it quickly became grating. An overuse of tiresome Americanisms like the ‘hellacious' traffic on the way to the hospital and how the news of Kit's cancer spreading ‘really blows' elicited a series of eye-rolls.
The biggest problem I had with the book is the lack of editing. The frequency that the minutiae of their Starbucks orders, favourite cereal bar flavours and soft drinks of choice appeared throughout the book became almost laughable. Similarly, the names of friends who came to visit Kit are exhaustively listed, often to then be never mentioned again. I also felt the content itself was sometimes questionable, with details of their sex life and Kit's habits such as collecting soap bars if they had pubic hairs that looked like letters on them (I wish I was making that up), adding nothing to the story.
The relationship between Michael and Kit's parents makes for uncomfortable reading, the account of the first time Michael meets Kit's mother paints him in a very unfavourable light. When Michael is reading Kit's eulogy, it's easy to see why Kit's parents are slightly frosty with him. I had in fact seen it mentioned in another review how inappropriate the eulogy was, which I have to agree with. He repeatedly calls Kit a ‘c*nt', reasoning that it was Kit's favourite word. It seems more like the kind of comment you would make amongst friends, rather than with his ageing aunts and parents looking on.
My emotional response was minimal by the conclusion of the book, as I found both of them quite unlikable. I admire Michael Ausiello for sharing his deeply personal story, but this book is not one I would recommend.
