Review: 'Baggage,' by Alan Cumming

In general, I'm not one for celebrity memoirs, but "Baggage" captivated me from the very first sentence. (The sentence is about Lady Macbeth, and it will make you laugh.) The memoir of actor Alan Cumming — you might know him as the host of "Masterpiece Mystery!" or from "The Good Wife," but he is much, much more than that — is, at turns, heartbreaking, infuriating, hilarious and tender. All written in Cumming's chatty, confessional and rather adorable voice (lots of exclamation points), which makes it particularly painful when he writes about the sadistic abuse of his father, of whom he was terrified. And who, my God, later in life he confronted. Cumming is one of those people, apparently, who can do anything, and so at 16 he became a journalist, and excelled at it, but it was acting that had his heart. The memoir focuses primarily on his work as an actor; the many, many people he worked with (it's packed with famous names), and his painful growth from a person unhappily married to a woman to a person blissfully married to a man. There are no apologies here, even as Cumming writes about his drug use, infidelity and a whole host of tragic-from-the-get-go relationships. And it's that unabashed, contented tone that makes this book remarkable. He wasn't always happy, not by a long shot, and he tells us so with courage. But he is happy now, and that makes all the difference.

Baggage

By: Alan Cumming.

Publisher: Dey Street, 270 pages, $27.99.