Scandalands – Kyle Sandilands
Goodreads rating: 4 (37 ratings)
My rating: 6/10
Why it’s on the list: For those of you who aren’t from Australia, Kyle Sandilands is a ‘shock jock’ on the radio who most people despise and he often wins ‘biggest wanker of the year’ awards. I’m not a huge fan of Kyle’s but was interested in his life, so on the list it went!
First published: November 1st, 2012 by Pan Australia
Genre: Autobiography
If you don’t know who Kyle is, or any of the scandals that have littered his career, then there’s no point in reading this book.
However, if you hate Kyle, or love Kyle, I’d recommend it purely for the fact that it gives a little bit more information to the stories, and actually makes Kyle seem half human, rather than all monster.
It starts with his childhood in Brisbane, where by the age of 15 he was homeless and living under some boxes behind a store. I felt so sad for him, and if you consider that’s where he was 30 years ago, he has come an awfully long way to being a millionaire, successful radio personality.
We then get to read about all his various jobs in radio. Growing up he had 2 passions in life – the police force, and radio – and radio is the one he pursued. He goes through multiple jobs, gets fired and quits in multiple different ways, and loves every minute of it.
He gives away a few juicy secrets too. However, his ex-wife has tweeted “Wow … just read ’Scandalands’ who knew I would take up half a book with stuff I didn’t even know about my own past life” (Source). This surprised me because he says how they’re still friends, however there are always two sides to the story.
Scandalands is not well written, does not use sophisticated language, and is a basic and easy read, but those are the exact reasons why I’d recommend this book as a light-hearted, quick read. Also, I personally love the fact that most autobiography’s have photos inside, and thankfully so does this book – it’s pretty interesting to see the ‘most hated man in radio’ as a youngster.
-H-
Fascinating! As you say, I’d never heard of this guy, but he’s taken the long and winding road to success, which makes for an interesting autobiography. Love the tidbit about his ex!
I felt the same way reading Simon Pegg’s autobiography and Russell Brand’s first, as well.
Would love to read Simon Pegg’s will have to put that on the list. Russell Brand’s annoyed me. I love him, and think he’s done so well to be where he is, but I just remember reading it and being irritated!
Thanks for taking the time to read this Vickie, considering you don’t even know who he is!