if you've read the book aswell- why not send in your thoughts about it too? email your Feel reviews to us!
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I have just read the book Feel. It was very moving to read about his struggle with his depression and his addictions.
I have a family member that has clinical depression and i have seen the pain they go through, the look in their eyes. I think so many people dont realise that being a star having money, cars etc arent everything you need to be happy.
A lot of the book seems to show how Robbie would like to settle down for the long haul and Ii personally would love to see that happen.
I would just like to say that the book was a super read and how nice it was to see someone sharing their problems even if in our society they are frowned upon.
Some days will be better than others but keep your chin up and stand up tall you have a lot to be proud of and most of all congrats for getting through everything you have been through.
Reviewer- Carrie
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I've just read the book in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. I have seen him in a new light. A bit naughty really!
Anyway like he says he is single, so what. I was laughing my head off in places, he's really quick and witty. But it was such an eye opener to read exactly what goes on in Rob's life. Manic or what.
The fact that he is almost scared to go out to places, I thought he was so confident, but he shocked me to how insecure and worried he is all the time.
He really does have to contend with some crap though. I feel for him, his life is so complicated. I suppose aside from all the bad stuff the good stuff must be great, which is really what the book showed us.
Great Book.
Reviewer- Helen M Davies
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Never really thought of myself as a Robbie fan, although I've bought most of his stuff, not out of intention to support him personally, just out of a love of his tunes!
I was bought this book for christmas along with Frank Skinner, but after reading a third of skinner I discarded it as boring and predictable!
I started Feel and couldn't put it down! I found the insight into the world of Robbie Williams absolutely fascinating.
It appears a very frank account of a period in time between a group of friends. Hilarious, touching, unpredictable!
If the real Robbie Williams is anything like the person portrayed in this book, he's sound!
And I have to say it.... A damn sight funnier than Frank Skinner!
Sally - Leicester
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Just finished the book. Great read; it had me laughing one minute, to being worried the next. Well written, can't wait for the next installment in the Robbie series.
The music scene without one Robbie Williams to enliven it up doesn't bear thinking about. From cd's, books, video's to the live performance there is nobody like him and certainly nobody to touch him either.
Susie - Dorset UK
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Mark Righter sent in this very long (we're not complaining!) review.....
"Feel - Robbie Williams" is NOT a biography. It's definitely NOT an autobiography as some papers have misreported.
In fact, it's a sorta fly-on-the-wall documentary account of two years of Robbie's life - from summer 2002 to summer 2004 - by writer (and friend I guess) Chris Heath, who sat around, as Rob's house-guest, simply recording what went on.
Watching every move he could... and taping it... and now, in this book, reporting it. Mostly the book consists of overheard conversations: Robbie talking to himself , Rob chatting with his close minders about reasons/the past/memories/football/opinions, Rob's anecdotes and musings about past incidents/embarrassments/drug life, lots of dialogue, a little description, some attempt to put stuff in context.
Short, bite-size moments of life and musings. And that's all. No whingy in-depth interviews (though there are a few intimate moments), no big revelations, and maybe - which will disappoint some fans - no real EXPLANATION of who Robbie Williams is and how he came to be one huge superstar.
It's just
well, a picture of Robbie.
Things You Never Find Out in This Book
How he feels about Nicole, Geri, Rachel - or any girlfriend really. No revelations on that front.
Why he has so many tattoos.
Why he teases the press about his sexuality so much. (He's straight)
We see Robbie bored in hotels. Backstage at big award ceremonies. Bored at home in LA. Searching through his old childhood box of memories at his mum's. Sitting about scratching himself with no clothes on. Writing songs in a small studio. On the way to Knebworth in the helicopter. Chatting about mad, inane stuff with his minders and sometimes Jonny (Wilkes) or his Dad or Mum. Changing his mind about everything - sometimes in the same day. Dribbling milk at breakfast. Going from fear to exaltation over the last concert/interview. Getting worked up about the latest hate-figure in his mind (a Gallagher, a Barlow, Guy Chambers).
Petulant, boastful, obsessive, farting an awful lot, hating the stalkers, hating the paparazzi, taking the fans-who-will up to his room as often as he can. Wondering what to do over a girl he's had up to this room. Not taking drugs, not drinking (remembering it though).
You also see a guy who's so funny that only someone else from Stoke on Trent (which I am) would laugh, cos it's that witty, off-this-planet stuff that only Stokies understand. Someone whose sense of irony makes him ironic about being ironic. Someone who just can't be arsed - but who then can get angry & passionate about small things AND big things ( again, that is very Stokie somehow).
Someone who has the sense to think Bono is the closest thing to perfect. Someone who doesn't understand how he got where he is; but is now sure he SHOULD be here.
Confused?
Quotes from This Book
"I think people who are famous and over-examined often also just want to see some truth about themselves - so that, for once, when they see themselves reflected back in their own direction, they can at least recognise what they see or hear". Chris Heath "He's always playing up whatever might seem insincere, and smuggling away the fundamental sincerity of what he does. Whereas most entertainers are constantly trying to make what they do seem more sincere than it is, he is actually trying to disguise what he does as less sincere than what it is". Chris Heath "When I'm awake, I don't want to go to sleep. I don't want the hassle of turning the light off, putting my head don and then all the thoughts. I don't want al those thoughts.
thoughts feed on thoughts feed on thoughts feed on thoughts feed on thoughts and I'm: I don't want this. I have to knock myself out to go to sleep" Robbie
If the truth is there - and I guess it probably is - you're going to have to have to get your maths-homework-head on and work it out for yourself.
This is a Robbie reality shot , which is good - because you, the reader, are going to get the evidence served up for you, on a plate, by Chris Heath. Undiluted (much).
But.
When it comes to deducing or figuring out or getting answers from that evidence .... you'll have to do that all that for yourself. Good luck.
The most interesting aspect of the book for me? Robbie's problem with "cool" bands.
He meets up with Coldplay during the book, and gets on okay with Chris artin. But he's perturbed, angry, even upset... that he is not seen as "cool".
But who says he's not seen as cool? Chris Martin? Nope, it's... Robbie himself.
And, what does that mean about how he sees his talent, songs, persona, future?
I dunno. See, the evidence does take some working out, doesn't it?
Second most interesting?
Robbie is often just slightly in left-field. He's might be conversing, but the other person in the conversation is often puzzled, cos Robbie's also running in a parallel conversation as well as this one. He's not drugged up (says Chris Heath), though it could be the anti-depressant pills(?) make him a bit less focussed? Well, maybe, but what's really happening?
I think this parallel thinking is a clue to his creativity - and his sense that that all this fame and success should happen to him is actually a bit weird -, and if you could find out really what was happening in his parallel thought processes, you'd have the key to the Robster.
Well, the beginnings of a key.
To Understand Robbie, Understand This
Robbie, it says in the book, would ENJOY wearing a T-shirt showing the 4-person line-up Take That had after he left the band!
think it's a stunningly good book.
Rob's life is pretty boring in reality. He's got all he can eat, he's never cold, and people love him. But in case you think that might be fun, this book disabuses you of that.
Yes indeed, he is like the battery chicken, cooped up in a fiercely hot warehouse, with other crazy chickens around him, fed all day and constantly monitored by people who watch anxiously to die he doesn't sicken (like farmers who want to fatten you up!)
And, quietly, without fuss, like the eye of an unblinking (though sometimes sympathetic) camera, Chris Heath just writes it all down.
Sounds simple.
But simplicity can be very hard to do - and CH does it very well.
Thinking of being a journalist yourself?
The bits about how the tabloids create "true" stories are hilarious. Chris Heath describes how the "stories" happen, (dispassionately and with nice attention to details)... and you just gasp at how The Sun etc can get away with what they do.
For myself, I think it's pretty brave that Rob has allowed this to happen.
Not many people - you and me included - would be able to cope with a writer watching our every move and mercilessly recording it. He/the book allows us to see the petty, bitchy, arrogant side of creativity - not fun to see, very brave to show it
The great English dictator, Oliver Cromwell, was having his portrait painted and the painter asked him if he'd prefer the end-result to be, well, flattering. Poor Oliver had some fat ugly growths on his face, and the painter was trying to be kind. Oliver exploded. No way, he was reported to have said. His response was .... "paint me - warts and all!"
In this book you get to see Robbie's, er, warts, whether you want to or not.
Mark Righter
REVIEWS
Albums | | 2005 | Intensive Care | | | 2004 | Greatest Hits | | | 2003 | Robbie Williams Live at Knebworth | | | 2003 | Escapology | | | 2003 | ...Me and My Monkey | | | 2001 | Swing When You're Winning | | | 2000 | Sing When You're Winning | | | 1998 | I've Been Expecting You | | | 1997 | Life Thru A Lens | | | DVDs | | 2003 | The Robbie Williams Show - on DVD | | | Books | | 2004 | Feel | | | Concerts | | 2003 | Knebworth | | | Singles | | 2005 | Tripping | | | 2004 | Misunderstood | | | 2004 | Radio | | | 2003 | Something Beautiful | | | 2003 | Come Undone | | | 2002 | Feel | | | 2002 | The Coppice Charity CD - Rock DJ | | | 2001 | Something Stupid | | | 2001 | Eternity/ The Road to Mandalay | | | 2001 | Let Love Be Your Energy | | | 2000 | Supreme | | | 2000 | Kids [duet with Kylie Minogue] | | | 2000 | Rock DJ | | | 1999 | She's The One/ It's Only Us | | | 1998 | Strong | | | 1998 | No Regrets | | | 1998 | Millennium | | | 1998 | Let Me Entertain You | | | 1997 | Angels | | | 1997 | South Of The Border | | | 1997 | Lazy Days | | | 1997 | Old Before I Die | | | 1996 | Freedom | |
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Robbie songwriting! 
