Call the Midlife

“Call the Midlife” is very different from the autobiographies “It’s not what you think” and “Memoirs of a fruitcake”. Whereas only Chris Evans could have written them, any halfway competent middle-aged journalist or blogger could have written something of this kind — anyone prepared to interview a dozen people and write down what they say, to keep a diary of their exercise regime for three months, and to give their personal views on this and that. For that’s what you get in the three disjointed parts of this book.The interviews, on topics including health, marriage, and death, are written up in the style of a Sunday supplement article. There’s no unifying thread. On the contrary, Chris does not hesitate to advocate conflicting ideologies. We are strongly encouraged to go to a medical doctor at the first sign of any health problem but also pointed in the direction of Chinese medicine and shamanism. He says that his doctor says that the top three health priorities are joints, bones, and muscles – more important than worrying about heart and brain health – because being mobile enables you to maintain your health. (Good point.) Yet a large chunk of the book is taken up with descriptions of the injuries he suffered while training for the London Marathon as a novice runner.Perhaps someone advised Chris to write about what he knows. This would explain why he has written about raising children, even though the book is aimed at middle-aged people, most of whom have either finished raising children or decided not to procreate. It would also explain why the last part contains a mixture of the sort of chat you might have in a pub and tales of what goes on behind the scenes when making TV programmes.Editorially, it’s poor. There are many typos, with three on a single page near the end. Some words are so badly mangled that reading them was a tryongg [sic] experience. Whaever. [sic]It’s a shame. I had hoped to enjoy this book, having enjoyed the autobiographies, especially “It’s not what you think”. In that book, Chris didn’t explicitly try to impart lessons in life but actually did so implicitly; the mere chronicling of his life story highlighted that becoming rich and successful is usually not a matter of luck but rather the result of hard work — in his case, working night shifts for free to get experience while also doing a day job. By contrast, “Call the Midlife” is intended to impart some lessons in life but doesn’t. If you’ve reached middle age, most of the material here is either stuff you know already or stuff you don’t need to know.You’d have to be a big fan of Chris Evans as a celebrity to get anything out of this book. Just being a fan of his breakfast show or TV programmes won’t justify spending time or money on it. At the breakfast table, stick to listening to Radio 2 rather than reading this. Save your bread. And your bacon.

Great read thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend.

I finished this book feeling confused about it - what it's aiming to be, what Chris is trying to prove or just who the audience is. I love Chris on Radio 2, and enjoyed his previous two books. He writes well. His humour is sharp and insightful. I was really looking forward to this third book, and perhaps that's why for me it fell short of my expectations. Or maybe I just hadn't understood what the theme was going to be. Part therapy for him, part self-help for us and the diary of a secret marathon runner. While I don't doubt the huge effort that goes into producing the book, and I admire his energy and creativity, I feel this is a wasted opportunity given there are so many other aspects to Chris's life and work that we are interested in and would make more compelling reading. B for effort, C for content.

I've read Chris's other two books and this is a little different as in its about him exploring life's big themes, work, marriage, parenting, success and money, rather than just what has been happening in his life. He has his head screwed on and is brutally honest about his own failings. I'm not quite at this age yet but I think it will strike a chord with anyone approaching a "big" birthday. It's almost a self-help book and the advice comes from experts Chris has spoken to. Definitely worth a read.

Oh dear, what a disappointmentI have read and loved both of Mr Evans' previous autobiographic tomes and was looking forward to this supposed update into midlife.Not only is this an appallingly obvious cash-cow project but it is riddled with typographical and typesetting errors.The first third of the book has Mr Evans cobbling together all sorts of endorsments for various lifestyle coachesThe middle section is a mildly interesting narrative of his preparation and completiong of the London Marathon. Unfortunately it rapidly descends into a repetitive litany of 'woke up, ran X miles, damaged this or that part of my body, rested and started again'. very boring unless you are a potential runnerThe final part is much more interesting and is all about his ressurection of TFI Friday and getting the Top Gear gig.Overall this book should be edited down by two thirds. If I want a hundred pages of self help navel gazing I can buy those books anywhere.

Did not grip me on this occasion and was an OK read.

Great read, loved the part apart tfi! Almost has me thinking about running a marathonThanks Chris for sharing

Loved this book. A really insightful book into not just how Chris and his world operates but how to be a 50+ person who creates and faces new challenges. Being a few years since publication it was weird knowing that Top Gear has been and gone and I will be googling his latest marathon time. A thoroughly good read.