Call the Midlife: TFI Friday, Top Gear and Other M

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.

I thought the first two books about Chris Evans life were better. I liked the chapters in this book that were about Top Gear and the Marathon because they are so full of passion and really fast paced, exciting with great anecdotes and real-life experience put into vivid prose. The other chapters were a bit too much "mid-life philosophy" for me, but perhaps I should have taken the title more seriously.

This is more about notions for thinking about life especially the part with limited discourse in a changing world...there is a latter section around Chris's personal life but most tries to grapple with some of challenges of modern life

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.

Oh dear, what a disappointment I 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 coaches The 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 runner The 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.