Here Comes Trouble

Stories from My Life

By: Michael Moore

Narrated by: Michael Moore

Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Number one New York Times best-selling author Michael Moore returns with his first major book in eight years - a blend of memoir, history, and politics that only he could write.

"I had an unusually large-sized head, though this was not uncommon for a baby in the Midwest. The craniums in our part of the country were designed to leave a little extra room for the brain to grow in case one day we found ourselves exposed to something we didn't understand, like a foreign language, or a salad".

Michael Moore - Oscar-winning filmmaker, best-selling author, the nation's unofficial provocateur laureate-is back, this time taking on an entirely new role, that of his own meta-Forest Gump.

Breaking the autobiographical mode, he presents 24 far-ranging, irreverent, and stranger-than-fiction vignettes from his own early life. One moment he's an 11-year-old boy lost in the Senate and found by Bobby Kennedy; and in the next, he's inside the Bitburg cemetery with a dazed and confused Ronald Reagan. Fast-forwarding to 2003, he stuns the world by uttering the words "We live in fictitious times...with a fictitious president" in place of the expected "I'd like to thank the Academy".

And none of that even comes close to the night the friendly priest at the seminary decides to show him how to perform his own exorcism.

Capturing the zeitgeist of the past 50 years, yet deeply personal and unflinchingly honest, Here Comes Trouble takes listeners on an unforgettable, take-no-prisoners ride through the life and times of Michael Moore. No one will come away from this book without a sense of surprise about the Michael Moore most of us didn't know. Alternately funny, eye-opening, and moving, it's a book he has been writing-and living-his entire life.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2011 Michael Moore (P)2011 Hachette

Excellent!

Would you listen to Here Comes Trouble again? Why?

This is an excellent book for anyone to read, it gives such good insight into the live of Michael Moore...all of his trials and tribulations.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Here Comes Trouble?

I was very impressed with Michael's determination to pursue his seat on the School Board of his local community. Really unbelieveable at the age of 18! I just love his determination to do the right thing, and not what everyone thinks should be done.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite was the scene of Michael and his classmates trying to croos the boarder to Canada as a trial run to avoid being drafted.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Life in Michigan in the 60's and 70's.

Any additional comments?

Excellent reading for anyone!

The More you know about Moore

I had some general notions about Michael Moore, mostly good, before reading this book. I now know so much more about this extremely interesting, patriotic, passionate, sweet man. I was completely inspired by his intelligence, tenacity, and compassion. Moore's storytelling style combines wit and sincerity in such a successful way that I felt I would like to know much more about him.

A different Moore or more of the same?

Whatever you think of Michael Moore's movies, you can't say the guy hasn't lived an interesting life. Listening in on his very personal anecdotes about everything from protesting Reagan at a SS soldier memorial in Bitburg, Germany; to receiving death threats after his memorable reception speech at the Oscar's in 2003, is truly an illuminating experience.

Growing up in Flint, Michigan, and experiencing the senseless business policies exerted upon the population by General Motors throughout the later half of the last century, Moore's heart lies firmly with the working class, and he seems always to be on a mission to speak their voice. Yet, this book is about Michael's voice.

Here Comes Trouble is organized into self-contained stories, ranging from starting up the Flint Voice newspaper in response to the established local news outlet being in the hands of GM, to personal conversations with a Roman Catholic bishop to the making of his first film Roger and Me.

Moore's ability to capture an audience easily transfers to a biographical format, due to his share willingness to expose his vulnerability. His insecurity, shyness and self-conscious affliction makes for a bumpy ride. As Moore himself admits, he is innately pessimistic about pretty much everything, even when he experiences success.

The pessimistic attitude mirrors Moore's gloomy character known from his documentary films, and his huge capacity for self-irony adds another dimension to whatever picture you may already have drawn from his political agenda.

Moore's films are centered on issues he cares about; this book is more about himself than anything else.

Ended too soon!

I knew I liked his documentaries. Hearing his life and family story is every bit as good. Some of it brought tears to my eyes and some of it was funny. I'm ready for the next one. The rest of his f career has to be a good story!

Intelligent, funny, insightful

Moore is a great story teller. His language is unpretentious and direct. His stories are real and honest.

I loved this book

I was not a big fan of Michael Moore the person (a slob and too abrasive) before this book, but I did like several of his documentaries and I appreciated his political message on health and the war in Iraq. So, I was quite surprised to find this audiobook extremely entertaining, and I was surprised to learn what I did about his years growing up and how that shaped the person we know today. Michael Moore the person is quite different from the image we see on television, and I was very happy to dispel that image of him in my mind. He is a very misunderstood rebel in our society, and I hope this book will cause people to reconsider how they view him. The book manages to be both humorous, touching, and serious. I couldn't wait to keep listening and was sad to hear it end.

This is a great gift for teenagers too because his story will inspire them to believe they can make a difference in this world.

Excellent Book, Moore is very entertaining.

What made the experience of listening to Here Comes Trouble the most enjoyable?

Very Funny, great stories. Easy to listen to. Michael Moore has a fascinating life story.

Very amusing and informative short stories.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, these are a collection of interesting, moving and informative short stories from Michael Moore's life. He is an interesting man with an interesting life doing couragious and noble things.

What other book might you compare Here Comes Trouble to and why?

I've listened to Betty White's short stories about here life and she is also amusing and interesting.

Which scene was your favorite?

There are many but I'd have to say the Oscar scene where he gave a political speech during his acceptance speech rendering everyone speechless.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The story of his mother's death is very moving.

Any additional comments?

Michael Moore is very funny and a great story teller. That combined with his very interesting life makes for a good read. He was a unique individual from a very young age who would not just accept the status quo and acted on his conscience rather than being a bystander as most of us tend to do.

Only Michael Moore.

If you could sum up Here Comes Trouble in three words, what would they be?

What comes next?

What did you like best about this story?

The book is actually a compilation of stories about Michael Moore's life. He has led an interesting one, for certain. He is a fantastic story teller. I love the story about his meeting Bobby Kennedy. I found most of the stories very interesting and entertaining.

Have you listened to any of Michael Moore’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

None besides his movies.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Life is stranger than fiction and a heck of alot more extraordinary.

Not Perfect, but a Very Good Story Collection

This review may seem like I'm not a Michael Moore fan (I am) or that I didn't very much enjoy this audio book (I did). But I have to say that it wasn't all it could have been or all I hoped it would be.

The main issue is one of insight. Michael Moore is no doubt a great story teller. You may disagree with his politics or his tactics, but you have to admit that he can use images and back-story to paint a very compelling picture. But as I listened to this collection of stories, I realized that he was approaching each of these memories in the same way he approaches his film subjects - as if he weren't the one experiencing them. As if he were telling the story about someone else.

As an example (and hopefully without giving any of the very interesting details away), he tells a story about his childhood where he both witnessed and actively took part in a terrible injustice that happened to one of the young people he grew up with. He tells a poignant story about how this person was the victim of cruel and brutal treatment. He even does a good job of conveying how he felt as a child as it happened - about the times and how society's rules at the time led good people to do bad things. And also about why he participated and why he should have known that it was wrong. However, what he never says - and what I most wanted to know - is how he feels now about his role in that episode, and how it affects him today.

I got this same feeling about several of the stories he tells. There's no doubt that Michael Moore has lived a varied and interesting life. Because of his personality and his innate sense of justice and fairness, he has put himself in the middle of some amazing, even historic circumstances. But in writing this book, it also seems clear that he looks back at those events with a documentarian's eye. He pays great attention to the details and arcs of the stories, but at the expense of insight.

When I read a memoir, I do want to hear the extraordinary details of events (if you don't have interesting stories to tell, why write a memoir?). However, that's only half the job. I want to hear what you did and what you felt at the time. But I also want to hear how you feel about it now. How you feel about your own actions. Any regrets you may have or things you would do differently if faced with the same circumstances today.

I like stories, especially ones as well-told as these. But I read (and listen to) memoirs for insight and wisdom. I wish Moore had spent more time exploring his thinking and feelings now, and what wisdom he can share with us that was earned while living those stories.

As for the narration, I have only one thing to say, and it's actually a message to all of the authors who write books that are turned into audio books: If you are a writer, and you have any facility with the spoken word at all, please - PLEASE - narrate your own work. Sure, Michael Moore is an above average oral communicator. Sure, he is in fact more a TV and film performer than he is a writer (although we learn in this book that he is really a writer at heart). But I can't tell you how much it added to these stories to have the person who actually lived them and who wrote them down read them here. It just adds a genuineness and a commitment that even the most professional audio book reader an't convey. Even though Michael Moore has a penchant for the occasional overacting, he does a great job of bringing us into these stories.

Overall, I'd say that this is a must-listen for Michael Moore fans, and highly recommended for anyone who is interested in his background and what influences went into creating the character we see on TV and in theaters today. It really is an entertaining book. I just wish he had reflected a little more on some of the bigger themes and given us a little more insight into how he feels about these stories now that he looks back at his experiences.