Cross-posted at Shelf Inflicted and at Outlaw ReviewsI’ve wanted to read this for a while, but not before seeing at least the movie version of Rent. Off to the library I went and borrowed a copy of both film and book. I’m certain I would have appreciated this story, loosely based on Puccini's La Bohème, a lot more in its original version as a play, and had I been about 30 years younger. Back then I probably would have been able to empathize with a cast of talentless characters who wanted to succ...

If I could give this book ten stars I fucking would.

I am grateful to Anthony for having written this book. His writing is eloquent and revealing. He is brutally honest about the less savory aspects of his personality and events in his life and he comes out the other side, if not elegantly, with a sort of grace that comes with growth. As a (albeit much less successful) performer myself, and being almost exactly the same generation as Anthony and also from a midwestern Catholic family, there were many many things I felt I could directly relate to.

The most profoundly honest story of personal growth I've ever read. There's bravery in sharing such intimate moments of your life without flinching from your own flawed, achingly human reactions and thoughts. I wouldn't want to trivialize those moments with my own comments. I'm sure there will be more chapters added some day, and I look forward to experiencing them. Preferably with more happy tears.

Re-read 2019/5/11:This time I listened to the audiobook read by the author himself and I would love to give this an extra star. Yet since I'm already at 5 .... The reading is so good!---------I picked up the book, cause I liked the casting photo of Anthony Rapp on the Discovery announcement. Weird reason, but sometimes I see somebody I don’t know the slightest bit of and get curious, cause something in the facial expression speaks to me. I had no idea of Anthony Rapp and of Rent and just wanted

Very good. I was inspired to read it because I'm going to see Rent this weekend, starring original Broadway (and movie) cast members Rapp and Adam Pascal. Rapp was very open and honest in this book, sharing primarily his memories of his journey as one of the original members of the Rent cast, through Jonathan Larson's death and opening on Broadway, and most of all through his mother's life and death. Having lost my mother to cancer as well, I really identified with a lot of what he went through....

I didn't get to fully immerse myself in RENT until the movie was released in 2005. After seeing it at the movie theater, I quickly bought the dvd and consumed all the extras, getting to learn more about the cast and how RENT made it to the stage. This love of RENT led me to Anthony's book. I was intrigued by him because he was with the show from the beginning and because I was curious about his journey as Mark. I remember first reading this book around 2008. I loved it at the time - mostly becau...

Overshare? Why, yes I will, thank you. For a condensed review: This is a great memoir, not just about Rent, but about grief and love and honesty. For way more information about most-likely-irrelevant-to-you connections I made to my own experience, read here...(view spoiler)[I was raised on a steady diet of musical theatre. My dad spent most of his career behind the stages of Broadway and off-Broadway productions, and he met my mother in the touring company of Cabaret -- he the stage manager, she...

So if you go in to this hoping for funny behind the scenes vignettes from working on RENT for so long, this will disappoint you. This is much more a memoir and less a light hearted tell all. Some things you should know before reading this: 1) this review is deeply personal so if you could avoid flaming or trolling it, it would be even more appreciated than usual, and 2) I am a massive RENThead and have been since I was fourteen so I might be a teensy bit biased. That said I am giving it four sta...

Anyone who follows my Twitter account knows this book absolutely devastated me. I read it on two legs of a cross-country flight and the people around me were absolutely giving me concerned looks as I teared up and sniffled and once even stopped reading, set the book down and closed my eyes to take deep breaths. It hit home.So much of Anthony Rapp's life parallels my own. Not perfectly, of course -- I'm not claiming to be the man's twin. There are some obvious differences -- the successful theate...

I met Anthony at summer camp and we only really chatted once. Even then, I think everyone recognized his incredible talent and so he had a reputation of being one of the kids who was going to make it really big. I also remember both the guys he talked about in the book - Ben was so funny and I remember him always cracking us up. He was always on the edge and even then I worried for him because despite being totally hilarious, he seemed, well... too close to the edge. It was so sad to hear the st...

I'm trying to find the words for this one. First of all, I love RENT. RENT was a huge part of my coming-of-age, and every time I hear the guitar riffs of the opening number I'm immediately transported back to the early 2000s and my formative years. Also, I'd happily listen to Anthony Rapp read the alphabet for 9 hours straight. No joke -- I'd pay money to listen to him and Leslie Odom, Jr. read nutrition labels. But this memoir, my goodness. The vulnerability Rapp shares feels sacred. It's breat...

I loved the parts that mention Rent. I cried at the parts where his mother was dying, having lost my own father to cancer. I just didn't understand why there had to be almost explicit sex scenes...To me they just didn't fit into the book & detracted from it.

The American Broadway Musical. In my opinion, it is THE only true art form. If anyone can attest to the veracity of that statement it would have to be me. I have seen more musicals in my life than most people I know, and more Original Casts on Broadway than I'd care to remember! But in all the thousands of hours I've spent in theatres in my life no other musical has had the power to touch me so profoundly as seeing the entire Original Broadway Cast of Rent in the summer of 1996, both in June and...

My advice to Anthony Rapp would be to stick to acting and not writing. Either that, or don't be ambiguous about the contents of what he is writing. This book should not have included "and the Musical Rent" in the title, because I honestly felt that he touched very little on the subject. I was under the impression upon going into this book that it would have been more focused on his time working with the show, especially since he was there since the start, and his experience through it all and NO...

Let me preface this review by saying that I absolutely love the musical Rent...and I've loved it for a long time. In fact, although I'm certainly not as hardcore as some Rentheads, I've even seen the musical three times. That being said, I found the actual writing of this memoir almost painful to digest...perhaps for the simple fact that Anthony Rapp is an actor, and a very talented one at that. But he's not a writer. And while I found his stories about how he became involved in Rent, his strugg...

I read this book as I was losing my grandmother. It really hit home with a lot of the grief stages. Anthony Rapp is an amazing actor, singer, writer, but most importantly, an amazing all around human being. I'm very glad I picked up this book when I did.

Well, really this is a 3.5 for me. I found it compelling and quick to read, and yet was bugged both by some of the writing and by Rapp himself.I guess I picked up this book expecting it to be more about his life as a Rent cast member, and there is certainly some of that. I was gripped mainly by the story of his mother - and was really moved to tears many times. I was quite annoyed by the endless stories of his relationships, because somehow it seemed to me that each one was of the greatest impor...

I adored this book, which probably isn't surprising considering I'm such a big fan of both Rent and Anthony Rapp. But even then, this book was better than I was expecting. It was so emotional and took me ages to read because I never felt ready for the heartbreak this book brought. I learned so much about Rent and so much about Anthony Rapp, and I can't remember the last time a book made me cry this much.I don't think there's enough in this book for people who aren't already fans of Anthony Rapp

This was raw and visceral and felt jarringly honest. Rapp discusses grief in such a compelling manner, and while the narrative begins and ends with Rent, this memoir is so much more personal than I expected (in a great way).

3.5 stars

My Grade = 85% - BIn the last year or so, I have collected a series of autobiographies by (fairly) young entertainers: two by Rob Lowe, and one each by Michael J. Fox, Tina Fey, John Barrowman, and Anthony Rapp (all, of course, from thrift stores).I donated the first four to my local library, but felt a connection to the other two, so I read them. Not only did I see John Barrowman perform on stage, but I watched him carry on at a Soho pub. I am also a great fan of him in Doctor Who, Torchwood, a...

I love Rent and I love Anthony Rapp. I just saw the show for the umpteenth time because he toured with Adam Pascal. I first saw the show in NYC, but the originals were already gone (1998). What a duo. I wish the entire original cast would regroup for a tour...I would pay big bucks to see them all, especially Idina, Adam, Mark, Jesse, and Taye. I enjoyed the insight into Rapp's life, but mostly enjoyed the morsels about the start of Rent and the evolution of the show. I think only true fans of Re...

I'm a total "RENThead" and this book has been on my list for YEARS but I finally decided to give it a go. I'm really glad I chose the audio version, because listening to Anthony Rapp tell his own story was fantastic! It was fun listening to his take on the audition and workshop processes for "RENT". What really hit home for me was his struggle to deal with his mother's illness. It's a real parallel of how I'm dealing with my mom's. People always tell the stories of the strong journeys, but don't...

Considering how obsessed I was with Rent as a teenager, I can't believe I had never read this before. I can honestly say I was not prepared for how heartbreaking this book is. The success of Rent exploded for Anthony Rapp in the wake of the loss of it's creator Jonathan Larson and the drawn out death of his mother. His grief his palpable on the pages. He uses the music of the show to help convey those feelings throughout the book and it honestly wrecked my emotions. Worth a read for fans of the

Anthony Rapp, may be a good actor, but he is a horrible writer. Wow. I only stuck with it, because I have this sick habit of finishing books that I have started. Sigh. I do want to resee the movie----or the show if it was not done.

although average in writing, I don't think I cried this much since I found out frat boys truly enjoy naty light

It says a lot about an author’s writing when their story can pull a reader in, even when the reader might not have any reason to be invested in the story other than curiosity. Such is the power of Anthony Rapp’s candid and forthright book, Without You: A Memoir of Love, Lose and the Musical Rent. I have known of Anthony since I saw him in the movie Adventures in Babysitting when I was a teenager. In the 90s, I was active in an org called Friends of People with AIDS in my hometown, surrounded by

Rent has been my favorite musical ever since I first watched it, and I was looking forward to reading this book. I had to stop reading it when my grandma passed away and the book hit too close to home, but now I've finally finished it and can safely say it's beautiful. It was lovely and bittersweet to read about the beginning of it all, Jonathan's death, the cast slowly leaving... And I loved reading about Anthony's feelings and his grief, and it made me realize how human life is beautiful, frag...

Anthony Rapp was incredibly open and honest throughout this memoir. I was so caught up in it the entire time. As a fellow queer person, I was able to relate to so much that it made me smile and ache all the same. Through the stories of adolescent sexuality, hiding, love, breakups, sex, coming out, family acceptance and rejection, and mental health, I saw a lot of myself reflected in this book. I was reminded that we all have our joy and our struggles, but few can write about them so candidly as