Review by Booklist Review
Pop-culture journalist and novelist Wappler (Neon Green, 2016) pens an homage to Luke Perry and the ripple effects his Beverly Hills, 90210 character had on a generation. From small-town Ohio, Perry was known as a good guy who acted in plays and was a fantastic mascot for his high school. He moved to L.A. and found small successes until he landed the role of bad boy Dylan McKay in Aaron Spelling's drama series, earning the kind of fame that inspired girls to cry in his presence. He maintained steady work after 90210 but never returned to those Dylan McKay heights. From Wappler's interviews with Perry's friends and coworkers (though Perry's family and 90210 costars are notably absent), it is clear that Perry, who died in 2019 at only 52, was one of the nicest, humblest, and hardest working actors in the business. Wappler weaves in bits of memoir, connecting her story to Perry's, especially when 90210 was an escape while her dad was dying. Overall, an engaging, well-written biography of a man gone too soon.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Cultural critic Wappler (Neon Green) serves up a loving if unwieldy overview of the acting career of Perry (1966--2019), best known for playing Dylan McKay on the 1990s teen drama Beverly Hills 90210. Growing up in Mansfield, Ohio, Perry endured his father's drunken rages until his mother got a divorce when Perry was six. By middle school, he aspired to act professionally, but it took 216 auditions before he landed his first part in a daytime soap opera in 1987. Three years later, he overcame a lackluster initial audition to nab the role of Dylan on 90210, and quickly became a fan favorite. Wappler traces the ups and downs of Perry's time on the show and discusses his tenure on both HBO's Oz and the CW's Riverdale. Perry's fans will appreciate the doting treatment he receives from Wappler, who describes the actor as empathetic and modest in an industry of big egos. Unfortunately, the omission of significant portions of Perry's personal life (his marriage receives only a handful of fleeting mentions) baffles. Wappler also includes interstitial chapters that use her teenage memories of watching 90210 as a springboard to recount her adolescent relationship problems and troubles fitting in at school, though these sections never quite gel with the biography. This struggles to balance its numerous objectives. Agent: Erin Hosier, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Mar.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A devoted fan honors a famed actor. Wappler pays homage to actor Luke Perry (1966-2019), who played the role of Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills, 90210. Melding biography and memoir, she interweaves a recounting of Perry's life and career with the events of her own life, including her enthrallment with the show that made Perry famous. For the young author, Dylan was "the platonic ideal of the sensitive man hiding his wounds behind a shield of cool." Perry almost didn't get the role. He had acted only in a few soap operas, and his audition didn't wow Fox executives, but producer Aaron Spelling believed in him so much that he offered to pay his salary out of his own pocket. Spelling turned out to be right; Perry was an instant heartthrob. The show debuted in the fall of 1990, up against Cheers. By 1992, 69% of American teenage girls watched it; the next year, it expanded to 30 countries. In 2001, though, rebelling at being typecast, Perry joined the cast of Oz, set in a prison ward inside a fake penitentiary. He saw the role, Wappler writes, as "an incredible opportunity to change what audiences had grown to expect from him." For the author, growing up in the 1990s, Beverly Hills served as an escape from teenage angst and from grief over her father's death from cancer. Her memoir, related in the third person, recalls tumult and loss, aspirations and pain: She marries and divorces, spends a few years in psychotherapy, becomes a successful journalist of pop culture, and marries again. Her newborn son is asleep when she learns of Perry's death from a stroke. Although none of Perry's immediate family agreed to participate in this biography, Wappler conducted interviews and mined sources to create a sensitive portrait of a kind and caring man. A gift for Perry and 90210 fans. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
