Two Hitlers and a Marilyn – Adam Andrusier (Headline, $37.99)
reviewed by Louise Ward, Wardini Books
Adam Andrusier is an autograph dealer. He's met Liz Taylor and Nelson Mandela, as a child spied Ronnie Barker through his living room window (he looked much sadder than on TV) and has held a signed copy of Mein Kampf in his Jewish hands. These experiences, combined with his skill in memoir, make for an intriguing read.
Adam grew up with an eccentric father. Adrian Andrusier is a collector too, of postcards detailing synagogues the Nazis went on to destroy in the Second World War. Adrian is also an obsessive Israeli dancer, dragging his wife, Anna, and their two children, Adam and his older sister Ruth, to retreats and conventions that his family found excruciating. Adrian is energetic, self-absorbed, increasingly absent and young Adam worries what will be left of his parents' marriage once their children leave home.
The book is made up of chapters that each chronicle the search for an authentic signature of a particular celebrity, alongside the weird stuff going on in the Andrusier household. As Adam grows up, he never loses his drive to obtain a piece of another person's life, even when he studies music at Cambridge University and has his sights set on becoming a concert pianist. There are subtle links between his father's performing prowess (his mother seeing Adrian's cavorting as always having to be the centre of attention) and Adam's own yearning for affirmation, to be seen as an extraordinary person.
