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a lovely email to receive
I get a lot of emails from people which is always heartening – but I wanted to share this one on my blog – I explain why afterwards…
Hello Mr. Holland
I don’t know if you remember me but last Wednesday I wrote to you on your blog saying that I couldn’t buy the book Eclipsed on Amazon due to copyright issues because I am in Portugal. You kindly sent me the book and I started reading in that instant. For your kind gesture I thank you again. You asked me to write what were my thoughts about the book and in this e-mail I will try to do exactly that. I apologise for any mistakes in my English.
I would like to start by telling you that you truly are an amazing writer. You have the ability to keep things interesting. Personally I couldn’t stop reading it. For example it is 2:00 am in Portugal and I just finished reading your book. I laughed out loud with the funny situations that you described in the book.
Your life story is very interesting. How you struggled sometimes to stay afloat but also all of your success. All of your disappointments and setbacks haven’t stopped you from continuing to try to reach your goals. I find that very inspiring and I guess that is something that you taught Tom to do also. I’m sure that you will have one of your books in the cinema some day. I will go and watch them you can be sure of that.
Tom’s story is both inspiring and disturbing to me. Disturbing because I’m 19 years old and I haven’t achieved anything in my life and Tom at such a young age had already achieved so much. Inspiring because of his amazing talent and hard work has allowed him to accomplish what he did.
I can only imagine (your book helps) how hard it was for him so young and already with a leading role at Billy Elliot and later on The Impossible. I admire him for doing such a good job on both projects.
Another thing I found amazing in your family is how proud and supportive you are of your kids. But also how you keep them down to earth.
Sorry but I have to disagree of the title of the book. I don’t think that Tom eclipsed you. I think that he made you shine more: as a father. All his success has a very strong family basis that you and your wife gave him over the years. Being a good parent and see his son succeed is the brightest light a person can have, don’t you think?
I’m sure that Tom will continue to act and do more movies. I expect great things from him.
Thank you again for sending me this book. Reading it was truly a useful and entertaining experience to me. It was worth every second I spent reading it.
All the best for you and your family
Rui Rodrigues
Okay – so obviously its a nice review and I have an interest in posting it – but I post it for other reasons besides.
Firstly, how well it is written by a man so young and also  in a foreign language. But also for how insightful it is. Writing the book has been an emotional project for me. Much effort and worry about whether it will all be worthwhile. Receving emails like this more than sales are answer enough and his line alone - “I think he made you shine more: as a father” is the nicest thing a stranger has ever said to me.
Thank you Rui
And finally to all the visitors yet to click on to Amazon – Can you afford to miss this life affirming document!
I live in Thailand, I can’t buy too 🙁
For the last couple of months I’ve been reading your blog. More than a 100 takes in only 2 months, whilst “studying” , on my way to uni , during class, … Not because I had to, yes there was an assignment for school where I had to investigate the power of blogging and the internet in general, but there was no other way… I had to read all of it. Admittedly, i’ve read a lot of blogs, and when I say a lot I’m not even kidding… hundreds of ’em. Some made me think, some made me laugh, some made me wanting to kill myself for reading ’em. But this one, wow… just wow. So back to the assignment : I study English at the university of Ghent (Belgium). One of my classes deals with the importance of the internet in our society nowadays. Very few people understand the real meaning of blogging and I decided to investigate. As most online research Google helped me getting into it. I was surprised where it got me. Actually, the first day of my online “investigation” turned out to be a total disaster. I accidentally clicked a wrong link you don’t wanna know what sites turned up on my screen. Anyways , enough of that. Two months ago I found a youtube vid of one of your gigs as you call ’em. I googled you and wikipedia was so kind to provide me with the link to your website (this one). The amount of personal info you can find about someone using wikipedia scared me… But of course you already knew all of this. I secretly hope one day I’ll have my own wikipedia page though… Admittedly, like most blogs I found I started reading a small part of one of your takes. It did something to me, it inspired me in a way I can’t describe. I wanted more, way more. So I started reading , take 1..2…3 and so on. Today I read the last part. What an incredible journey this must have been for you and your family. Spain, Thailand , England back and forth… in between your gigs and other work, I can’t even imagine how one deals with all of this. That being said : the reason I’m typing all of this. I wanna thank you for your time you’ve put into this, the fact you wanted to share an important part of your life with us (the world) and especially because you were a great help and inspiration to finish my paper. You got eclipsed! On a site note : I couldn’t just read your blog and not go and see the film you’re so brilliantly promoting throughout all the different takes. After seeing it with my girlfriend , who was literally crying like a baby the entire time (god I love that girl), I knew all of my work put into this was worth it. The best of luck with everything you and your son do… Thank you.
tom, what a lovely comment for me to read – having come in from taking my second son out for a few holes of golf.
I am delighted that you have enjoyed the blog and got so much from it. The ebook is a better narrative and has more backstory something I hope you might come to – but maybe leave it a while I guess.
You write very well for a non-native English writer – and I wish you well going forward.