Brian Cox's memoir is "pleasingly horrible" with a "rich tapestry"

The New Republic

"What explains the gruff-meets-bitchy tone of Putting the Rabbit in the Hat?" asks Jo Livingstone of the Succession star's memoir. "Cox grew up poor in Dundee, Scotland, and is now 75 years old. Being willing to speak directly and with expertise, even or especially when the subject doesn’t want to hear it, is almost a moral tenet of his generation; Cox’s latest flush of fame as the mogul-patriarch Logan Roy on Succession has happened quickly, and perhaps he just hasn’t had the time or the inclination to adjust to the new niceness of public relations. With his dry wit, down-to-earth, slightly macho vibe, and a technique honed across decades in provincial repertory, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Broadway, and the BBC, Cox is an economical performer and intolerant of profligacy. Like a champion swimmer, he simply has good technique and disapproves of splashing. The great thing about an artist’s autobiography, or really any nonfiction book about the arts, is that you can put the book down to watch (or listen, whatever) along as you read. In this respect, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat is an exemplary syllabus."