Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard

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overall, my only complaint is the god awful cover. otherwise, this is a great read for all wizards, witches, and muggles 😋 Ok, firstly, wanna say that I grew up reading Draco Malfoy fanfiction, he was my favorite character in HP. And yeah, I realized pretty fast that Tom Felton was nothing like Draco Malfoy, but still, I admired him for portraying Draco so well. I just though that Tom was just a chill boring dude from suburbs in England, obsessed with fishing for some reason. But as it became clear after finishing this book, he’s actually self-obsessed and probably even narcissistic d-bag. More recent news about its creator aside*, I find myself inescapably drawn to news about characters, actors, and stories centered on this world that I adored as a teenager.

Speaking with candour and his own trademark humour, Tom shares his experience of growing up on screen and as part of the wizarding world for the very first time. He tells all about his big break, what filming was really like and the lasting friendships he made during ten years with the franchise, as well as the highs and lows of fame and the reality of navigating adult life after filming finished. Also, I’m very disappointed that he missed an opportunity to tell us something interesting about all the truly great and experienced actors and directors he worked with. He mentions almost everyone noteworthy in his book, but it’s all just censored and sugar coated empty compliments with zero substance. It almost feels like Tom was too self obsessed to learn anything about these awesome people or to learn something from them. This was the cringiest book I’ve ever read. I felt like DNFing it the whole time. It’s short, so it should have taken me half a day to read it, but it kept dragging on for a whole week. It’s worth noting, too, that Tom stayed away from mentioning J.K. Rowling too much and his praise of her was minimal. I think she was mentioned by name only four times in this book and that was a really smart move to mention her so little since J.K. Rowling is engaging in so much hateful rhetoric online.Beyond the Wand is nothing less than the perfect nostalgic trip through time condensed through the keyhole of Tom Felton's particular experience in an extraordinary childhood and surrounded by the culture of the 1990s, 2000s, and now. Felton shares so many terrific stories – from his childhood, from his years playing Draco Malfoy on the Harry Potter set, and later, from his battle with depression and substance abuse – and they are all told with refreshing frankness and a dry, acerbic wit. It’s just story after story; laughter followed by more laughter. The biggest takeaway, though: Mr. Felton was an ornery, handful of a child. He got into trouble at home, in school, on the set, and even in rehab, all grown up. Perhaps his parents should write a memoir about what it was like to raise Tom Felton. They would have oodles to write about, I’m sure. Not all was rosy and positive. Tom details his more mischievous, ornery and occasionally disruptive ways as a child actor and adult as well. Sadly, as it feels almost cliche for former child actors, he's also experienced some mental health issues that he used alcohol and weed to cope with until life forced the issue of getting help. To see him make the choice to change and reap the benefits of that is inspiring, and you really can’t help but root for him as a person. This is EXACTLY what it says it is, custom tailored for a very specific audience. Accordingly, it does that well, but in the wider world of celebrity memoirs it is a bit one dimensional. But it KNOWS that, you know? I mean, Tom Felton's only like 35... so a fluff memoir about one thing makes sense.

If you're of a certain age... Then you read, watched, and/or consumed media about a certain series. You know the one I mean. You're reading this review, and it's for a memoir about one of the actors. This series' prevalence in our popular culture has permeated the veil of basic cultural knowledge—for good or for ill—and it is a massive part of my generation's upbringing and cultural sense of identity.i just love how much tom felton loves harry potter... because same. i read this via audiobook the past few days at work and it was SO good! i really enjoyed tom felton's narration, it made it really personal. i also really enjoyed hearing more about his childhood and what it was like to be on the harry potter set! you could really tell how much he appreciated the opportunity to have been in harry potter, and how much the relationships be made with everyone impacted his life positively. it was so cute how he had a chapter talking about emma, rupert and daniel individually, and i don't care what he claims, him and emma watson are in love!!! I love that it was narrated by Tom. I feel it gives his story a little more oomph. It's 6 hours and 36 minutes. I am used to listening at 2-2.5x, but my daughter is not, so we mostly were around 2x. With his accent it is a little difficult to understand him at super speed, so 2x was a sweet spot. As a person who’s not particularly drawn to memoirs nor to the evolution of child stars into adults, I find myself having just finished my THIRD such book this year! I’m sure a therapist would tell me that I’m processing my own childhood through the safe lens of looking at someone else’s. I’m also sure my parents would be pleased that my expensive college education in psychology has served me so well. 😉 Whatever the reason, when I saw that Tom Felton - “Draco” of Harry Potter movie fame - had written a memoir, my curiosity was piqued! There is something uniquely nostalgic about listening to your first movie crush talk about his time as a child on the set of your favorite childhood fictional world. (If you’re planning on reading this, get the audiobook!!)

Tom’s chapters on his mental health struggles hit hard, but it gave great insight into his life and it showed how being in the spotlight from a young age can really impact celebrities. Tom also did a great job of normalizing therapy, mental health treatment, and rehab. These treatment methods are often viewed with a great deal of shame, especially by men, but Tom did a great job at talking about the benefits of those treatments and how those treatments personally improved his life. It was moving for me to be reading Tom’s stories with mental illness as I’m currently in a bit of a depressive episode. Our situations aren’t exactly the same, but knowing that someone I look up to has struggled with mental illness helps me feel less alone in my struggles. All of that being said, once I hit chapter 26? Holy shit. That was what I was looking for, with this book - it's raw, unappealing, and it's genuine. It's unflattering, it's heartwrenching, but more importantly, it's honest. Felton talks frankly about his mental health struggles, his time in rehab, his time out of rehab, and for the first time in Beyond the Wand, it felt like he was actually writing his story as opposed to trying to please a bunch of Harry Potter fans. Honestly, I think chapter 26 and 27 had the fewest amount of Harry Potter references in them, and good - which, by the way? Way too many HP references in this book. I get it, man, you were in Harry Potter. We know. We read this book because of it. You don't need to keep dropping a 'my family is more like the Weasleys than the Malfoys haha!' or 'the building was so big it reminded me of Gringotts.' Way too many forced HP references. Way too many. And, most importantly for this particular review: I was a girl that was absolutely obsessed with Draco Malfoy. From Borrower to wizard, Tom Felton's childhood was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame saw him catapulted into the limelight aged just twelve when he landed the iconic role of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. one thing i really appreciated was that i actually learned quite a few things. growing up i was the kid who had seen every single extra scene, behind the scenes video, etc, for harry potter, but there were actually things that surprised me in tom's memoir! *minor spoilers* i had no clue he had been to rehab multiple times, or that he had dated jade for so long!!There was no discussion on set about whether Draco knows for sure if this is Harry. My opinion is that he knows exactly who it is. So why doesn't he say so? The reason, it seems to me, is that the boy who had no choice finally gets one." I don't read too many biographies/memoirs, but if I do it's on a celebrity. Since my daughter and I read the Harry Potter books together a few years ago I thought it'd be nice to read this one together.