I must admit I have never been a real Michael Jackson fan. My time came before his and I never took a great interest even in the Jackson Five. Nonetheless, I developed an interest, spurred on by the media, of Michael Jackson the person... the very odd person, I must admit. Maybe it was an interest in a macabre, almost deluded or even deranged life and lifestyle that kept me watching the news and reading a few articles. I expected to find the gruesome details in Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s book. There were none—not even one perverted detail to keep me glued to the book. Instead I found an exceptionally convincing presentation of Michael Jackson the person, the real person, with his motives and psychological drives that made him come to life in a media-free and uncontrived conversation. The conversations, I am convinced, are real, as is the very frank evaluation of the life as presented by Boteach. And what we see is a picture of a boy who never grew up because he was never allowed to grow, manipulated by family and agents, and refusing to see a world outside of his boyish vision.

Boteach artfully divides the book into sections dealing with a whole trajectory of topics leading to an understanding of Jackson which cries out for understanding and sympathy. Only occasionally does Boteach summarize, and in all the appropriate places, with some of his own observations and conclusions. I dare say his conclusions, separating fact from media drool, have changed my understanding of Michael Jackson. I concluded the book with a sigh-filled, "I now understand."