Sonny Boy
A Memoir
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $29.14
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Al Pacino
-
Written by:
-
Al Pacino
About this listen
The Instant New York Times Bestseller • One of People Magazine's Top 10 Books of the Year
"The rare celebrity memoir that's also a literary read. As funny as it is reflective, it shares stories behind Pacino's hardscrabble upbringing, classic films and journey to icon status."—People Magazine
From one of the most iconic actors in the history of film, an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life in full
To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies—The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon—that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force.
But Pacino was in his midthirties by then, and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater in New York, he had led a bohemian existence, working odd jobs to support his craft. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young, but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx, and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with, whose spirits never left him. After a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts, the die was cast. In good times and bad, in poverty and in wealth and in poverty again, through pain and joy, acting was his lifeline, its community his tribe.
Sonny Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great roles, the essential collaborations, and the important relationships are given their full due, as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s golden thread, however, is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you, and you can be defeated in your ambitions—the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its earthly rewards, and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference.
©2024 Al Pacino (P)2024 Penguin AudioYou may also enjoy...
-
From Under the Truck
- A Memoir
- Written by: Josh Brolin
- Narrated by: Josh Brolin
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Weaving a latticework of different strands, moving back and forth through time, Josh Brolin captures a life marked by curiosity, pain, devotion, kindness, humor. He recounts an unconventional childhood far from Hollywood. Raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, he was surrounded as a child by the wolves, cougars, and other wild animals gathered by his fearless and explosive mother, Jane Agee Brolin. Her tragic, early death haunts this book, and the force of her unforgettable personality is felt throughout.
-
-
Writing style
- By Joel Gallant on 2025-01-03
Written by: Josh Brolin
-
Brothers
- Written by: Alex van Halen
- Narrated by: Alex van Halen
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this intimate and open account—nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever read—Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band mate. In his rough yet sweet voice, Alex recounts the brothers’ childhood, first in the Netherlands and then in working class Pasadena, California, with an itinerant musician father and a very proper Indonesian-born mother.
-
-
Life long fan!
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-10-27
Written by: Alex van Halen
-
Revenge of the Tipping Point
- Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering
- Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is Miami… Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena. Through a series of gripping stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering
-
-
Disappointed
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-10-19
Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Cher: Part One
- The Memoir
- Written by: Cher
- Narrated by: Cher, Stephanie J. Block
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cher: The Memoir, Part One promises to be an engaging and exciting audiobook experience, befitting this incredible book. Read in part by Cher herself, the book is introduced, and each chapter launched, by the author. Rounding out each chapter as she continues the narrative is celebrated stage actor Stephanie J. Block. Stephanie starred on Broadway in The Cher Show for which she won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award.
-
-
A fascinating life
- By Anonymous User on 2024-11-22
Written by: Cher
-
Entrances and Exits
- Written by: Michael Richards, Jerry Seinfeld - foreword
- Narrated by: Michael Richards
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The man who brought the kavorka to the Seinfeld show through one of the most remarkable and beloved television characters ever invented, Kramer, shares the extraordinary life of a comedy genius—the way he came into himself as an artist, the ups and downs as a human being, the road he has traveled in search of understanding.
-
-
Enjoyable listen
- By Joe G. Horacki on 2024-08-03
Written by: Michael Richards, and others
-
From Here to the Great Unknown
- A Memoir
- Written by: Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough
- Narrated by: Riley Keough, Julia Roberts
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir. A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and now grieved. Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, lay in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them.
-
-
Expectations were high but this did not disappoint! Stock up on Kleenex though.
- By Lisa on 2025-01-29
Written by: Lisa Marie Presley, and others
-
From Under the Truck
- A Memoir
- Written by: Josh Brolin
- Narrated by: Josh Brolin
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Weaving a latticework of different strands, moving back and forth through time, Josh Brolin captures a life marked by curiosity, pain, devotion, kindness, humor. He recounts an unconventional childhood far from Hollywood. Raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, he was surrounded as a child by the wolves, cougars, and other wild animals gathered by his fearless and explosive mother, Jane Agee Brolin. Her tragic, early death haunts this book, and the force of her unforgettable personality is felt throughout.
-
-
Writing style
- By Joel Gallant on 2025-01-03
Written by: Josh Brolin
-
Brothers
- Written by: Alex van Halen
- Narrated by: Alex van Halen
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this intimate and open account—nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever read—Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band mate. In his rough yet sweet voice, Alex recounts the brothers’ childhood, first in the Netherlands and then in working class Pasadena, California, with an itinerant musician father and a very proper Indonesian-born mother.
-
-
Life long fan!
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-10-27
Written by: Alex van Halen
-
Revenge of the Tipping Point
- Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering
- Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is Miami… Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena. Through a series of gripping stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering
-
-
Disappointed
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-10-19
Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Cher: Part One
- The Memoir
- Written by: Cher
- Narrated by: Cher, Stephanie J. Block
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cher: The Memoir, Part One promises to be an engaging and exciting audiobook experience, befitting this incredible book. Read in part by Cher herself, the book is introduced, and each chapter launched, by the author. Rounding out each chapter as she continues the narrative is celebrated stage actor Stephanie J. Block. Stephanie starred on Broadway in The Cher Show for which she won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award.
-
-
A fascinating life
- By Anonymous User on 2024-11-22
Written by: Cher
-
Entrances and Exits
- Written by: Michael Richards, Jerry Seinfeld - foreword
- Narrated by: Michael Richards
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The man who brought the kavorka to the Seinfeld show through one of the most remarkable and beloved television characters ever invented, Kramer, shares the extraordinary life of a comedy genius—the way he came into himself as an artist, the ups and downs as a human being, the road he has traveled in search of understanding.
-
-
Enjoyable listen
- By Joe G. Horacki on 2024-08-03
Written by: Michael Richards, and others
-
From Here to the Great Unknown
- A Memoir
- Written by: Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough
- Narrated by: Riley Keough, Julia Roberts
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir. A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and now grieved. Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, lay in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them.
-
-
Expectations were high but this did not disappoint! Stock up on Kleenex though.
- By Lisa on 2025-01-29
Written by: Lisa Marie Presley, and others
-
You Never Know
- A Memoir
- Written by: Tom Selleck, Ellis Henican - contributor
- Narrated by: Tom Selleck
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Frank, funny and open-hearted, You Never Know is an intimate memoir from one of the most beloved actors of our time, the highly personal story of a remarkable life and thoroughly accidental career. In his own voice and uniquely unpretentious style, the famed actor brings listeners on his uncharted but serendipitous journey to the top in Hollywood, his temptations and distractions, his misfires and mistakes and, over time, his well-earned success.
-
-
Tom Selleck
- By Cindy watson on 2024-12-12
Written by: Tom Selleck, and others
-
James
- A Novel
- Written by: Percival Everett
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
-
-
James
- By Claire Messenger on 2024-08-23
Written by: Percival Everett
-
Chronicles
- Volume One
- Written by: Bob Dylan
- Narrated by: Sean Penn
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One explores the critical junctions in his life and career. Through Dylan's eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan's New York is a magical city of possibilities: smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough.
-
-
Surprisingly good story telling
- By Amazon Customer on 2020-04-11
Written by: Bob Dylan
-
Charlie Hustle
- The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball
- Written by: Keith O'Brien
- Narrated by: Ellen Adair, Keith O'Brien
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pete Rose is a legend. A baseball god. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of baseball, a record he set decades ago, which still stands. At the same time, he was a working-class white guy from Cincinnati who made it; less talented than tough, and rough around the edges. He was everything that America wanted and needed him to be, the American dream personified, until he wasn’t. Charlie Hustle tells the full story of one of America’s most epic tragedies, the rise and fall of Pete Rose, one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
Written by: Keith O'Brien
-
Supercommunicators
- How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
- Written by: Charles Duhigg
- Narrated by: Charles Duhigg
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Come inside a jury room as one juror leads a starkly divided room to consensus. Join a young CIA officer as he recruits a reluctant foreign agent. And sit with an accomplished surgeon as he tries, and fails, to convince yet another cancer patient to opt for the less risky course of treatment. In Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg blends deep research and his trademark storytelling skills to show how we can all learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation.
-
-
Good info, but the covid/vax section didn't age well.
- By Sam on 2024-06-12
Written by: Charles Duhigg
-
The Friday Afternoon Club
- A Family Memoir
- Written by: Griffin Dunne
- Narrated by: Griffin Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At nine, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good.
-
-
Witty and well written.
- By Lydia B. on 2024-07-26
Written by: Griffin Dunne
-
Something Lost, Something Gained
- Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty
- Written by: Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Narrated by: Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would it be like to sit down for an impassioned, entertaining conversation with Hillary Clinton? In Something Lost, Something Gained, Hillary offers her candid views on life and love, politics, liberty, democracy, the threats we face, and the future within our reach. She describes the strength she draws from her deepest friendships, her Methodist faith, and the nearly fifty years she’s been married to President Bill Clinton—all with the wisdom that comes from looking back on a full life with fresh eyes.
-
-
Something lost something gained
- By Sid Fox on 2024-09-27
Written by: Hillary Rodham Clinton
-
What I Ate in One Year
- (and related thoughts)
- Written by: Stanley Tucci
- Narrated by: Stanley Tucci
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life: from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon, to marinara sauce cooked between scene rehearsals and costume fittings, to home-made pizza eaten with his children before bedtime. Now, in What I Ate in One Year Tucci records twelve months of eating—in restaurants, kitchens, film sets, press junkets, at home and abroad, with friends, with family, with strangers, and occasionally just by himself.
Written by: Stanley Tucci
-
Home and Away
- Written by: Mats Sundin, Amy Stuart
- Narrated by: Alan Carlson
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one of the last great remaining untold stories in all of sports, the Hall of Fame Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin shares for the first time an unfiltered look at playing hockey in Sweden and across North America as part of the sport’s most fabled franchises.
-
-
Amazing
- By Isaac on 2024-12-26
Written by: Mats Sundin, and others
-
Bits and Pieces
- My Mother, My Brother, and Me
- Written by: Whoopi Goldberg
- Narrated by: Whoopi Goldberg
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If it weren’t for Emma Johnson, Caryn Johnson would have never become Whoopi Goldberg. Emma gave her children the loving care and wisdom they needed to succeed in life, always encouraging them to be true to themselves. When Whoopi lost her mother in 2010—and then her older brother, Clyde, five years later—she felt deeply alone; the only people who truly knew her were gone. Emma raised her children not just to survive, but to thrive. In this intimate and heartfelt memoir, Whoopi shares many of the deeply personal stories of their lives together for the first time.
-
-
Candid look into Whoopi's Life
- By a-muigh on 2024-12-06
Written by: Whoopi Goldberg
-
JFK Jr.
- An Intimate Oral Biography
- Written by: RoseMarie Terenzio, Liz McNeil
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell, Kevin R. Free, Lanna Joffrey, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first oral biography of John F. Kennedy Jr. is an extraordinarily intimate, comprehensive look at the real man behind the myth. Sharing never-before-told stories and insights, his closest friends, confidantes, lovers, classmates, teachers, and colleagues paint a vivid portrait of one of the most beloved figures of the 20th century, revealing how the boy who saluted became the man America came to know and love who still captures public imagination twenty-five years after his tragic death.
-
-
Nothing we didn’t already know
- By Alison Posen on 2024-10-28
Written by: RoseMarie Terenzio, and others
-
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off
- And Other Lessons in Life
- Written by: Michael Caine
- Narrated by: Michael Caine
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of our best-loved actors, Michael Caine has starred in over 100 films in his six-decade career, spanning classic movies like Alfie, Zulu, and The Italian Job (the inspiration for the book title) to playing Alfred opposite Christian Bale's Batman in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster Dark Knight trilogy. Caine has excelled in every kind of role - with a skill that's made it look easy. As he says, "Small parts can lead to big things. And if you keep doing things right, the stars will align when you least expect it."
-
-
Wonderful
- By Lou on 2019-01-26
Written by: Michael Caine
What the critics say
“Pacino’s high energy proves to be as mesmerizing in print as it is onscreen. Sonny Boy is a page-turner that allows the reader to experience the struggles, inspirations, tragedies, and triumphs of an artist from humble beginnings who becomes infatuated with ‘the power of expression’ at a very young age . . . So touchingly reflective that [it] left me in tears.”—The Washington Examiner
“A movie superstar of rare stature . . . In Sonny Boy, Mr. Pacino still sounds like the actor who dazzled in his heyday. The book, written with Dave Itzkoff, preserves Mr. Pacino’s personality, with all his intelligence, his wit and his eagerness to talk about the theater history he loves.”—Farran Smith Nehme, Wall Street Journal
“Very revealing of an artist’s soul . . . a beautiful, heartfelt piece of work.”—San Francisco Chronicle
Editorial Review
What listeners say about Sonny Boy
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Customer
- 2024-10-17
very good
loved it, interesting stories and great narration by the author. felt like a friend was telling stories.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AmazonCustomer
- 2024-10-24
Just like he’s sitting across from you
Fantastic. Loved the stories that pertained to his movies. Interesting to get the background on his performances
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ray Labibi
- 2024-10-31
Great biography by a great artist!
If you are Al Pacino fan you are gonna love this and if you are not, then you become one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard
- 2025-01-13
Loved this book! Great biography!
A mix of real life stories and challenges. Have always been a fan of Al Pacino and the Godfather stories were very interesting!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2024-10-18
My favourite actor
Being a hardcore Pacino fan, I knew most of his anecdotes and stories. While he talks a lot about his 70s and 80s films, I would’ve loved him to go more in depth in his 90-present output. Still, this is a great book, and very Pacino. So happy he wrote this!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JV
- 2024-10-25
A touching, honest memoir.
I loved this. Al's narration felt like he was there with me in the room, telling me his life story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Louise P.
- 2024-11-29
Very engaging
Absolutely wonderful listen. A very humble man. A dreamer ! All his life ! From his young years in the Bronx to today, he hasn’t changed that much. I was surprised to hear that my favorite movies of him weren’t the ones that brought him the most joy ! A complex but fascinating man. A shy man that absolutely needed to be seen and heard.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!