“Madly, Deeply” by Alan Rickman is more cryptic than Severus Snape

In 2016, Alan Rickman, who starred as Severus Snape, abruptly passed away from cancer. When we sat down to listen to his book, “Madly Deeply,” we didn’t anticipate that it would be a collection of posthumously published diary entries that Rickman himself never authorized for public consumption.

Like the potion master himself, Rickman’s private journal entries are downright cryptic. Most readers will probably have a difficult time connecting to the material, which can’t come as much of a surprise, since he never intended the private content for anyone but himself. The diary was published in 2022, six years following his death.

His sentence fragments and acidic commentary read like one of those dizzying puzzles that you return to its box before completing the image—shunning the 1500-piece complexity and lack of color. We have to guess that Rickman himself would have disliked the publication; one of the repeating themes throughout his diary is a strong sense of perfectionism and a lofty bar for artistic quality. So, we can’t imagine that he’d be pleased to see the publication of his private, hastily written journal entries—sometimes scrawled at 1am after a few too many libations.

With every sentence of this private-journal-gone public, it’s abundantly clear that Rickman never intended it for other eyes. There are endless abbreviations that only he could fully unwrap, sentence fragments that reveal little to no meaning whatsoever, and even some cutting remarks about fellow famous people.

For this reason, except for Rickman’s most ardent super-fans, we can’t make a strong recommendation for “Madly, Deeply.” For those who do choose to venture forth into his cryptic notes, we at least recommend that you get the audiobook. Alfred Enoch’s voice acting does an excellent job of bringing the journal to life (as much as anyone could).

So, are there any redeeming moments or interesting takeaways? Of course! Along the ambling and often colorless journey, there are some great easter eggs to discover about Rickman. In the foreword, we discovered that Rickman started out as a graphic designer, for instance. But before too long, he earned a place at a prestigious acting academy and shot to fame and acclaim for his role as a villain the beloved 90s action flick, Die Hard.

Although Rickman had a longtime partner and eventual wife, Rima Horton, he barely ever mentions her name in his years of diary entries. The accounts mainly consist of notes about his many flights from city to city and country to country, parties and dinners that he attended, and musings about his various plays and films.

Midway into the book, it feels clear that Rickman felt dazzled by his own fast and famous life. He frequently name drops, as if committing his surreal dinner parties to memory so that he himself can believe it. Kate Moss, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, and Madonna are just a few of the fellow partygoers he finds himself with. In one entry, evidently amazed by the glitz and piles of celebrities churning all around him, he describes feeling as if he’s “living in a magazine cover.” It’s moments like that when his language reads like an outsider looking in. Something about the prose gives the sense that Rickman looks on at his surroundings like an observer, and not as a famous person himself.

Charmingly, some of his most frequent companions included Emma Thompson (who starred as Professor Trewlawny).

Like the moody professor of our beloved book series, Rickman’s writing carries a distinctly acidic point of view. He has prickly words for the performances of others, like when he barbs Ewen McGreggor, Tim Allen, and even his close friend Emma Thompson. At times, he applies this acid tone to himself, too (“at times, I can’t believe how selfish I am”).

By the halfway point in the book, there isn’t so much as a whisper about Harry Potter. When the words finally appear for the first time, we were very excited to discover the second half of the book.

Final paragraphs to come, recapping HP portions and closing out the article for 800 words.