If you're expecting "Growing Up Urkel" to evoke that unmistakable 90's feeling of its namesake "Family Matters" character Steve Urkel, you might want to change your expectations.

I can't help but think that at least part of the inspiration of Jaleel White's memoir "Growing Up Urkel" is to shake off the dust off the character he played for nine years and that came to define him for the rest of his adult life even as he tried to maintain an acting career once the hit series finally came to its close.

While there's definitely humor to be found in "Growing Up Urkel," there's little denying it contains an emotional edge from someone whose career never came close to equaling his childhood years playing a character initially intended for a one-off episode but who quickly became a fan favorite with his nasally voice, ever-present suspenders, coke bottle glasses, and social awkwardness.

The truth, if we're being honest, is that all you have to say is "Urkel" and anyone who was alive in the 90's will instantly smile.

Much to Jaleel White's dismay, saying "Jaleel White" may very well elicit a "Who?"

White was 12-years-old when he acquired the role of Steve Urkel. In "Growing Up Urkel," we get a sense of what it's like to be catapulted into the stratosphere of American pop culture and what it's like to be brought back down to earth nine-years-later as a young adult entering UCLA as an undergrad and facing a world that still sees him as that adorably nasally nerd.

There are times that "Growing Up Urkel" is insightful and emotionally engaging, White's obvious mixed emotions around his time as Urkel evident throughout the memoir. Where I struggled with "Growing Up Urkel," at times mightily, is in its tonal shifts and in the basic fact that for the most part I felt like I didn't know much more about Jaleel White by the end of "Growing Up Urkel" than when started it.

In some ways, "Growing Up Urkel" reminded me of Chris Kattan's memoir "Baby, Don't Hurt Me," a memoir that reflected on the comic's emotionally and physically chaotic years on "Saturday Night Live" and beyond. In my review of Kattan's book, I remarked similarly on the author's tonal shifts in the book and the surprisingly dark turn the book takes.

"Growing Up Urkel" never really turns dark, however, there's an underlying emotional edge to it that the narrative never fully leans into. At its best, "Growing Up Urkel" is an emotionally incisive exploration of what it's like when a former child star is no longer a child nor a true star. White would have, some might say, one more claim to fame when he would join "Dancing with the Stars," however, it's practically undeniable that his acting career peaked well before he was 21-years-old.

That has to it. In "Growing Up Urkel," it's obvious that it does.

To be fair, the now 47-year-old actor has consistently acted since those years and is, in fact, talented well beyond what was a gimmicky character that required more acting than one might think (Urkel and White were not synonymous).

The truth is that I wanted to experience more of Jaleel White in "Growing Up Urkel." I hesitate to even call it a memoir as the vast majority of the book deals with White's "Family Matter" years and then dealing with the emotional and practical baggage of having played a career-restricting character like Urkel. And while there's no denying Urkel has, in fact, restricted his career, it's equally true that he's continued to consistently act and is, at least according to public records, also successful financially and recently married. While we get a sense of White's parents, whom he largely credits for his ability to avoid many of the "child star" issues, we learn very little about them as is true most of White's life with the exception of those encounters he chooses to complain about here a lot. We briefly detour into the fact that during his "Dancing with the Stars" time he was struggling with the mother of his two-year-old daughter (who seems to be not much more than a narrative device here), however, at times it feels like "Growing Up Urkel" is more a child star tossing off his baggage than an actual memoir.

"Growing Up Urkel" is a decent enough exploration of the emotional life of a child star after childhood is over, though it never really lives into its full potential. For fans of "Family Matters," it's likely a must-read, however, I found myself reaching the end of "Growing Up Urkel" and asking myself "Who is Jaleel White?"

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic