alexis

bouncing around messes with the pacing & drama

Revisado: 02-05-22

(this review is about her book, not what’s happening in her family relationships.)
I knew very little about her other than maybe heard 1 song of her that gained popularity way back, and never watched either of the tv series she acted/acts in.
didn’t like: bounces around in the timeline a lot which messes up the drama and pacing of the story, not sure what the point of her book was specifically.
liked: some interesting stories that I didn’t know about her life/career, amazing story of her daughter nearly dying (wow that was emotional) and wish more emphasis had been put on that story as the main story of the book as opposed to all the bouncing around.

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I appreciated the insight into another life

Revisado: 02-05-22

lots of people did not like this book at all. I enjoyed it because of the insight it gave me into a life that is not mine. it was interesting to see her life unfold based on circumstances and the choices she made.
fyi- this is a limited series on netflix (2021). however there’s a huge difference between the book and the series. the drama was seriously pumped up and changed for the tv series, compared to what was in the book.
according to an news article (can't remember who to cite it here) calls to the US National Domestic Hotline had a huge increase in the month of October, which was attributed to the debut of this series on Netflix.
for me, autobiographies/memoirs aren't about criticizing the author's life choices, but about they chose to tell their story, how quickly it moves (or doesn't within the dramatic points moving it), and is there a viable message from all those words and experiences or not, and if there is a message am I touched/moved by it.
I suppose based on the reader's own experiences and perspective determines/clouds/taints/colors what they think or takeaway from another's experiences/perspectives.
liked: insight into domestic abuse, single parenting of a small child, maneuvering through local/state support systems, etc.

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everyone needs more self-compassion

Revisado: 02-05-22

everyone needs more self-compassion. there were things I liked, and stuff I didn't.
a lot of what the authors stuffs under the category "self-compassion" I'd put under communication, setting boundaries etc.
there's a great story in "the 7 habits of highly effective people" by stephen covey, where he's on the subway (in NYC I think) and these two kids are running around without supervision. and stephen gets kinda irritated. he notices other passengers are irritated. so he walks up to the dad of the kids and is like (paraphrasing here) "hey, you really need to get control of your kids. they're bothering people." and the dad is like "yeah. we just came from the hospital and their mom died. and I don't know how to tell them." and stephen's like totally floored. his perception of this dad letting his kids run amok has totally shifted. now he feels compassion. sometimes people have no idea what you're going through, if you don't/can't communicate and/or they're not receptive (i.e. he could have opened the conversation with the dad like, "hey I notice your kids have a lot of energy. how are you? are you okay?" or something).
there were moments in the book where maybe the author could have communicated and maybe others would have been more receptive/understanding (obviously not all, cuz some just ain't in that level of understanding).

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maybe add some whoo-whoo to your life

Revisado: 02-05-22

I wish there was more interest, even just general interest, in alternative healing by western medicine. it would be great if both systems could work together for the good of the patient/human being instead of automatically just shutting down even the consideration of it.
cuz like, people praying for your healing and wellness, isn’t gonna kill you. and there are so many other things that could and do.
is it perfect? no, it’s not. but neither is science. so there ya go.
didn’t like: there really wasn’t anything or much that I didn’t like.
liked: the author presented studies and data, also made a point to say “I tried this out in my garden and wasn’t a double-blind study…” which I appreciated, he presented information and while most of it will never be approved by the FDA he’s giving readers the info.

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not what I expected..

Revisado: 01-26-22

what I expected and what I got were vastly different. I expected more of a memoir/autobiography about her life and experiences. what I got was more a collection of political speech performances and less of a life story.
If your beliefs mirror the authors, then you’ll probably like this book. If you’re in the middle or on the other side and not interested in a political speech performance, this might not be the book for you. And/or if you’re expecting a book about her life, this might not be the right book either.
I really think she might benefit from reading “Bad Republican” by Meghan McCain. but only if the author could come from a place of openness and interest to understand.
didn’t like: trump is brought up in multiple chapters, all with the same repetition, which gets old.
the lack of depth on sexual assault as if all victims have the benefit of evidence (i.e. like what’s-his-name-victim is a REAL ONE but biden’s (current US President 2021) is not because biden’s alleged victim doesn’t have the same back-up materials/evidence)). uhhhhh. if you know anything about trauma and how the brain deals with trauma (recommend books like: the brain that changes itself, the body keeps the secret) then you add the age the trauma the happened, the circumstance, the perp, etc. etc. and of course how one victim/survivor handles/reacts is not going to be identential to another victim/survivor (maybe one person is more left hemisphere and the other is more right hemisphere I dunno). then you factor in that most victims/survivors never report it in the first place.
ch ruth is some alternate reality handmaid's tale thingy of what our world might look like, I assume, from her perspective if it stays its current course. which really lost me, on all the assumptions made. I’ve never studied the data on the trajectory of the US but I’d be shocked if anyone could know what that is, let alone the author.
liked: didn’t know she did any humanitarian missions with the UNICEF, enjoyed those stories. real talk about giving birth.

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better than expected

Revisado: 01-26-22

trigger warnings: pet deaths, physical abuse, emotional abuse, etc.
there were quite a few reviews not in favor of this book. at. all. so I was quite hesitant. but in the end I'm glad I stuck with it.
for me, autobiographies/memoirs aren't about criticizing the author's life choices, but about they chose to tell their story, how quickly it moves (or doesn't within the dramatic points moving it), and is there a viable message from all those words and experiences or not, and if there is a message am I touched/moved by it.
I suppose based on the reader's own experiences and perspective determines/clouds/taints/colors what they think or takeaway from another's experiences/perspectives.

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inspiring & repetitive & LOL

Revisado: 01-26-22

trigger warnings: physical abuse
there were amazing moments that gutted me. and there was some repetitive surface stuff that distracted me from the overall message.
liked: an honest, not always glamorous look at where he came from and what he’s been through, including some serious childhood trauma, and at his personal relationships and communication, really inspiring moments, appreciated the depths he dug to bring his story to the surface and put within a structure that moved along.
didn’t like: repetitive statements of “the biggest movie star of all times” got a little old. per editing, it’s like if you won the olympic gold/medal. once you state that within the story, you really don’t need to keep reminding the reader, unless it comes up in conversation with someone else like, “don’t forget you won the gosh-darn gold medal!” also, I should note, not sure what factual data was used in determining this achievement (like did he base it on IMDB). cuz not all entertainment studios exactly share with the public their costs or earnings (some inflate it for public consumption for various reasons). it’s like being a “NYT BEST SELLER” (I did a light deep dive on and they don’t include all sorts of data coming up with their IT LIST numbers which shocked me cuz like you assume that list is a firm and totally factual).

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the reality of college sexual assault is horrific

Revisado: 07-31-21

this book gets into details of sexual assault and trauma and ptsd and how mostly perps and their social group are never gonna believe that their loved one is a perp, and certainly not the perp themself. so if you’re not ready for that brutal reality, totally skip this book.
every young person going into college, and every parent of a young person that wants to go to college should read this book. while it’s disturbing as ALL, the deep dive you get into the reality of both college admin, local law enforcement and local D.A.’s office is like beyond comprehension. and that’s just one college. and there are, I dunno. hundreds of them in the U.S. also that defense attorney who then became the head prosecutor after annihilating a victim during the court case of the alleged rape perp, LIKE WOW honey. loved how she played both sides and then convinced the community she was a “good guy” serious about making change and they voted her in. hollywood couldn’t think this stuff up.
liked: the stats. the data. amazing details of what happens behind the scenes when a rape victim in college reports the assault to the college, in the case of the perp being another student.
didn’t like: the reality is pretty messed up. there was nothing about the book that I didn’t like.

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more of a performance than a story

Revisado: 07-31-21

this wasn’t at all what I expected. similar to Matthew McConaughey’s “Greenlight” this sounded much more like a stage performance than a story.
liked: the reality of a men’s-run-hollywood system like sending its female stars to “fat farms”. and while this happened back in the 70’s, I seriously doubt much if anything about that stuff still happening has changed at all.
didn’t like: she seemed to spend a lot of time on the Harrison Ford thingy. I think it’s great she told the story, or at least from her many years later perspective. tho it took up most of the time in the book.
there was a section break, chapter, where the title changed and another narrator, much younger, took over the telling. I wasn’t sure if this was a flashback, like if she was reading from her much younger self’s diary or what. I found it extremely confusing. so I skipped 80% of that chapter.
also didn’t enjoy the performance skit of conversations she’d have with people at the various autograph signings and comic-con events.

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a true fighter with a great story of hope

Revisado: 07-31-21

trigger warnings: sexual assaults, some graphic sex scenes, drug use, emotional manipulation/abuse
not at all what I expected because mostly I had no idea what she's had to survive.
didn’t like: the heavy narration and very little dialogue, the ending wasn’t as much of a gut punch as I hoped for, the backstory parts that were threaded in which interrupted the pacing/flow, for me, and sent the reader backwards in time when it could have been covered within that time period instead, also it might have been helpful since she did her own narration to have had her work with a vocal coach/narration expert (maybe she did?) to bring out a more dramatic vocal telling of her own story as opposed to it just being a story that was read outloud.
liked: her poetry wish she had included so much more than she did, the honest and bare vulnerability, the story flowed, good pacing, some really great dramatic scenes in there that had me so rooting for her (when she jumped on that dude, like wow), there’s clearly an arc going on.

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