Barbra Streisand

Streisand, Barbra. 2023. _My Name Is Barbra_. Viking.

Review: This has become my year of reading memoirs. I didn't plan that, but that is how it is shaking out. I started Barbra Streisand's memoir, My Name is Barbra, a couple of months ago borrowing it from the library, but then I had to return it. Actually, I think I had to put it back on hold a couple of times before I decided to plow through it. Now I probably shouldn't have read it on my phone--my iphone had the page count at over 1600 pages, but looking at the print edition, it is only about 800 pages. It is still a lot for a memoir! But are you going to be the editor that tells Barbra Streisand to scale back? And should you?

The book started a bit slow for me--Streisand goes into a lot of detail about her life. And if I had edited it, I probably would have cut out reviews and letters from other folks telling her what a great job she did on this or that project. But I have to say, when I received that final loan and decided to put some focus on it, it turned into a delightful reading of a strong, inventive, creative woman who broke many barriers. Towards the end, I thought, well, she deserves every page here. I also, in the latter half of the book, started taking a moment to watch video clips of whatever the chapter was on (like Yentl or The Way We Were), and also started a playlist of her albums and other albums she mentioned. I gave myself the full "multimedia" experience and that was also a delight.

Contrast this to another memoir, The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears. Maybe I shouldn't compare two women like this, but I will do it. I enjoyed Spear's memoir, but I also tamped my expectations way down. When Britney arrived, I thought, "Oh, this girl has no power and is a victim." And then I am reading her memoir decades later and thinking, "Yes, just as I suspected. Poor thing. She's amazing and talented, but her story is sad." No one can say that about Streisand.

One of the things I loved about this memoir is how many hats Streisand has worn over her career. Singer, actress, director, fundraiser, designer, friend to world leaders.. She doesn't quit, and she never stops being creative, and she doesn't give up her control, which is refreshing. She embodies The Artist's Way, which I've facilitated. I was righteously angry to read about her slights with the Academy for Directing, thinking that we are in 2024 and that Greta Gerwig didn't get a Director's nod for Barbie. Grrrrr... We still have work to do.

One of my favorite things I can relate to is her love story with James Brolin, which doesn't come until later in the book and her life. I have my own James Brolin and I think finding that love later in life is so much sweeter. I stopped and watched a video of him talking about her, and it made me happy to see a man who loves and supports his strong woman. If anyone could fix that, it would be Streisand!

One irritation with the Libby app is that on my iPhone, a lot of the black-and-white photos in the book appear as negatives, and I have to click on them to see what they look like. And there are a lot of photos in this book. I didn't see most of them until the end, and by then, I had googled most of the people who appeared in the book.

If you love Streisand (and who doesn't?), you'll enjoy this book. Enjoy the ride!

Next up on my memoir list is Viola Davis's new memoir, which I also had to return and is now in my queue.… (mehr)