Status
Publication
Description
Fonda divides her "life so far" into three "acts," writing about her childhood, first films, and marriage to Roger Vadim in Act One. These early years are marked by profound sadness: her mother's mental illness and suicide when Jane is twelve years old, her father's emotional distance, and her personal struggle to find her way in the world. By her second act, she lays the foundation for her activism, even as her career takes flight. She highlights her struggle to live consciously and authentically while remaining in the public eye as she recounts her marriages to Tom Hayden and Ted Turner, and examines her controversial and defining involvement with the Vietnam War. As her film career grows, Fonda learns to incorporate her roles into a larger vision of what matters most in her life. In her third act, she is prepared to do the work of a lifetime--to begin living consciously in a way that might inspire others who can learn from her experiences.… (more)
Similar in this library
User reviews
Made me want to go and watch
The Lord knows His own. More properly, I suppose, He knows everyone, but I mean by my opening that He uses that which is part of our personal being to reach us -- His methods individualized for each one of us.
On several imporant occasions in my life He has conveyed His mesasge
That is the case with this one. I idly read the book jacket flaps while waiting at Borders to have coffee with a friend. It interested me enough to get a copy out of the library. Then i saw Jane on The Actors' Studio and was blown away by her honesty, and her experience of life as a repressed woman.
Her wounding childhood and the weakness to which many women are prone, that of non-self-confidence, produced a person who continuously shut down her own self and her true voice in order to get or to retain love and approval
I was stunned to find this to be true of a woman I had peceived to be strong, outpsoken, talented, rich and beautiful. And, most important to me, she began to look for and to choose her own voice when she was 60.
So, while not great literature, this book is an honest, moving, encouraging, and enlightening account of struggle and search. I liked it well enough to buy two copies, one for me and one for my daughter.
I have also been struck by the great quotations Jane uses,and have purchased several of the authors she recommends.
Happily surprised, I have both enjoyed and benefited from a book which I initially perceived as the autobiography of a movie star, something in which normally I would have no interest at all.
The most interesting parts of the
I found that the last 10 minutes of the audiobook, which Fonda read, thank goodness, were really insightful and I wish she had written more. Of course, it may be that at that time in her life, she was starting a new chapter and maybe that will continue in another book!
It's fascinating to me that someone who had such a strong voice in her career, acting roles and activism could shrink so much in her personal life. But I do think that's common so I wasn't surprised per see. I was intrigued and wanted to know more about her life after her relationship with Ted Turner was over. I could have listened to many more chapters on that and on Fonda herself and what she learned. I want to know more about how she found her voice and how she used it.
I'm really glad I read this book. I often wished I had a hard copy so I could underline certain poignant passages, especially toward the end of the book, when Fonda briefly touched upon patriarchy, gender roles and feminism.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
TW: Sexual assault, one brief mention of animal abuse, wartime violence, trauma in childhoods.