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Biography & Autobiography. Performing Arts. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) HTML: Joan Rivers was known all over the worldâ??from the Palace Theater to Buckingham Palace, from the bright lights of Las Vegas to the footlights of Broadway, from the days of talkies to hosting talk shows. But there was only one person who knew Joan intimately, one person who the authorities would call when she got a little out of hand. Her daughter and best friend, Melissa. Joan and Melissa Rivers had one of the most celebrated mother-daughter relationships of all time. If you think Joan said some outrageous things to her audiences as a comedian, you wonâ??t believe what she said and did in private. Her love for her daughter knew no boundsâ??or boundaries, apparently. ("Melissa, I acknowledge that you have boundaries. I just choose to not respect them.") In The Book of Joan: Tales of Mirth, Mischief and Manipulation, Melissa shares stories (like when she was nine months old and her parents delivered her to Johnny Carson as a birthday gift), bon mots (â??Missy, is there anything better than seeing a really good looking couple pushing a baby that looks like a Sasquatch who got caught in a house fire?â?ť), and life lessons from growing up in the Rosenberg-Rivers household (â??I can do tips and discounts and figure out the number of gay men in an audience to make it a good show. Thatâ??s all the math youâ??ll ever need.â?ť). These were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to life in the family that Melissa describes as more Addams than Cleaver. And at the center of it all was a tiny blond force of nature. In The Book of Joan: Tales of Mirth, Mischief and Manipulation, Melissa Rivers relates funny, poignant and irreverent observations, thoughts, and tales about the woman who raised her and is the reason she considers valium one of the four basic food grou… (more)
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User reviews
Although I inwardly groaned at Melissa’s attempts at humor, I did enjoy learning what Joan Rivers was like a person, mother and grandma. I think Joan Rivers fans would enjoy this book.
I began to change my perception of Joan Rivers as we both aged. To me, her humor seemed more mean-spirited, not particularly funny especially about women and though I kept my eye on her I mostly stopped watching her. When she died I was shocked and sad and eagerly grabbed this book to review.
On one hand it was wonderful to be reminded of the Joan that I knew when I was small and I enjoyed getting to know the more private Joan, especially as a mother. I appreciated knowing more about her daughter and as a tribute to her mother this book I am sure her Joan would kvell with joy. However, this book is so poorly written and Melissa's attempts to be funny in her own right fall flat. Joan was fresh (in all senses of the word) and funny and while Melissa could convey this when she let her mother speak for herself but when she tries to be funny in her own right it just does not work.
Thank you to Edelweiss for allowing me to review this book for an honest opinion