Stephanie reviewed on + 7 more book reviews
I was very glad to finish reading this book.Before ,I had a neutral opinion on Joely.
I love Old Hollywood, and her parents were two major players of that group, so I thought it would be interesting.But I finished the book actively disliking her.It started with her excessive use of profanity and taking the Lord's name in vain about 20 times.
Not necessary , and I'm a religious person so I didn't want to hear that.I walked away being dismayed at all I've learned.
I always thought Connie Stevens was beautiful, and I always heard what a great Mom she was.
It's true she raised the girls and financially supported them, while their father, mired in drug addiction who finally lost everything, did not.
However, it seems Miss Connie also had a coke problem, and Joely talks about being with her Mom when she smuggled drugs into a foreign country,her Mom having wild raucous parties while the girls were home, and taking a teenage Joely to a VIP nightclub in NYC that has people doing all kinds of drugs and having orgies.
I'm sure Connie loves her girls but what a horrible, damaging example to set.Growing up she rarely saw or heard from her Father.Once he did show up to take them to a baseball game, and being high as a kite, drove into the back of another car. She really didn't have a relationship with her Dad until she was 19 or so.Then she takes the reader through her own drug abuse,the substance abuse of almost everyone in her family, her affairs with both sexes, and then her 20 year marriage that she describes as incredibly happy and loving, which is great , but the she goes on to describe the swinging lifestyle, the threesomes, and open relationships she and her husband practice.
She even recommends this as a tip for a long and happy marriage! Uh, Joely I'm pretty sure such behavior destroys ,more marriages than it holds together, but you do you.I wonder how her kids will feel about that when they get old enough to read her book?
I'd be mortified to know my parents lived such a lifestyle but being raised in the Hollywood bubble, maybe they won't care.She talks a lot about her late sister Carrie and their relationship.
Again, I am sure there was love there, but I kept getting the feeling she was portraying them as closer than they really were.Then there was a lot of talk about the 12 houses or so that her Mom had bought and trying desperately to pay the 74,000 monthly payment on them all, until she had to sell them all, auction off most of her Mom's things and hers too as neither of them could afford to live the way they used to.
Finally, it annoyed me to no end that she seemed to think everyone reading her book would be a hard left, Trump hater like herself.
That's one of my pet peeves.
I hate it when people assume you agree with their politics in a non-political book.
So many things annoyed me about her and her book that I was so happy to turn the last page.
YMMV...
I love Old Hollywood, and her parents were two major players of that group, so I thought it would be interesting.But I finished the book actively disliking her.It started with her excessive use of profanity and taking the Lord's name in vain about 20 times.
Not necessary , and I'm a religious person so I didn't want to hear that.I walked away being dismayed at all I've learned.
I always thought Connie Stevens was beautiful, and I always heard what a great Mom she was.
It's true she raised the girls and financially supported them, while their father, mired in drug addiction who finally lost everything, did not.
However, it seems Miss Connie also had a coke problem, and Joely talks about being with her Mom when she smuggled drugs into a foreign country,her Mom having wild raucous parties while the girls were home, and taking a teenage Joely to a VIP nightclub in NYC that has people doing all kinds of drugs and having orgies.
I'm sure Connie loves her girls but what a horrible, damaging example to set.Growing up she rarely saw or heard from her Father.Once he did show up to take them to a baseball game, and being high as a kite, drove into the back of another car. She really didn't have a relationship with her Dad until she was 19 or so.Then she takes the reader through her own drug abuse,the substance abuse of almost everyone in her family, her affairs with both sexes, and then her 20 year marriage that she describes as incredibly happy and loving, which is great , but the she goes on to describe the swinging lifestyle, the threesomes, and open relationships she and her husband practice.
She even recommends this as a tip for a long and happy marriage! Uh, Joely I'm pretty sure such behavior destroys ,more marriages than it holds together, but you do you.I wonder how her kids will feel about that when they get old enough to read her book?
I'd be mortified to know my parents lived such a lifestyle but being raised in the Hollywood bubble, maybe they won't care.She talks a lot about her late sister Carrie and their relationship.
Again, I am sure there was love there, but I kept getting the feeling she was portraying them as closer than they really were.Then there was a lot of talk about the 12 houses or so that her Mom had bought and trying desperately to pay the 74,000 monthly payment on them all, until she had to sell them all, auction off most of her Mom's things and hers too as neither of them could afford to live the way they used to.
Finally, it annoyed me to no end that she seemed to think everyone reading her book would be a hard left, Trump hater like herself.
That's one of my pet peeves.
I hate it when people assume you agree with their politics in a non-political book.
So many things annoyed me about her and her book that I was so happy to turn the last page.
YMMV...
