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jennybpenny's review against another edition
3.0
"When Dad returned from filming 'The Barbarian and the Geisha', he was enchanted by the ways of the Orient. He installed a full Japanese bath, which cooked at a temperature almost high enough to boil an egg, and imported shoji doors and mats and some large Japanese rocks from Hokkaido, despite the fact that similar stones littered the fields of Co. Galway. When we tried to circumnavigate the nudity rules and chose to wear bathing suits, we were seriously admonished by Dad, whose tolerance for our apparent lack of sophistication in those matters was obviously strained."
kellbells's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure I would have liked this as much had I not listened to the audiobook, but Anjelica Huston's reading sold me.
kellbells's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure I would have liked this as much had I not listened to the audiobook, but Anjelica Huston's reading sold me.
barbarianlibarian's review against another edition
2.0
holy details batman! I went into this thinking it might just be an interesting memoir, I have no special interest in Anjelica Huston, but that hasn't stopped me from liking other memoirs. however, this is just detail after detail after detail, and very few interesting stories -- it just felt monotonous after awhile. plus I can't imagine how she possibly remembered all this stuff! not horrible, but not very interesting either.
ibarr514's review against another edition
4.0
At first very slow, it took me a while to understand that this book was meant to be idealistic and flowing with the way she talked about her childhood; rich in detail. It took me an hour or 2 to get in the flow, but I wound up loving this book so much.
stevienlcf's review against another edition
3.0
Angelica Huston, the daughter of the legendary director, John Huston, and his much younger fourth wife, a glamorous ballerina, Enrica "Ricki" Soma, writes about her entitled early years on her family's vast Irish estate where she and her brother, Tony, rode horses and fraternized with the likes of Peter O'Toole, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and other Hollywood luminaries. She is oddly unperturbed that when her often absent father was in residence, he lived in splendor in the Big House (often with a girlfriend in tow), while she, Tony and Ricki remained sequestered in the Little House. Both of her parents were unfaithful during their marriage and, when they separated, they neglected to give their children any explanation, although both had children with other partners.
Huston's life was upended at 17 when Ricki died in a car crash. Huston left London (where she had been an understudy to Mick Jagger's girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull, in a production of "Hamlet")and went to New York where she embarked on a successful modeling career. The book ends abruptly when she breaks off a relationship with a 42-year-old photographer (whom she later learns was both bipolar and schizophrenic) and moves to Los Angeles where she lives with her father's then-current wife. Huston's A-list anecdotes kept me reading this meandering memoir, and her publisher has promised that the second installment will focus on her relationship with Jack Nicholson.
Huston's life was upended at 17 when Ricki died in a car crash. Huston left London (where she had been an understudy to Mick Jagger's girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull, in a production of "Hamlet")and went to New York where she embarked on a successful modeling career. The book ends abruptly when she breaks off a relationship with a 42-year-old photographer (whom she later learns was both bipolar and schizophrenic) and moves to Los Angeles where she lives with her father's then-current wife. Huston's A-list anecdotes kept me reading this meandering memoir, and her publisher has promised that the second installment will focus on her relationship with Jack Nicholson.
ak_nc's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
2.0
Felt like listening to a catalog and inventory of the people, places and things in her life up to that point. Pretentious at times. Poor little rich girl at times. No depth, but descriptions of gorgeous places. She does an excellent job with setting.
princesszinza's review against another edition
1.0
It's so easy for me to dislike someone like Anjelica Huston. She's the overprivileged, overrated daughter of a famous director who cannot understand how easy her life is compared to the average person. I picked up this book because I enjoyed the memoir by her sister Allegra. Angelica's book was not at all enjoyable. It was poorly written. The plot meandered along, full of snobby passages about her possessions and name dropping of all the important people she met through her mother and father. The book abruptly ends when she's around 22, so there's no revelations about her time with Jack Nicholson.
I will have to endure another book if I want to read her version of what she believes happened the day Roman Polanski raped a young girl in Jack Nicholson's house. I wonder if she'll speak to the amorality of the entertainment industry that allowed such a heinous crime to happen and then for the perpetrator to remain employed in film making. I'm curious about Anjelica's take on that but maybe not enough to read anymore of her memoirs. This one was hard enough to get through.
I will have to endure another book if I want to read her version of what she believes happened the day Roman Polanski raped a young girl in Jack Nicholson's house. I wonder if she'll speak to the amorality of the entertainment industry that allowed such a heinous crime to happen and then for the perpetrator to remain employed in film making. I'm curious about Anjelica's take on that but maybe not enough to read anymore of her memoirs. This one was hard enough to get through.
fgaon's review against another edition
2.0
The memoir read more like a who's who in Huston's life. There was relatively no feeling and I couldn't connect, as much as much as I wanted to.