Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
I struggled with this one. A lot.
Jane wrote this book to help young women avoid the same mistakes and challenges she did, but making the book so long and dense made it difficult to read.
I think the book could have been half the size and conveyed the same message in a more concise way. It was painful to read in such details the way Jane repeatedly denied her own wants and desires.
I’m glad she has finally healed and is using her wisdom and resources to help others but god damn.
I am sorry Jane Fonda but this book infuriated me.
Jane wrote this book to help young women avoid the same mistakes and challenges she did, but making the book so long and dense made it difficult to read.
I think the book could have been half the size and conveyed the same message in a more concise way. It was painful to read in such details the way Jane repeatedly denied her own wants and desires.
I’m glad she has finally healed and is using her wisdom and resources to help others but god damn.
I am sorry Jane Fonda but this book infuriated me.
She speaks with such authenticity and frankness about the good, the bad, and the ugly of her life. I laughed, nearly cried, and wanted to yell at her frequently for being so very human, and woman. She talks about issues that a lot of us have with self worth and how we see ourselves in relationships with others. Things that most of use can’t and won’t talk about. For that I truly admire her. She is a remarkable woman and I am sure I will be ruminating on this one for quite a while. I also have an even longer book and movie list now after her suggestions.
I loved this. 4 stars as there was so much time she covered here. I would have loved this broken up and more details. I could listen to her all day, every day.
Jane Fonda seems very earnest. She's had a fascinating life, done a lot of interesting things, and met a lot of amazing people. I admire her accomplishments and her ability to reflect upon her past, her choices, her mistakes, and her failures. At times, her earnestness grew just a tiny bit tiresome and I started to feel like I was being lectured, by a very sincere, thoughtful person--but still, a lecture. But I ended up feeling a lot of respect for her.
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
My Life So Far does what few memoirs do- it teaches you about the person and give you their history and actual history in an informative and easily readable way.
Prior to the last few years, most of my Jane Fonda knowledge was limited to her fitness history, protest history, and I knew she made movies. I had heard this memoir described as a textbook by the Celebrity Book Club Podcast, and Jane really gave me a context of the Vietnam War that was missing in my classrooms growing up. Jane’s given so much history sharing her own story and explained her beliefs and actions in a way that I think even her critics would have to acknowledge. I was as interested in her chapters on gender and parenting as I was on the showbusiness insights and the breakdown of her career choices. The takeaways are endless. She hands out marriage advice and relationship lessons that are so reasonable, without assigning all of the blame to others. This is how you get divorces three times and grow. Funny enough (as they starred together in Monster-In-Law), this is actually the kind of play by play on love and career that I would love from JLO and other multi-hyphenates.
I would recommend this book to people interested in activism as well as the entertainment business, as she shows respect to everything she shares. I feel like I took a Jane Fonda class, in the best possible way.
Prior to the last few years, most of my Jane Fonda knowledge was limited to her fitness history, protest history, and I knew she made movies. I had heard this memoir described as a textbook by the Celebrity Book Club Podcast, and Jane really gave me a context of the Vietnam War that was missing in my classrooms growing up. Jane’s given so much history sharing her own story and explained her beliefs and actions in a way that I think even her critics would have to acknowledge. I was as interested in her chapters on gender and parenting as I was on the showbusiness insights and the breakdown of her career choices. The takeaways are endless. She hands out marriage advice and relationship lessons that are so reasonable, without assigning all of the blame to others. This is how you get divorces three times and grow. Funny enough (as they starred together in Monster-In-Law), this is actually the kind of play by play on love and career that I would love from JLO and other multi-hyphenates.
I would recommend this book to people interested in activism as well as the entertainment business, as she shows respect to everything she shares. I feel like I took a Jane Fonda class, in the best possible way.
Before reading this book, you knew that Jane Fonda had a tense relationship with her father, was known for her workout videos and legwarmers, was called "Hanoi Jane" during the Vietnam War, was once married to Ted Turner, and currently stars in the TV show "Grace and Frankie" on Netflix. However, you had forgotten many other aspects of her life, such as her activism, struggles with eating disorders, having a black adopted daughter, and her involvement in the film "Agnes of God." The book provided a deeper understanding of her life and revealed that she was vilified during the Vietnam War and investigated by the FBI. Some reviewers found the book to be preachy and self-help-like, but you personally did not feel preached to and appreciated her passion for her beliefs.
It's funny how Jane Fonda's portrayal of her father, Henry Fonda, where she is honest and reflective about his personal flaws but overly fawning and worshipful when discussing his career as a movie star.
She is a little out of touch, But she's Jane Fucking Fonda, you just love her.
It's funny how Jane Fonda's portrayal of her father, Henry Fonda, where she is honest and reflective about his personal flaws but overly fawning and worshipful when discussing his career as a movie star.
She is a little out of touch, But she's Jane Fucking Fonda, you just love her.
I've just finished listening to all 20+ hours of this book, read by Jane Fonda, and I loved it.
Not too long ago, I listened to the first episode of the podcast, "Wiser Than Me." Julia Louis Dreyfus kicks off her series interviewing Jane Fonda as one of many "wise, fascinating women who have lived long enough to know a thing or two about a thing or two." I had begrudgingly thought I might learn a thing or two from the podcast, but I quickly found myself fascinated. I particularly liked Fonda's perspective of looking at life as having 3 acts, each of them about 30 years long. At age 60, she saw herself as just beginning her 3rd act. As I'm in my early 50s, I often think about what the next decades might look like, and I loved her approach ... and other wisdom she shared during the interview. I recommend giving it a listen!
I've long had a rough outline in mind when thinking about Jane Fonda, and that outline was pinned together by my various encounters with her work and/or her celebrity. As a kid, I watched (and loved) 9 to 5 as soon as it came out on VHS. That's also how I watched On Golden Pond a few years later. I had heard people in my community refer to her as "Hanoi Jane." I vaguely remember the Jane Fonda Workout craze (which I did not participate in). My parents owned a Harley-Davidson dealership just outside Bozeman, Montana, where I grew up. They knew and liked her brother, Peter Fonda, whom they regularly supplied with motorcycles as part of his Easy Rider (which I still haven't seen) contract. In the 90s, when I left Montana for college and ensuing adventures, Jane Fonda married Ted Turner, who had some fame (or notoriety, depending whom you talked to) for owning ridiculously huge ranches near Bozeman. I knew he was uber rich and owned CNN, and I knew that she was an actor I enjoyed and what I thought of as a standard second wave kind of feminist. For the next few decades, I didn't pay any attention to her at all until she got back into acting, and I saw a few of her films. I'm not that interested in celebrities for the sake of celebrity ... but she showed up more prominently on my radar when I learned about her Climate PAC and Fire Drill Fridays ... these are some of the things I care about.
Between the interview and my knowledge of her current activism, I was curious enough to check out her 2005 memoir, My Life So Far. So worth it. One of the things I loved about it was just how fascinating so much of her life has been. Her childhood was defined by her impressions of her depressed and ultimately suicidal mother and the lack of any solid parenting figures. She didn't love college, dropped out, took some acting classes taught by Lee Strasberg (and fellow student, Marilyn Monroe!) Then she moved to France where she became very fluent, was part of the French New Wave, and married Roger Vadim. She speaks at length about coming to consciousness around the realities of the Vietnam war, largely through reading, talking, and encountering various French perspectives. She provides important context and a lengthy recounting of her experiences working to end the Vietnam war, and her two-decade long relationship and marriage to the activist, Tom Hayden. There is so much more substance and nuance in her recounting than in any media clips of her I've encountered. And at this point, we're only 30-40% into the book.
I had known next to nothing about her acting career prior to the 1980s. Watching Klute soon is now on my To Do list. Another part I loved was her recounting of her the background and filming of On Golden Pond. She does a GREAT Katherine Hepburn impression. She came up with the idea for 9 to 5 when she was organizing office workers. She had just seen Lily Tomlin in a 1-woman play and knew she had to be in it, and on her drive home, she heard "Jolene" on the radio and knew Dolly had to play the other part. Her stories of friendships with women are heart-warming and inspiring. These are just a few samplings of interesting details gleaned from the book. There's much more to absorb if it sounds up your alley.
I also loved that she tells her story in a way that integrates both who she was at different times and her ongoing and evolving understanding of herself - her slow but steady development of a feminist consciousness; her enmeshment and critiques of beauty/celebrity culture; her struggles and regrets (and some successes too!) with parenting; her journey to integrate all of her experience in an authentic way; and her good humor. She clearly has had a lot of good therapy and read much to help her find her way. It's real; it's interesting; and it's inspiring.
As I was finishing up the book, I watched the 2-hour documentary on her, My Life in 5 Acts (HBO). It came out in 2018, so 13 years after the memoir. It's provides a good CliffsNotes version of much of what is in the documentary, and of course, given the medium, a lot of great visuals. I think the book is much better, and they go well together too. She's inspiring to me both as an activist and as a creative.
Not too long ago, I listened to the first episode of the podcast, "Wiser Than Me." Julia Louis Dreyfus kicks off her series interviewing Jane Fonda as one of many "wise, fascinating women who have lived long enough to know a thing or two about a thing or two." I had begrudgingly thought I might learn a thing or two from the podcast, but I quickly found myself fascinated. I particularly liked Fonda's perspective of looking at life as having 3 acts, each of them about 30 years long. At age 60, she saw herself as just beginning her 3rd act. As I'm in my early 50s, I often think about what the next decades might look like, and I loved her approach ... and other wisdom she shared during the interview. I recommend giving it a listen!
I've long had a rough outline in mind when thinking about Jane Fonda, and that outline was pinned together by my various encounters with her work and/or her celebrity. As a kid, I watched (and loved) 9 to 5 as soon as it came out on VHS. That's also how I watched On Golden Pond a few years later. I had heard people in my community refer to her as "Hanoi Jane." I vaguely remember the Jane Fonda Workout craze (which I did not participate in). My parents owned a Harley-Davidson dealership just outside Bozeman, Montana, where I grew up. They knew and liked her brother, Peter Fonda, whom they regularly supplied with motorcycles as part of his Easy Rider (which I still haven't seen) contract. In the 90s, when I left Montana for college and ensuing adventures, Jane Fonda married Ted Turner, who had some fame (or notoriety, depending whom you talked to) for owning ridiculously huge ranches near Bozeman. I knew he was uber rich and owned CNN, and I knew that she was an actor I enjoyed and what I thought of as a standard second wave kind of feminist. For the next few decades, I didn't pay any attention to her at all until she got back into acting, and I saw a few of her films. I'm not that interested in celebrities for the sake of celebrity ... but she showed up more prominently on my radar when I learned about her Climate PAC and Fire Drill Fridays ... these are some of the things I care about.
Between the interview and my knowledge of her current activism, I was curious enough to check out her 2005 memoir, My Life So Far. So worth it. One of the things I loved about it was just how fascinating so much of her life has been. Her childhood was defined by her impressions of her depressed and ultimately suicidal mother and the lack of any solid parenting figures. She didn't love college, dropped out, took some acting classes taught by Lee Strasberg (and fellow student, Marilyn Monroe!) Then she moved to France where she became very fluent, was part of the French New Wave, and married Roger Vadim. She speaks at length about coming to consciousness around the realities of the Vietnam war, largely through reading, talking, and encountering various French perspectives. She provides important context and a lengthy recounting of her experiences working to end the Vietnam war, and her two-decade long relationship and marriage to the activist, Tom Hayden. There is so much more substance and nuance in her recounting than in any media clips of her I've encountered. And at this point, we're only 30-40% into the book.
I had known next to nothing about her acting career prior to the 1980s. Watching Klute soon is now on my To Do list. Another part I loved was her recounting of her the background and filming of On Golden Pond. She does a GREAT Katherine Hepburn impression. She came up with the idea for 9 to 5 when she was organizing office workers. She had just seen Lily Tomlin in a 1-woman play and knew she had to be in it, and on her drive home, she heard "Jolene" on the radio and knew Dolly had to play the other part. Her stories of friendships with women are heart-warming and inspiring. These are just a few samplings of interesting details gleaned from the book. There's much more to absorb if it sounds up your alley.
I also loved that she tells her story in a way that integrates both who she was at different times and her ongoing and evolving understanding of herself - her slow but steady development of a feminist consciousness; her enmeshment and critiques of beauty/celebrity culture; her struggles and regrets (and some successes too!) with parenting; her journey to integrate all of her experience in an authentic way; and her good humor. She clearly has had a lot of good therapy and read much to help her find her way. It's real; it's interesting; and it's inspiring.
As I was finishing up the book, I watched the 2-hour documentary on her, My Life in 5 Acts (HBO). It came out in 2018, so 13 years after the memoir. It's provides a good CliffsNotes version of much of what is in the documentary, and of course, given the medium, a lot of great visuals. I think the book is much better, and they go well together too. She's inspiring to me both as an activist and as a creative.
I have admired Jane for so long, after my mom she’s the next person I say is my hero. She’s an amazing actress, she’s intelligent, she’s fierce, she’s funny, she’s done more to help people and our planet than just about anyone… this book was open and honest, beautiful and poignant, I laughed and cried with her, I loved it.
What an astounding life. Jane Fonda had to overcome an awful lot to get to where she is now. I listened to the unabridged version for 20 hours (and in her own voice–what a treat!) and I now have a much clearer image of the strength of this woman.