Anyone that read my review of Brave by Rose McGowan knows that I do not typically give a number rating for memoirs, because how can you reasonably rate someone else's life experiences? That doesn't mean that I don't hold Brave up as the standard of the awful memoir. I found myself consistently comparing Demi Moore's consistent reflection on what had happened in relation to herself with McGowan's constant blaming of everyone and everything around her for status as a victim.
This book is incredible.
I have always been a fan of Demi Moore, but didn't realize how few of her movies I had actually seen until I read the book. I had heard of her in a lot of them but I have seen her in relatively few movies. I know her, specifically, from G.I. Jane. I was barely nine years old when G.I. Jane came out and it was, and still is, one of my favourite movies. I was nine so I couldn't relate to her on an adult level but I watched a strong woman fight to overcome adversity through an insane amount of adversity, and come out better and on top. Demi Moore is G.I. Jane, but with hair.
It is well written, engaging, interesting, and consistently paced. But it is truly the self-reflection that makes up the entire central nervous system that kept me hooked to it from start to finish. Moore is a brilliant story teller, and has no problem rehashing the good, the bad, and the ugly without pushing blame on her circumstance or those around her. She tells everything with a reflective quality, and an assurance that had she not gone through these events, that she would not be the person she is today.
It is not hard to believe that she went through the things that she did as a child. Children all over the world experience awful parents and awful upbringings. What is impressive is that instead of letting it completely crush her, she managed to rise to soaring new heights in her career (admittedly, with many speedbumps along the road). She is candid about her addictions, her missteps, and her successes - detailing everything without acting like a victim. Quite simply, this is her life and her experience and this is how she dealt with or pointedly ignored her circumstances.
I was completely hooked. I can't rave about it enough. Part of my brain was engaged with the task of deciding who to give the book to next, that would read it because I want to pass it on and on and on. It's a remarkable story of overcoming adversity, and all the missteps she took along the way. I also appreciated that while she was candid about her experiences being married to Bruce Willis and Ashton Kutcher, she was not harsh on them, or blamed them for their divorces. She was simply... her. She related her experience on her side of things as much as possible and that is quite the feat in and of itself.
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