Sarah Polley

A narrative of seemingly unending disaster and tragedy, from a brilliant actress, author, and director. Six episodes in a most eventful life are recounted almost dispassionately: Polley's mostly miserable experiences as a child actress on the stage in Alice Beyond the Looking Glass, in TV in Road to Avonlea, and in movies, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, with redeeming assistance from Eric Idle and Ian Holm; her unsettling upbringing by neglectful parents whose primary interest in Sarah show more seems to be her fame and whose older siblings are mostly absent; the placenta previa disastrous birth of her first child; her brutal encounter with and silence about serial Canadian #METOO abuser Jian Ghomeshi; her spinal stenosis treatment; and the years-long recovery from a severe concussion caused by a fire extinguisher falling on her head! Surviving the snakebit all of it seems like an impossibility, and yet Polley performs and directs so memorably in movies such as Women Talking, Away From Her, and The Sweet Hereafter. A moving and unusual memoir, with such candor from a public figure. show less

Listening to this audiobook narrated by the author was a moving experience. Through her beautiful collection of personal essays, Sarah shares many challenges she's faced. From her early days as a child actor to the trauma surrounding the Jian Ghomeshi sexual assault trial, her storytelling is raw, honest, and deeply emotional. She doesn't shy away from difficult moments but paints a vivid picture of her journey through adversity. While the pacing does not follow a conventional timeline, it show more feels like a natural progression, with insights into pivotal events that shaped her life. Her evolution from a child actor to a mother, director, and author is fascinating and inspiring. Each essay is filled with wisdom and introspection, as she learns to find her voice, trust her instincts, and embrace the resilience of the human body and spirit. Sarah's description of her post-concussion experience was particularly touching. This is a must-listen if you're drawn to an essay-style memoir blending vulnerability and resilience. show less

Forty-three-year-old Canadian actress, director, writer, and activist Sarah Polley has experienced numerous triumphs and heartbreaking losses. As a child star on stage, screen, and television, she memorized countless pages of dialogue, spent long days on set, and tried to cope with stage fright and other challenges. Tragically, when Sarah was eleven, her mother died of cancer. In addition, the little girl had severe scoliosis that had to be corrected with major spinal surgery. There was much show more more angst to come, Polley informs us in "Run Towards the Danger," a heartrending collection of six autobiographical essays.

Polley's writing has a stream of consciousness vibe, as if she is baring her soul in order to exorcise her inner demons. Sarah reveals her long-standing grief, physical and emotional pain, and resentment towards those who wronged her. On the other hand, she is thankful for such nurturing individuals as her Auntie Ann, who generously took her in and cared for her when, at the age of fifteen, Sarah was cast in "Alice Through the Looking-Glass" at the Stratford Festival.

With everything that she has endured, Sarah counts her blessings. At the top of the list are her devoted husband, David and their three wonderful daughters. Although readers may find Sarah's many travails unsettling at times, they will be riveted by her lively and thoughtful prose, refreshing honesty, and compassion for other people's pain. "Run Towards Danger" is the mantra that the author uses when she is tempted to retreat in the face of daunting challenges. She has gained enough confidence in her resilience to take sensible risks when a worthwhile opportunity comes along. The courageous and candid Sarah Polley is a natural storyteller whose tumultuous life story is surprising, intriguing, and ultimately uplifting. show less

Some years ago, as an undergraduate in English literature I was taught to question the authority of a narrator in the novels we read.

The great pursuit of understanding who the narrator is and why they tell their stories from their vantage point helps to counterbalance the natural human tendency to warp reality to suit our purposes.

For me this search begins with Cervantes’ magnum opus Don Quixote, and the somewhat lesser famous Moll Flanders by 18th century novelist Daniel Dafoe.

We show more weren’t applying this critical reasoning to non-fiction, but I was reminded of this pursuit reading two excellent and quite thought-provoking memoirs, the first Open: An Autobiography by tennis great Andre Agassi and more recently Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory by actor and film director Canadian Sarah Polley.

Agassi tells the story of a boy who despite hating tennis is dragooned into a punishing routine of hours upon hours of returning tennis balls fired at him by a tennis “dragon” by a father who is obsessed by the vision of his son becoming not just any tennis professional, but the best in the world.

Polley tells of the encouragement she received as a child by her parents to take a major role in a TV series based on the writings of Lucy Maude Montgomery with only a measured regard for the child’s safety or personal development.

Sarah obviously had a talent in front of the camera and her family stood to benefit financially. She was told the money would go toward her university education. Her family enjoyed expensive vacations together.

Was it worth it?

Well, Sarah’s mother died early in young Sarah’s acting career from cancer. Her father suffered debilitating grief from the loss of his wife. Sarah herself never got the university education she was promised in spite of being an enterprising reader. Her TV directors and handlers left her frequently in harms way of special effects, a stalker, long working hours, months away from her friends, and in a kind of Twilight Zone of parental love and parental neglect.

And two-thirds through the book the author now in her 40’s tells us she’s been in therapy for 20 years.

It’s about this time I put on my critical hat and ask myself about the author’s sanity given all the injuries she’s suffered, the lunatics in showbiz she has been subject to, the dangerous surgeries she’s undertaken to correct scoliosis — a spine deformity she had as a child — painful endometriosis, a dangerous placenta previa pregnancy, an unlucky concussion from a falling fire extinguisher, an equally unlucky sexual misadventure with now-disgraced radio personality Jian Gomeshi, the complications arising from the delivery of a premature child, and a mind-bending bout of stage fright at the Stratford Festival.

Child exploitation comes in many forms. Andre Agassi experienced one form. Sarah Polley experienced another. And we on the outside only see the benefits of celebrity. A lot of parents never see their children succeed so spectacularly, but at what price?

I listened to Polley’s memoir as an audiobook performed by the author herself. She’s a talented performer and she can be very funny. I highly recommend the audio version of this work.

But I myself worked in the theatre as a teenager and I can tell you there’s no way to exaggerate some of the crazies you meet in that business. show less