Barbra Streisand

Wow. This was like sitting on the porch with my friend Barbra and listening to her tell me her entire life story. Barbra’s narration really shines here, she doesn’t feel stiff or like she’s even reading a script! She laughs, tears up, and even stutters at times, making this experience feel so personal in a way I haven’t quite felt in an audiobook, except for maybe Making It So by Patrick Stewart getting the closest. I guess when you’ve lived quite a long life and want to talk about show more it, there’s an ease to the storytelling. Especially if you’re vocally gifted the way those two are.

Much like Making It So, Barbra Streisand goes into exhaustive detail about her life. We get everything, from her early days, her struggles with her mother, her first steps into singing, her theater experience, her acting and how that gave her a foothold into directing. She talks about her love of fashion, her love of design, and her love life in general. Even some secrets are shared, always with the people involved in mind, so it’s very tasteful. This really is an amazing book, and Barbra’s life is an amazing one. It deserves to have a whole section in a museum, and hell, that’s probably what will happen.

I find Barbra to be an incredibly relatable person, which is so refreshing for someone of her level of stardom. I mean, she’s iconic. I went into this not knowing a thing about Barbra Streisand except that she’s a globally beloved singer, and an actress. Barbra is those things, but this memoir shows how much more she is. A flawed, talented, loving person who cares about the world and the people in it. Even the ones that piss her off. And above all, she’s a pioneer of truth.

I was surprised at how dedicated Barbra was to politics- I didn’t know about her personal relationship with the Clintons and how much she has done to push forward progressive policies. This was really inspiring, and I’m thankful for Barbra’s continued work to keep us from backsliding the way some running this country want.

Now I feel I have a lifetime of music to listen to and movies to watch that I had never even had on my radar before. It’s exciting to fall in love with an artist, before falling in love with their art- this is rare for me. And now I’ll know all the background on how Yentl was made, and what she was thinking when she put the album Simply Streisand together. I can’t believe I hadn’t listened to her music before this! The hype is real, she has an amazing voice! And all natural too.

I’m a bit sad to be leaving this saga behind. This audiobook was part of my life for months- 48 hours is a long time in audio, and I kept having to return it to Libby because lots of people want to hear from Barbra too! I’ll miss her to be honest, but again, I have tons of her work to sift through. And maybe, when I get through it all, I’ll listen to this book again. show less

Streisand, Barbra. 2023. _My Name Is Barbra_. Viking.

Review: This has become my year of reading memoirs. I didn't plan that, but that is how it is shaking out. I started Barbra Streisand's memoir, My Name is Barbra, a couple of months ago borrowing it from the library, but then I had to return it. Actually, I think I had to put it back on hold a couple of times before I decided to plow through it. Now I probably shouldn't have read it on my phone--my iphone had the page count at over 1600 show more pages, but looking at the print edition, it is only about 800 pages. It is still a lot for a memoir! But are you going to be the editor that tells Barbra Streisand to scale back? And should you?

The book started a bit slow for me--Streisand goes into a lot of detail about her life. And if I had edited it, I probably would have cut out reviews and letters from other folks telling her what a great job she did on this or that project. But I have to say, when I received that final loan and decided to put some focus on it, it turned into a delightful reading of a strong, inventive, creative woman who broke many barriers. Towards the end, I thought, well, she deserves every page here. I also, in the latter half of the book, started taking a moment to watch video clips of whatever the chapter was on (like Yentl or The Way We Were), and also started a playlist of her albums and other albums she mentioned. I gave myself the full "multimedia" experience and that was also a delight.

Contrast this to another memoir, The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears. Maybe I shouldn't compare two women like this, but I will do it. I enjoyed Spear's memoir, but I also tamped my expectations way down. When Britney arrived, I thought, "Oh, this girl has no power and is a victim." And then I am reading her memoir decades later and thinking, "Yes, just as I suspected. Poor thing. She's amazing and talented, but her story is sad." No one can say that about Streisand.

One of the things I loved about this memoir is how many hats Streisand has worn over her career. Singer, actress, director, fundraiser, designer, friend to world leaders.. She doesn't quit, and she never stops being creative, and she doesn't give up her control, which is refreshing. She embodies The Artist's Way, which I've facilitated. I was righteously angry to read about her slights with the Academy for Directing, thinking that we are in 2024 and that Greta Gerwig didn't get a Director's nod for Barbie. Grrrrr... We still have work to do.

One of my favorite things I can relate to is her love story with James Brolin, which doesn't come until later in the book and her life. I have my own James Brolin and I think finding that love later in life is so much sweeter. I stopped and watched a video of him talking about her, and it made me happy to see a man who loves and supports his strong woman. If anyone could fix that, it would be Streisand!

One irritation with the Libby app is that on my iPhone, a lot of the black-and-white photos in the book appear as negatives, and I have to click on them to see what they look like. And there are a lot of photos in this book. I didn't see most of them until the end, and by then, I had googled most of the people who appeared in the book.

If you love Streisand (and who doesn't?), you'll enjoy this book. Enjoy the ride!

Next up on my memoir list is Viola Davis's new memoir, which I also had to return and is now in my queue. show less

There is no way that I would ever attempt to read this book—my interest level is not quite strong enough to wade into a 1000 printed pages. However, delving into the audiobook—even a daunting 48+ hours (a good 20 hours longer than my previous high)—was a mostly a joy. Read by the author still sporting traces of her Brooklyn accent, Streisand keeps most of the book light and conversational—supplying momentum even when your interest might flag. At points amused or emotional—it might show more be acting but she’s good at it. For me some of the “I’m building a house” stuff wasn’t as interesting but the author’s enthusiasm comes across. Also, discussing her interest in politics was interesting but a little hard for me to take suffering as I currently am from a bit of post-election malaise. I was all in on the nuts and bolts talk of Broadway, Hollywood and her musical career. I know Streisand fans who probably started crying before getting past the table of contents—I’m not that fan but this is quite a mammoth accomplishment (the life and this book). There is also something to be said about this as a gender equality text—you could edit this down to 300 pages of her pushing back at gender restraints in America. Sometimes she won, often she did not and paid the price. Of course, this is her presentation—who knows how close to the truth—but you can’t deny that much of her celebrity backlash comes down to her acting in ways acceptable for men but not for women. show less

I started listening to Barbra's autobiography in Feb24 and was only able to finish December, so to say it's a long read is probably an understatement. Barbra is force of nature and has led a long and interesting life that is a pleasure to read about. She is deeply authentic and honest in her successes of which there have been many and her foibles. As an EGOT (non-competitive) it is amazing to learn about her rise as an un-conventional star, the challenges she faces a woman leader in a male show more dominated industry, her efforts to improve the world for all who live in it and her dedication to her craft and whatever else she gets herself into. She covers all the amazing partnerships and collaborations she has enjoyed over her career with some really big names in the music, movie, show business and later politics. I would suggest covering the book in chunks as I did to savor it and take time to dive into the treasure trove of video and audio recordings available these days to immerse yourself in all that is Barbra. This was beyond a doubt my best book of 2024 which is high praise considering my reading list this year. Congratulations Barbra for sharing what is clearly a life well lived, and yes you shall remain evergreen. show less