John Pasquin

Tackling life without cable, I came across on the local HD channels on ABC and have been enjoying episodes of her TV show Roseanne. I find it much better in depth and engaging with often delightfully absurdist endings as when much of the cast of Gilligan's Island appeared on an episode. This led me to read this memoir, which really predates the TV show. In fact, it is really a loosely knit series of vignettes and recollections with a special chapter about one of my favorite cities, New show more Orleans. It carts from childhood as a Utahn Jew in a sea of Mormons and finding an awkward path to the stand-up stage. This autobiography ends with Barr in her 30s and a mother in her first marriage to Pentland. Beside the interesting bits about a serious car encounter with a hood ornament embedded in her hear leading to brief institutionalization, Much stands out that feels like source material for the TV show: the drudgery of a housewife and a pent-up desire to write well-received books. show less

I *really* wanted Roseanne's latest book, but this was all that was handy at the library. It wasn't bad - it was definitely a quick read, and entertaining - but it's a good example of a work from an artist unfamiliar with the medium. I genuinely could not tell when she was trying to be funny, or ironic, or sarcastic vs when she was just being kind of nuts. It made the whole thing a slightly uncomfortable read, and it really only picked up as she started to describe her early career - but show more then it moved into a essayish tone that clashed with the earlier memoir-esque pattern.

I like Roseanne, and I'd love to see some of her standup from this era - I bet it comes across brilliantly on stage. As a memoir, this is not awesome (and the stray freeform New-Agey poetry was a bit more than I could bear) but it's not bad. I still want to read the new one. show less

Well-written and surprisingly heavy on Jewish stuff. Felt like I was reading something by mom's fun, loud friend.

Good book overall. Roseanne tells about her early life growing up in Salt Lake City UT as a Jew where everyone else is a Mormon. The first two parts of the book were interesting in that it reads more like an autobiography. The final section where she talks more about her stand-up and going on to do comedy feels a bit disjointed and/or hurried in compared to the other parts of the book.