Review by Booklist Review
The iconic Anderson uses a mixture of poetry and prose to present an impressionistic view of a fascinating life. Raised in a fishing village in Canada, she was a mischievous tomboy with a glamorous mother and rebellious father. Her career was a whirlwind, taking her quickly from a Labatt beer commercial to the Playboy mansion and eventually to Baywatch. Always attracted to bad boys, she looks back fondly on her wild courtship with Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and the intense passion that fueled their marriage, including the humiliation of an infamous sex tape. Though there are plenty of wild stories, like getting kicked out of Vegas with her cadre of artist friends, the book also reveals a more serious side: the abuse she survived, her activist work, and her quest for self-knowledge through extensive reading of philosophy and psychology. There are still some surprises, despite a life lived in the public eye, and the book paints a picture of a wild spirit, a proud mother, and a seeker that will draw in fans and those who have misunderstood this complicated woman.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The public's fascination with Anderson knows no bounds, so expect much curiosity about this revealing memoir.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Model and actor Anderson chronicles her rise to fame in this pensive memoir. Growing up on Vancouver Island, Anderson loved spending time on the beach, though her childhood was also marked by abuse and a rape when she was an early teen. Even so, she writes, her upbringing was "the ultimate gift... I was raised in a way where nobody was telling me what to do or how to be, or how to think, or what to believe, and I'm eternally grateful for that." Her life changed dramatically after she appeared on a Jumbotron at a football game, and before long she was on the cover of Playboy in 1989. Anderson speaks of her career with nostalgia: acting on TV series Baywatch opened the door to films, while Playboy continued to offer new opportunities, though, she writes, "My life took off without me." Now, as a mother of two, Anderson considers being a mother her "priority and greatest source of pride." Though she can contradict herself (modeling is "empty, shallow, and weird," but posing for Playboy was "empowering"), she is frank about her inner turmoil, notably about longing for others to see through her carefully curated persona: "How could I expect anyone to love me enough to see through it all?" This poetic and free-spirited narrative reflects both Anderson's naivete and her wild spirit. Agent: David Kuhn, Aevitas Creative Management. (Jan.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life. According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson's nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly--though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that "it was too late to turn back now"--that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her. A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
