Wednesday, November 14, 2018

In Pieces; Sally Field


TITLE: In Pieces
AUTHOR: Sally Field
PUBLISHER: Grand Central Publishing
PUB. YEAR: 2018
SETTING:  CA
FORMAT:  - hardcover/personal copy
RATING: 4/5 stars

I always liked Sally Field and can recall looking forward to watching Gidget and later the Flying Nun in my room on my black and white portable television in the late 60's. Her memoir, In Pieces, was enjoyable. 

 (My review contains some SPOILERS so please skip if you plan to read this one).

Sally was born in 1946, her parents separated when she was just 3 years old. She and her brother were raised by women in the early years: mother, grandmother, great aunt and great grandmother. Her mother, Margaret Morlan was also an actress. I thought her mother came across as accessible but, emotionally absent from her life.  

Sally was sexually abused by her stepfather, Jack Mahoney, an actor and stuntman, but, she never told her mother when it was happening. She talks about her relationship with Burt Reynolds, personal and professional, her (2) failed marriages - although not much is said about her second husband, Alan Greisman.

The memoir pretty much covers the first 30 years of her life with lots of details about her acting career and the self-doubt that seemed to haunt her thought her life, which seemed to be best attributed to the complex relationship she had with her mother, who passed away when Sally was 65. I thought the ending was a bit rushed and although I really liked this book, I do wish there was a bit more detail about the second 30 years of her life as well.

14 comments:

  1. I skipped the bulk of your post because I do plan to read this one. I am glad to see you rated it a 4 out of 5.

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  2. I don't think I'd be interested in the book, but I did like Gidget, though I liked the movies better, both Sandra Dee and Deborah Whalley. I had red hair like the latter, but didn't look like her. haha

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  3. I'm not really interested in reading the whole book, but I enjoyed reading your thoughts on it. I have liked a lot of movie/TV that she's been part of. I was a big fan of Steel Magnolias and all the women that were part of that movie.

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  4. I like Sally Field, always have. If you think about it, most of her early life is where she gained her fame so I can see why the focus was on the first half of her life. But it seems like she made a mini comeback a couple of years ago and with aging actresses in Hollywood still managing to find success, I would have expected that to be included at least in part.

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    1. There was some info about her later year movies, but, nothing in comparison to her personal/professional life earlier on.

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  5. I think she is pretty interesting as well. I know the bulk of her career was in her first 30 years, but I would be interested to read about the second 30 as well. Has she been "quiet" because as she has gotten older there were fewer roles or is it by choice?

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  6. Somebody told me they really liked the audio version. She was in my area (Northern California). But I didn't get to see her.

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  7. I probably will not get access to this one, so I did enjoy the review.

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  8. So what was the dirt on Burt? Did Sally not want to stick with him?

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