My Name is Barbra

 

My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand  992 pp.

I enjoyed listening to the audiobook version of Streisand's autobiography with some reservations. It is extremely long and I feel like this book should have been divided in two with one part being the making of her music and films, and the rest of her life in a separate book. She goes into so much detail about the making of each recording, play, and especially her films that I feel like I've taken a master class on the intricacies of film-making production. I realize the making of  "Yentl" was an obsessive goal of hers, but did it really need three long chapters devoted to it? However, she is brutally honest about the positives and negatives in her life and does not shirk when the blame falls on her. Her deprecating remarks on how she is always hungry and enjoying food are amusing. The affection she bestows upon her friends from all walks of life is admirable. The advantage to the audiobook is the extra content included. There are added anecdotes as well as clips of her music. All in all, I enjoyed it but could have done with a bit less politics. I will always be a fan of Streisand but still believe this should be two separate books.