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juliemsimons's review against another edition
3.0
It is a compelling story but also a disturbing one. Being a practicing psychotherapist for over 20 years, I suspect that there is another layer of mental illness beyond Bipolar Disorder that adds to both the complication and the fascination of this tell-all. One example is her seeming ability to compartmentalize her mental illness and the obvious chasm in her personality. Throughout the narrative there is evidence of fragmented and at times contradictory thoughts. Though I support the effort to bring light to the stigma of mental illness and Bipolar Disorder, the book itself did not seem consistent with that intent and in the end I was left slightly baffled and unnerved.
hmonkeyreads's review against another edition
1.0
This book is sad and frustrating and ridiculous. The first part is about Suzy Favor Hamilton's running career and it is very sad to see the pressure she felt and it's frustrating to see how she just let her mind get in the way of her physical capabilities. But that's neither here nor there. The real meat of this book is to show you how off the rails her life went in the second half of the book.
Let me first say that mental illness is real and I'm sure things like this might happen to people but her story is just too much for me to swallow. Her physician didn't notice this off the charts behavior? Her husband was totally OK with his previously "good girl" wife just deciding to head of to Vegas constantly to sleep with escorts and then become one? He didn't find this upsetting or strange or worth talking to somebody about? He didn't think it was self destructive? His only comments are "it might mess up the taxes" and "you spend too much on hotels". Infuriating! Her own story is totally unbelievable. Of course it was super easy to become a "high end" escort. Of course she got all the best clients right off the bat. Of course she had no trouble at all and instantly became the "all time favorite" of every man she was with and of course they were all handsome, rich and nice.
Plus, when it all comes crashing down it's like this big thing like she's super famous. I love the Olympics and I'm obsessed with running and I don't even know who she is! I mean telling the one guy "you'll know who I am soon enough" or whatever. If she was all that famous they'd know her from looking at her. Geez.
SHe claims that this book is all about trying to send a positive message about bipolar but it is not that. Not one bit. In my opinion this is a total money grab -- she's been exposed she might as well make a quick buck spilling some sex stories. She explains herself that even when she was on Prozac and theoretically under control she was completely useless as an adult. Every job was too hard, too stressful. Anyone who wanted her to behave like a grown up was against her and had unrealistic expectations.
Let me first say that mental illness is real and I'm sure things like this might happen to people but her story is just too much for me to swallow. Her physician didn't notice this off the charts behavior? Her husband was totally OK with his previously "good girl" wife just deciding to head of to Vegas constantly to sleep with escorts and then become one? He didn't find this upsetting or strange or worth talking to somebody about? He didn't think it was self destructive? His only comments are "it might mess up the taxes" and "you spend too much on hotels". Infuriating! Her own story is totally unbelievable. Of course it was super easy to become a "high end" escort. Of course she got all the best clients right off the bat. Of course she had no trouble at all and instantly became the "all time favorite" of every man she was with and of course they were all handsome, rich and nice.
Plus, when it all comes crashing down it's like this big thing like she's super famous. I love the Olympics and I'm obsessed with running and I don't even know who she is! I mean telling the one guy "you'll know who I am soon enough" or whatever. If she was all that famous they'd know her from looking at her. Geez.
SHe claims that this book is all about trying to send a positive message about bipolar but it is not that. Not one bit. In my opinion this is a total money grab -- she's been exposed she might as well make a quick buck spilling some sex stories. She explains herself that even when she was on Prozac and theoretically under control she was completely useless as an adult. Every job was too hard, too stressful. Anyone who wanted her to behave like a grown up was against her and had unrealistic expectations.
sleightoffeet's review against another edition
4.0
When I picked this book, I thought it would be an interesting read about being an escort in Las Vegas, something you don't get to hear about every day. What I got out of it, was much different. I came a way with new insight about bipolar depression, which my mom suffered from for most of her life.
I was hoping for tawdry details, learning how one becomes an escort after being an Olympian and maybe a funny story about a mishap or two. Instead, I got a real glimpse of the disease that my mom battled and got to learn a little more about why she would do the things she did. Now my mom, was not an escort in Las Vegas, nor an Olympic runner, but she did display a lot of the same behaviors. This helped take away some of the anger I felt toward her, though it is still a process.
It was also interesting to know that her daughter kept her from going even farther than she did, and I can only hope that it was the same for my mother as well.
This isn't the type of book you read for great writing prose, or descriptions that bring the scene to life. It's is told matter of factly, in order to get the information across. And what interesting information it is.
I don't know if I would have liked it as much, had I not had a personal connection with bipolar, but if you have a family member or friend who is or had suffered from it, it might help give you a better understanding.
I was hoping for tawdry details, learning how one becomes an escort after being an Olympian and maybe a funny story about a mishap or two. Instead, I got a real glimpse of the disease that my mom battled and got to learn a little more about why she would do the things she did. Now my mom, was not an escort in Las Vegas, nor an Olympic runner, but she did display a lot of the same behaviors. This helped take away some of the anger I felt toward her, though it is still a process.
It was also interesting to know that her daughter kept her from going even farther than she did, and I can only hope that it was the same for my mother as well.
This isn't the type of book you read for great writing prose, or descriptions that bring the scene to life. It's is told matter of factly, in order to get the information across. And what interesting information it is.
I don't know if I would have liked it as much, had I not had a personal connection with bipolar, but if you have a family member or friend who is or had suffered from it, it might help give you a better understanding.
debi_g's review against another edition
2.0
Did anything in this book shock or disgust me?
Yes. In this book, Suzy Favor Hamilton admits she faked a fall in her final, last-place-finish Olympic race.
SMH
This memoir seems to have been dictated to a ghostwriter or fixer. Discrepancies and pacing issues may be a product of Favor Hamilton's mental status, or they may be the result of a fatigued editor.
The book manages to simultaneously over- and under-explain, stopping short of answering easily anticipated questions about her double life, Vegas activities, and marital strain. Certainly, she was trying to avoid further scandal with a matter-of-fact approach that prevents the book from teetering into titillating territory, but although Favor Hamilton did not try to make herself look good, she also did not portray herself as sympathetic.
Don't read this book expecting to understand the following:
How is it that a swimsuit calendar proved too taxing for the writer's family, yet a tell (nearly) all book is not?
How has her life changed since being publicly outed?
Why did Favor Hamilton write this account?
Yes. In this book, Suzy Favor Hamilton admits she faked a fall in her final, last-place-finish Olympic race.
SMH
This memoir seems to have been dictated to a ghostwriter or fixer. Discrepancies and pacing issues may be a product of Favor Hamilton's mental status, or they may be the result of a fatigued editor.
The book manages to simultaneously over- and under-explain, stopping short of answering easily anticipated questions about her double life, Vegas activities, and marital strain. Certainly, she was trying to avoid further scandal with a matter-of-fact approach that prevents the book from teetering into titillating territory, but although Favor Hamilton did not try to make herself look good, she also did not portray herself as sympathetic.
Don't read this book expecting to understand the following:
How is it that a swimsuit calendar proved too taxing for the writer's family, yet a tell (nearly) all book is not?
How has her life changed since being publicly outed?
Why did Favor Hamilton write this account?
buthainna's review against another edition
2.0
The story of an Olympic athlete who later became an escort due to a mental disorder. The reason I don't like this book is just how sexual it is. Unfortunately the way this woman's bipolar disorder manifested was mostly a hyperactive sex drive, the thing that led her to becoming a call girl in Las Vegas and leaving her family behind. You'll read about her life as a teenager as she was getting into competitive sports, dealing with the pressures of that, and with her brother's suicide. Later on she explains how she got into escorting and what that life was look.
The book ends when a reporter outs her in a front page scandal, forcing her to quit her fun life. A few months later she receives her bipolar diagnosis.
I wish she talked more about her recovery and life after diagnosis.
The book ends when a reporter outs her in a front page scandal, forcing her to quit her fun life. A few months later she receives her bipolar diagnosis.
I wish she talked more about her recovery and life after diagnosis.
alisarae's review against another edition
Has the disctint taste of being ghostwritten but still a very interesting story.
Being married to someone who has bipolar disorder must be very difficult; imagine if that person is undiagnosed, or in Suzy’s case, misdiagnosed. She was treated for depression with Zoloft, which can have very bad effects on ppl with bipolar disorder. That is what led to her sex addiction and living as if there was no consequences for anything she did. Major props to Suzy’s husband, who remained married to her through all of that craziness! I can’t imagine.
The audiobook narrator sounds almost exactly like Suzy. Since suzy reads the intro and afterward, you can compare the two. I was impressed.
Being married to someone who has bipolar disorder must be very difficult; imagine if that person is undiagnosed, or in Suzy’s case, misdiagnosed. She was treated for depression with Zoloft, which can have very bad effects on ppl with bipolar disorder. That is what led to her sex addiction and living as if there was no consequences for anything she did. Major props to Suzy’s husband, who remained married to her through all of that craziness! I can’t imagine.
The audiobook narrator sounds almost exactly like Suzy. Since suzy reads the intro and afterward, you can compare the two. I was impressed.
talkbookswithnat's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this book was going to be more running related but it was more about her life and her bipolar diagnosis. She continues to push the limits and take on extremes. There was just as much sex talk as running.
I did enjoy it and there was an opportunity to learn more about bipolar disorder.
I did enjoy it and there was an opportunity to learn more about bipolar disorder.
brennna's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
sonia_reppe's review against another edition
5.0
She's so pretty. In the 90's I admired Suzy Hamilton. I was running on my high school cross-country team and I used to cut out pictures of her from Runner's World, hang them in my room or paste them to my journal. (I still have that old journal and there she is on the cover, wearing a Reebok shirt and beaming into the camera). She stood out. Apparently, in December of 2012 news broke that she was leading a secret life as an expensive call girl but I only just found out earlier this year when I heard that her memoir was coming out.
I'm glad I watched the 20/20 episode of Suzy and her husband before I read this, because then I could picture him. I wish this memoir had pictures. No pictures?! Dey Street/William Morrow publisher usually has great pictures in their celebrity memoirs. Come on, why no pictures? I know that people can google for pictures but a celebrity memoir really should have a spread of pics. Still, that doesn't bring down the rating for me.
Her husband Mark is in this a lot. He loves her so much that he has stayed with her. (Yay, cheers for Suzy!). I loved all the parts of this memoir, the competitive runnning, the modeling (she could've been a professional model but she wanted to win so much that she chose running), the good times of her marriage, her depression and then mania when she became a call girl. She blames Zoloft for taking her mania to super high levels. Really, she didn't seem in her right mind. She would have so much fun with a client, that she would gush to her husband about it, even though he hated hearing about it. You'd think that after a fun "appointment" the high would fade and she'd have low self-esteem, but no, she just wanted more, more, more. She wanted to be the best, just like when she was a professional runner. It's interesting.
Suzy's brother had committed suicide, so I think her husband was justifying her behavior with thoughts like at least this is keeping her from being suicidal. Strange behavior though, for a married woman of 20 years who also had a daughter at home. Strange also that after her first Olympics, she had a breast reduction to look more like a runner! She was showing crazy even back then.
I'm glad I watched the 20/20 episode of Suzy and her husband before I read this, because then I could picture him. I wish this memoir had pictures. No pictures?! Dey Street/William Morrow publisher usually has great pictures in their celebrity memoirs. Come on, why no pictures? I know that people can google for pictures but a celebrity memoir really should have a spread of pics. Still, that doesn't bring down the rating for me.
Her husband Mark is in this a lot. He loves her so much that he has stayed with her. (Yay, cheers for Suzy!). I loved all the parts of this memoir, the competitive runnning, the modeling (she could've been a professional model but she wanted to win so much that she chose running), the good times of her marriage, her depression and then mania when she became a call girl. She blames Zoloft for taking her mania to super high levels. Really, she didn't seem in her right mind. She would have so much fun with a client, that she would gush to her husband about it, even though he hated hearing about it. You'd think that after a fun "appointment" the high would fade and she'd have low self-esteem, but no, she just wanted more, more, more. She wanted to be the best, just like when she was a professional runner. It's interesting.
Suzy's brother had committed suicide, so I think her husband was justifying her behavior with thoughts like at least this is keeping her from being suicidal. Strange behavior though, for a married woman of 20 years who also had a daughter at home. Strange also that after her first Olympics, she had a breast reduction to look more like a runner! She was showing crazy even back then.