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tmatlin's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting memoir -- Lynch talks a lot about her struggles with herself (alcoholism, insecurities, etc) during her journey to where she is today. Inspiring at parts, although towards the end when Lynch is finally coming into her own, it seemed that many of the subjects were given superficial coverage; it seemed like she wanted to write about every single event, but jammed them into just a few chapters.
caitlin_reads88's review against another edition
3.0
Jane Lynch is one of those actors that didn't get a big break until her late 30s, the first thing I remember her being in was Best in Show (when she was 40) even though I've seen her actual first movie role- The Fugitive- a dozen times. This whole book is basically the story of her growing up and hustling her way into pop culture permanence as Sue Sylvester from Glee.
Lynch was brought up in a suburb of Chicago as the middle child of her Irish Catholic parents who brought her up in a household full of singing, laughing and booze. Her parents thew parties constantly and didn't bat an eye lash when their high-schooler joined in. She was caught relighting and smoking a cigarette butt at 12 and was applauded for taking to it so well.
Lynch realized at a young age she was gay:
"'Sometimes,' Jill said, 'you'll see boys holding hands with each other on the beach, instead of with girls. It's because they're gay.' They could already procure a tone of scandal and disgust, as if the subject were the sexual proclivities of circus freaks. I just stood there in shock.
Oh my god, I thought, that's what I have. I'm the girl version of that."
Being in the closest was a hardship for Jane, it pushed away friendships and when she finally got to college (where her parents couldn't see her) she had a relationship with an older woman that eventually led to a series of non-serious, short term relationships. There were no great romances in Jane's younger years. Jane eventually came out to her parents in a letter encouraged by her therapist, she was in her 30s, and she came out to love and support.
Jane was never a serious student but earned good grades at Illinois State once she switched to an acting major and eventually won scholarships to get her MFA at Cornell. Post-graduation Jane worked at an HSN-style show that really taught her the improvisation skills that would lead her to Second City. She never made it into the main cast, she was an understudy, and she eventually left. There were several jobs and several cities in Lynch's early years (primarily Chicago, New York and LA)- it would take forever to list them all and if you're interested in her early career her book is very thorough and entertaining in explaining all she did to get where she is now. A lot of it involved never saying no.
One early job was a parody of the Brady Bunch in which Jane played Mrs. Brady. The show was a big success but she was surrounded by 20 year olds (she was in her 30s at this point) and drinking like them too. She realized at this time in her life that she had a drinking problem. She drank Miller Tall Boys every night and partied hard after her Brady shows. She eventually went to AA and has been sober since 1992. Her story of sobriety was probably the most interest to me because it was unexpected, she got sober before she got famous so you never really hear about it.
Once she met Christopher Guest, through two chance encounters, she became one of his more regular fixtures showing up again in A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration, she also became a bit of a Judd Apatow fixture after her performance in The 40-Year Old Virgin. This is when she came in to the collective conscious of my generation.
And then there was Glee. There was actually some backstage drama leading up to her "iconic" (for some I suppose) role as Sue Sylvester involving her accepting a crappy pilot- because she can't say no- days before talking to Ryan Murphy about Glee. We know how it turned out, Glee launched Jane Lynch into the pop culture stratosphere winning her an Emmy and a Golden Globe. I watched the first season of Glee, Jane Lynch looks like she is having a great time and Sue Sylvester had some great scenes but it admittedly went off the rails since.
The last section in the book details her relationship with the woman who would become her wife. It would have been a lot more romantic if they weren't already divorced (post-publication).
I read Jane Lynch's book because it was loaned to me, it's not something I would have bought myself since I wouldn't call myself a fan of hers but it was an interesting read. I'd recommend it to someone who was a fan of Lynch's or not.
Lynch was brought up in a suburb of Chicago as the middle child of her Irish Catholic parents who brought her up in a household full of singing, laughing and booze. Her parents thew parties constantly and didn't bat an eye lash when their high-schooler joined in. She was caught relighting and smoking a cigarette butt at 12 and was applauded for taking to it so well.
Lynch realized at a young age she was gay:
"'Sometimes,' Jill said, 'you'll see boys holding hands with each other on the beach, instead of with girls. It's because they're gay.' They could already procure a tone of scandal and disgust, as if the subject were the sexual proclivities of circus freaks. I just stood there in shock.
Oh my god, I thought, that's what I have. I'm the girl version of that."
Being in the closest was a hardship for Jane, it pushed away friendships and when she finally got to college (where her parents couldn't see her) she had a relationship with an older woman that eventually led to a series of non-serious, short term relationships. There were no great romances in Jane's younger years. Jane eventually came out to her parents in a letter encouraged by her therapist, she was in her 30s, and she came out to love and support.
Jane was never a serious student but earned good grades at Illinois State once she switched to an acting major and eventually won scholarships to get her MFA at Cornell. Post-graduation Jane worked at an HSN-style show that really taught her the improvisation skills that would lead her to Second City. She never made it into the main cast, she was an understudy, and she eventually left. There were several jobs and several cities in Lynch's early years (primarily Chicago, New York and LA)- it would take forever to list them all and if you're interested in her early career her book is very thorough and entertaining in explaining all she did to get where she is now. A lot of it involved never saying no.
One early job was a parody of the Brady Bunch in which Jane played Mrs. Brady. The show was a big success but she was surrounded by 20 year olds (she was in her 30s at this point) and drinking like them too. She realized at this time in her life that she had a drinking problem. She drank Miller Tall Boys every night and partied hard after her Brady shows. She eventually went to AA and has been sober since 1992. Her story of sobriety was probably the most interest to me because it was unexpected, she got sober before she got famous so you never really hear about it.
Once she met Christopher Guest, through two chance encounters, she became one of his more regular fixtures showing up again in A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration, she also became a bit of a Judd Apatow fixture after her performance in The 40-Year Old Virgin. This is when she came in to the collective conscious of my generation.
And then there was Glee. There was actually some backstage drama leading up to her "iconic" (for some I suppose) role as Sue Sylvester involving her accepting a crappy pilot- because she can't say no- days before talking to Ryan Murphy about Glee. We know how it turned out, Glee launched Jane Lynch into the pop culture stratosphere winning her an Emmy and a Golden Globe. I watched the first season of Glee, Jane Lynch looks like she is having a great time and Sue Sylvester had some great scenes but it admittedly went off the rails since.
The last section in the book details her relationship with the woman who would become her wife. It would have been a lot more romantic if they weren't already divorced (post-publication).
I read Jane Lynch's book because it was loaned to me, it's not something I would have bought myself since I wouldn't call myself a fan of hers but it was an interesting read. I'd recommend it to someone who was a fan of Lynch's or not.
candilaria's review against another edition
4.0
My library just recently acquired this book, and when it came down on the display I couldn't help but pick it up. I thought it would quickly be placed in my "Ever-growing List of Must Reads," but to my surprise, it was unexpectedly catapulted to the top of my reading list and was complete in short order. I have no idea what was so captivating about this book other than my desire to get to how Jane Lynch captured her role as Sue Sylvester in Glee, one of my favorite shows that I rarely get to watch. And my initial impression pretty much stuck with me throughout the entire book. Though Lynch has led an interesting life (it never even occurred to me that my library purchased the book because it was in celebration of LGBT Month), the book as written didn't describe any cataclysmic spiral--what we've come to expect from these memoirs--a fact of which Lynch is keenly aware of, even as she relates her experiences in AA. The great testimony to Lynch's book, her character, and her life is that one should not give up on one's dreams and more importantly, that sometimes our dreams find us.
kasiabrenna's review against another edition
2.0
This one is just okay... I still think Jane Lynch is fabulous, but the book was kind of a slog.
jennyrpotter's review against another edition
4.0
I have always enjoyed Jane Lynch as an actress, but reading her memoir really made me appreciate her even more. The book was certainly funny, but not as funny as Tina Fey's or Mindy Kaling's. Lynch has quite a bit of insight into her past, her blunders, her triumphs, and her "happy accidents." I also enjoyed the slant that her memoir took in discussing her sexual orientation, how she struggled with it, her coming out process, and what her life looks like now. Overall a good, easy read.
parvadea's review against another edition
4.0
If I liked Lynch before I love her now. Her story is not only interesting but also assuring, things will get better and you are not alone.
Lynch book is important for women, lesbians, people with mental illness, alcoholics, actors, anyone who have a dream, the list goes on. Following her on her journey through life while knowing where she is today, that she will succeed, is very assuring. It makes you realize you can do it too.
Lynch writes about all the hard parts in her life in a matter of fact way but without it getting unemotional or detaching. She tells her story, her past, and she does it in the way that she is, uncompromising and hopeful for the future. Sure the book ends with a happy ending, but it doesn't mean the difficulties before it was a waste or unnecessary. They, her past, is what makes her the woman she is today.
Lynch book is important for women, lesbians, people with mental illness, alcoholics, actors, anyone who have a dream, the list goes on. Following her on her journey through life while knowing where she is today, that she will succeed, is very assuring. It makes you realize you can do it too.
Lynch writes about all the hard parts in her life in a matter of fact way but without it getting unemotional or detaching. She tells her story, her past, and she does it in the way that she is, uncompromising and hopeful for the future. Sure the book ends with a happy ending, but it doesn't mean the difficulties before it was a waste or unnecessary. They, her past, is what makes her the woman she is today.
just1angie's review against another edition
3.0
Until i saw her on Glee I didn't know who she was (Not a big movie buff). Love her in the show though. I love the title of this book. So thematically connected. What a life! Go Jamie (lol - inside joke - lol)
mrsthrift's review against another edition
3.0
Jane Lynch says in this interview that she was inspired to write this book by the It Gets Better project, and it shows. This book delves into some of the darker moments of Jane's life, but also takes the reader to the heights of a strangely successful career. From her struggles with alcoholism, her extended period spent in the closet of self-denial, and dysfunctional romantic relationships that continued well into her adulthood, Jane Lynch delivers the kind of alienated, lonely, disturbing story we've come to expect from the Gay Childhood and Adolescence. And then, hold onto your hats, because she starts befriending important people, experience career success and working through her personal issues. It's really a peaks and valleys kind of story, but lacks the juicy gossip, personal secrets and insane revelations that make memoirs really great. This book is a sanitized version of the story told from a very happy place. Good for Jane Lynch, but there's a certain depth that's missing here. She literally has nothing bad to say about anyone who is currently in her life.
If you have never known someone who struggled with their sexual orientation through their adolescence and young adulthood, Jane's struggles might be enlighten you, but if you've had (or been) a self-loathing, drunk, gay friend, this will seem overwrought.
Regardless, this is a quick and easy read. Jane Lynch is a funny person. I appreciated that Jane delineated between her gender presentation and sexual orientation, exploring the ways that masculinity is constructed in contemporary media through her own experiences and career. Although she does not use academic theories and jargon to explore these issues, she mentions multiple times how many roles she has landed that were written for men and how she got those roles with her hard-ass, arrogant, over-confident faux bravado (fauxvado! that should be a word.). She questions why being confident and self-assured are masculine traits, and what it takes to "make it" as a funny lady. Her failures to get (and keep) the girl are kind of awkward and painful, but hey, we've all been there.
I struggled with how many stars to give this book -- I like Jane, and this is a perfectly fine book, but it's really just "okay" to me. 2.5 stars.
If you have never known someone who struggled with their sexual orientation through their adolescence and young adulthood, Jane's struggles might be enlighten you, but if you've had (or been) a self-loathing, drunk, gay friend, this will seem overwrought.
Regardless, this is a quick and easy read. Jane Lynch is a funny person. I appreciated that Jane delineated between her gender presentation and sexual orientation, exploring the ways that masculinity is constructed in contemporary media through her own experiences and career. Although she does not use academic theories and jargon to explore these issues, she mentions multiple times how many roles she has landed that were written for men and how she got those roles with her hard-ass, arrogant, over-confident faux bravado (fauxvado! that should be a word.). She questions why being confident and self-assured are masculine traits, and what it takes to "make it" as a funny lady. Her failures to get (and keep) the girl are kind of awkward and painful, but hey, we've all been there.
I struggled with how many stars to give this book -- I like Jane, and this is a perfectly fine book, but it's really just "okay" to me. 2.5 stars.
cgg0036's review against another edition
3.0
Jane Lynch is one of those actors that didn't get a big break until her late 30s, the first thing I remember her being in was Best in Show (when she was 40) even though I've seen her actual first movie role- The Fugitive- a dozen times. This whole book is basically the story of her growing up and hustling her way into pop culture permanence as Sue Sylvester from Glee.
Lynch was brought up in a suburb of Chicago as the middle child of her Irish Catholic parents who brought her up in a household full of singing, laughing and booze. Her parents thew parties constantly and didn't bat an eye lash when their high-schooler joined in. She was caught relighting and smoking a cigarette butt at 12 and was applauded for taking to it so well.
Lynch realized at a young age she was gay:
"'Sometimes,' Jill said, 'you'll see boys holding hands with each other on the beach, instead of with girls. It's because they're gay.' They could already procure a tone of scandal and disgust, as if the subject were the sexual proclivities of circus freaks. I just stood there in shock.
Oh my god, I thought, that's what I have. I'm the girl version of that."
Being in the closest was a hardship for Jane, it pushed away friendships and when she finally got to college (where her parents couldn't see her) she had a relationship with an older woman that eventually led to a series of non-serious, short term relationships. There were no great romances in Jane's younger years. Jane eventually came out to her parents in a letter encouraged by her therapist, she was in her 30s, and she came out to love and support.
Jane was never a serious student but earned good grades at Illinois State once she switched to an acting major and eventually won scholarships to get her MFA at Cornell. Post-graduation Jane worked at an HSN-style show that really taught her the improvisation skills that would lead her to Second City. She never made it into the main cast, she was an understudy, and she eventually left. There were several jobs and several cities in Lynch's early years (primarily Chicago, New York and LA)- it would take forever to list them all and if you're interested in her early career her book is very thorough and entertaining in explaining all she did to get where she is now. A lot of it involved never saying no.
One early job was a parody of the Brady Bunch in which Jane played Mrs. Brady. The show was a big success but she was surrounded by 20 year olds (she was in her 30s at this point) and drinking like them too. She realized at this time in her life that she had a drinking problem. She drank Miller Tall Boys every night and partied hard after her Brady shows. She eventually went to AA and has been sober since 1992. Her story of sobriety was probably the most interest to me because it was unexpected, she got sober before she got famous so you never really hear about it.
Once she met Christopher Guest, through two chance encounters, she became one of his more regular fixtures showing up again in A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration, she also became a bit of a Judd Apatow fixture after her performance in The 40-Year Old Virgin. This is when she came in to the collective conscious of my generation.
And then there was Glee. There was actually some backstage drama leading up to her "iconic" (for some I suppose) role as Sue Sylvester involving her accepting a crappy pilot- because she can't say no- days before talking to Ryan Murphy about Glee. We know how it turned out, Glee launched Jane Lynch into the pop culture stratosphere winning her an Emmy and a Golden Globe. I watched the first season of Glee, Jane Lynch looks like she is having a great time and Sue Sylvester had some great scenes but it admittedly went off the rails since.
The last section in the book details her relationship with the woman who would become her wife. It would have been a lot more romantic if they weren't already divorced (post-publication).
I read Jane Lynch's book because it was loaned to me, it's not something I would have bought myself since I wouldn't call myself a fan of hers but it was an interesting read. I'd recommend it to someone who was a fan of Lynch's or not.
Lynch was brought up in a suburb of Chicago as the middle child of her Irish Catholic parents who brought her up in a household full of singing, laughing and booze. Her parents thew parties constantly and didn't bat an eye lash when their high-schooler joined in. She was caught relighting and smoking a cigarette butt at 12 and was applauded for taking to it so well.
Lynch realized at a young age she was gay:
"'Sometimes,' Jill said, 'you'll see boys holding hands with each other on the beach, instead of with girls. It's because they're gay.' They could already procure a tone of scandal and disgust, as if the subject were the sexual proclivities of circus freaks. I just stood there in shock.
Oh my god, I thought, that's what I have. I'm the girl version of that."
Being in the closest was a hardship for Jane, it pushed away friendships and when she finally got to college (where her parents couldn't see her) she had a relationship with an older woman that eventually led to a series of non-serious, short term relationships. There were no great romances in Jane's younger years. Jane eventually came out to her parents in a letter encouraged by her therapist, she was in her 30s, and she came out to love and support.
Jane was never a serious student but earned good grades at Illinois State once she switched to an acting major and eventually won scholarships to get her MFA at Cornell. Post-graduation Jane worked at an HSN-style show that really taught her the improvisation skills that would lead her to Second City. She never made it into the main cast, she was an understudy, and she eventually left. There were several jobs and several cities in Lynch's early years (primarily Chicago, New York and LA)- it would take forever to list them all and if you're interested in her early career her book is very thorough and entertaining in explaining all she did to get where she is now. A lot of it involved never saying no.
One early job was a parody of the Brady Bunch in which Jane played Mrs. Brady. The show was a big success but she was surrounded by 20 year olds (she was in her 30s at this point) and drinking like them too. She realized at this time in her life that she had a drinking problem. She drank Miller Tall Boys every night and partied hard after her Brady shows. She eventually went to AA and has been sober since 1992. Her story of sobriety was probably the most interest to me because it was unexpected, she got sober before she got famous so you never really hear about it.
Once she met Christopher Guest, through two chance encounters, she became one of his more regular fixtures showing up again in A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration, she also became a bit of a Judd Apatow fixture after her performance in The 40-Year Old Virgin. This is when she came in to the collective conscious of my generation.
And then there was Glee. There was actually some backstage drama leading up to her "iconic" (for some I suppose) role as Sue Sylvester involving her accepting a crappy pilot- because she can't say no- days before talking to Ryan Murphy about Glee. We know how it turned out, Glee launched Jane Lynch into the pop culture stratosphere winning her an Emmy and a Golden Globe. I watched the first season of Glee, Jane Lynch looks like she is having a great time and Sue Sylvester had some great scenes but it admittedly went off the rails since.
The last section in the book details her relationship with the woman who would become her wife. It would have been a lot more romantic if they weren't already divorced (post-publication).
I read Jane Lynch's book because it was loaned to me, it's not something I would have bought myself since I wouldn't call myself a fan of hers but it was an interesting read. I'd recommend it to someone who was a fan of Lynch's or not.
valjeanval's review against another edition
3.0
As a 30 year old who still has yet to reach most of the markers of adulthood, this was a really refreshing read. Funny, honest, and thoughtful memoir.