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bookworm_ran's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Addiction, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism
caitlyn888's review against another edition
4.0
The sitcom "Roseanne" is one of my favorite TV shows of all time - I own the complete series and rewatch the episodes repeatedly as a comfort tool. So when I saw that Roseanne Barr's daughter had written a memoir about her life during those years, I knew I had to pick it up. I came to terms long ago with the fact that Roseanne Conner the character is very different from Roseanne Barr the person, so that helped prepare me a bit for what I was about to learn.
But only a bit. Holy crap. I had previously heard that Roseanne's real daughters wanted to use a coffin as a bed, but their actual lives were way too harsh for TV. Jenny Pentland has been through some shit. All the reform schools, Weight Watchers camps, and wilderness survival camps, combined with her mother's problematic marriage and paparazzi-frenzied life, and it's astonishing to see that she got to adulthood in one piece. (Though she talks at the end of the book about her recent journey into therapy for PTSD, which thank god, cuz that was a lot of trauma to endure at such a young age.)
Jenny maintains a balance between defending and critiquing her mom's actions over the years, while she also remains pretty grounded as the daughter of a celebrity. She also gives "Roseanne" fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the making of the show, and it was interesting to hear her talk about real life things that happened in her family that then ended up being plot lines in the show.
But only a bit. Holy crap. I had previously heard that Roseanne's real daughters wanted to use a coffin as a bed, but their actual lives were way too harsh for TV. Jenny Pentland has been through some shit. All the reform schools, Weight Watchers camps, and wilderness survival camps, combined with her mother's problematic marriage and paparazzi-frenzied life, and it's astonishing to see that she got to adulthood in one piece. (Though she talks at the end of the book about her recent journey into therapy for PTSD, which thank god, cuz that was a lot of trauma to endure at such a young age.)
Jenny maintains a balance between defending and critiquing her mom's actions over the years, while she also remains pretty grounded as the daughter of a celebrity. She also gives "Roseanne" fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the making of the show, and it was interesting to hear her talk about real life things that happened in her family that then ended up being plot lines in the show.
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
3.0
I heard about this when the author (Roseanne Barr's daughter) spoke on a book author interview podcast. It piqued my interest at the time.
Usually I give memoirs 4 stars unless I think it's particularly not good (like this) or particularly good (and will give 5 stars). I put this memoir in the former category.
Jenny and I are about the same age, and I knew it would be hard to be Roseanne's daughter. Roseanne has always been a controversial figure. When I think of all the controversy surrounding Roseanne, two instances come to mind: 1) racist tweeting and 2) the Tom Arnold years. In many ways, I think the Tom Arnold years were worse because that was YEARS of professional and personal upheaval. Even as a teen I knew the Roseanne and Tom combo was a chaotic mess with constant drama on the set and in their personal lives, and now that there has been time to reflect, it really was a drug-fueled mess combined with combative personalities and throw in some trauma and mental disorders for good measure.
As Roseanne's daughter, Jenny was thrown into the sea when Roseanne became abruptly famous and got her own show and left her father. She even indicates they were like the Beverly Hillbillies when they got to LA. Jenny turned to food early in life for comfort, and it just got worse once her mother became famous and her life spiraled. So Roseanne sent Jenny and her sister Jessica to a series of reformatories/rehabs/wilderness schools for the bulk of their tweens and teens (aka the Tom Arnold years). None of these seemed like official boarding schools.
Roseanne was BUSY during the timing of Jenny's teen years in addition to having a high-profile romance and marriage with a drug addict. Should Jenny have stayed with Roseanne and Tom, went with her dad and his new wife (this is where I suspect she would have had the most "normal" life), gone to these series of "placements" like fat camps and wilderness schools, or went to a boarding school with stable parent-like figures? It's difficult to say, but in my opinion being full-time with Roseanne and Tom during those 8 years would have been worse than what she went through at the series of "schools."
I did have a big question: Where did her father go for her teen years and adulthood? He seemed very stable in her early childhood, and then he got into a new relationship after the divorce and...disappeared?
Jenny is still very close with Roseanne (who likely funds a lot in her life, including employing her husband for a while), so there's not a lot of finger pointing toward Roseanne. And then the racist tweeting part is very much glossed over. Hey, I can see why she wouldn't want to stop the money train.
And here ultimately is why I gave it a lower star rating (in addition to dismissing her father pretty early in her memoir): There was very little analysis, even retrospectively, of her life. Roseanne Barr's children need therapy. She did mention therapy a little here and there, but she doesn't seem to the point where she has truly processed her life before she was 25. Given that she's in her late 40s, I expected more in that realm. So I was disappointed overall, and I thought many points in the memoir were messy/chaotic in their recounting.
Usually I give memoirs 4 stars unless I think it's particularly not good (like this) or particularly good (and will give 5 stars). I put this memoir in the former category.
Jenny and I are about the same age, and I knew it would be hard to be Roseanne's daughter. Roseanne has always been a controversial figure. When I think of all the controversy surrounding Roseanne, two instances come to mind: 1) racist tweeting and 2) the Tom Arnold years. In many ways, I think the Tom Arnold years were worse because that was YEARS of professional and personal upheaval. Even as a teen I knew the Roseanne and Tom combo was a chaotic mess with constant drama on the set and in their personal lives, and now that there has been time to reflect, it really was a drug-fueled mess combined with combative personalities and throw in some trauma and mental disorders for good measure.
As Roseanne's daughter, Jenny was thrown into the sea when Roseanne became abruptly famous and got her own show and left her father. She even indicates they were like the Beverly Hillbillies when they got to LA. Jenny turned to food early in life for comfort, and it just got worse once her mother became famous and her life spiraled. So Roseanne sent Jenny and her sister Jessica to a series of reformatories/rehabs/wilderness schools for the bulk of their tweens and teens (aka the Tom Arnold years). None of these seemed like official boarding schools.
Roseanne was BUSY during the timing of Jenny's teen years in addition to having a high-profile romance and marriage with a drug addict. Should Jenny have stayed with Roseanne and Tom, went with her dad and his new wife (this is where I suspect she would have had the most "normal" life), gone to these series of "placements" like fat camps and wilderness schools, or went to a boarding school with stable parent-like figures? It's difficult to say, but in my opinion being full-time with Roseanne and Tom during those 8 years would have been worse than what she went through at the series of "schools."
I did have a big question: Where did her father go for her teen years and adulthood? He seemed very stable in her early childhood, and then he got into a new relationship after the divorce and...disappeared?
Jenny is still very close with Roseanne (who likely funds a lot in her life, including employing her husband for a while), so there's not a lot of finger pointing toward Roseanne. And then the racist tweeting part is very much glossed over. Hey, I can see why she wouldn't want to stop the money train.
And here ultimately is why I gave it a lower star rating (in addition to dismissing her father pretty early in her memoir): There was very little analysis, even retrospectively, of her life. Roseanne Barr's children need therapy. She did mention therapy a little here and there, but she doesn't seem to the point where she has truly processed her life before she was 25. Given that she's in her late 40s, I expected more in that realm. So I was disappointed overall, and I thought many points in the memoir were messy/chaotic in their recounting.
lisag's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
4.0
thatpatti's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this quite a bit, as I do most decently-written memoirs. I listened to the audiobook. Jenny has a very flat delivery which took a while to get used to, but her humor is dry and it’s amazing that given all she went through she still has a good relationship with her family.
rmwh's review against another edition
4.0
Engaging, funny, weird, and deeply disturbing. This was a five star book until about a dozen pages to the end when Pentland brushes off her mother’s racist tweet as “perceived” to be racist. Of course a daughter will defend her mother, and I don’t blame her in that respect, but I found her to be so inspirational and “above it all” until that moment. I was disappointed because she constantly proves the adage “just because someone has it worse than you doesn’t mean you’re not suffering” and then finally seems to succumb to the privilege she previously refused to touch. To bill a book this way and share every detail of your life in such a vulnerable manner and then be so blind to excuse racism on a single page… lacks self-awareness. This is a good book, but as it’s intensely personal, the reader should be allowed to rate the book on its merits AND on the personal feelings/anecdotes of the author.
amasmithy's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Well written! I felt like I was living in her world. It's interesting, funny, and real.
thecolorsofboredom's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
Her life was very interesting. And this book was very boring. She oddly talked a lot about the average parts of her lives and sort of skimmed over the parts that were interesting.