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3.13 AVERAGE
3.13 AVERAGE
Rounding up. This is a little bit a celebrity rambling about how hard it is to be famous, and also not famous, so not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ she won me over with the rant about memoirs, and she was careful to point out that she was maintaining perspective throughout. It will make me think twice before being mean to a celeb online. Not that I ever do that anyway but you know.
Justine Bateman insists this is not a memoir early on in the book. And it isn't, not really. But it's also impossible for her not to insert her own experiences into her exploration of the life cycle of fame and theories on why people react they way they do to the famous. I don't think this takes away from the work, but rather helps the reader get to know Bateman as the human she is not just as one of the famous or once very famous. Her stream of consciousness and conversational writing style also helps as she addresses the reader directly. I thought this was a really honest work and useful in examining how reality TV, the internet and social media have changed what it means (and what it takes to be famous).
I was fascinated by this book. It is stuff I already had hints at having worked in the film community, having friends in bands, and seen glimpses of what fame does to actors/musicians lives. Even small scale fame. It was interesting to read Bateman's thoughts on fame from the perspective of one who had it in a huge way, had it wane, and who no longer has it in a big way but could never be anonymous, regular, person again because she had it once.
Definitely worth a read. It may make you glad you are not famous or make you think she is being too self-involved when she isn't. She is just writing about fame from her life experience and it is thought provoking.
Definitely worth a read. It may make you glad you are not famous or make you think she is being too self-involved when she isn't. She is just writing about fame from her life experience and it is thought provoking.
Rounded up from 3.5 stars.
Reading Bateman's "Fame" is like listening to one long, breathless download by a smart and insightful person. This isn't a memoir about being famous, but it still provides a visceral sense of what it's like to be the person standing on the red carpet in front of the cameras -- and what it feels like later on, when the cameras are pointed at the person behind you, not at you.
My favorite takeaway was her observation that fame isn't something a person can control. It's a "sheath" which is "sprayed" on someone by others. And that sheath then influences every single interaction that person has with others, whether they want it to or not.
There's a fair amount of repetition of ideas, which is one of the reasons I didn't rate the book higher. Sometimes the urgent, breathless tone became a bit much ("breathless" as in saying quite a bit before stopping to actually breathe in again, not as in a Marilyn Monroe whisper), but Bateman did succeed in creating a sense of intimacy, of wanting to talk directly to the reader as a friend. So many people are star-struck by fame, yearn for fame, are scornful of fame, but she is one of the few who can describe what's like on the other side, and she urgently wants others to understand how it works. . . because it's not like what most of us imagine.
Reading Bateman's "Fame" is like listening to one long, breathless download by a smart and insightful person. This isn't a memoir about being famous, but it still provides a visceral sense of what it's like to be the person standing on the red carpet in front of the cameras -- and what it feels like later on, when the cameras are pointed at the person behind you, not at you.
My favorite takeaway was her observation that fame isn't something a person can control. It's a "sheath" which is "sprayed" on someone by others. And that sheath then influences every single interaction that person has with others, whether they want it to or not.
There's a fair amount of repetition of ideas, which is one of the reasons I didn't rate the book higher. Sometimes the urgent, breathless tone became a bit much ("breathless" as in saying quite a bit before stopping to actually breathe in again, not as in a Marilyn Monroe whisper), but Bateman did succeed in creating a sense of intimacy, of wanting to talk directly to the reader as a friend. So many people are star-struck by fame, yearn for fame, are scornful of fame, but she is one of the few who can describe what's like on the other side, and she urgently wants others to understand how it works. . . because it's not like what most of us imagine.
This was fun to read. Clearly researched, reflected upon and also deeply personal (not in a TV interview way but in a “here’s a fucked up thing I’ve had to make sense of” way), it’s written in rhythmic streams of thought, fat with metaphors that are apt and lovely; it’s an education that sometimes hurts to hear, but that also feels like a journey on a tiny rowboat. You think about fame as a concept, a spirit, an egregore, spraypaint packed with micro-bacteria that will then grow on you, colonize you.
You think about the times you were weird in proximity to that halo of the famous, and of the times when you touched something resembling fame on yourself—how it subtly changed you, changed others around you, became addictive. You think about fame’s ritual importance in our culture, that mixture of love and resentment that colors it.
Anyway, I was into it. Hey, Bateman! I love your work. Maybe someday I’ll be “happy to have met you.”
Lastly: if it’s practical for you, I recommend the Audible version, read by Bateman.
You think about the times you were weird in proximity to that halo of the famous, and of the times when you touched something resembling fame on yourself—how it subtly changed you, changed others around you, became addictive. You think about fame’s ritual importance in our culture, that mixture of love and resentment that colors it.
Anyway, I was into it. Hey, Bateman! I love your work. Maybe someday I’ll be “happy to have met you.”
Lastly: if it’s practical for you, I recommend the Audible version, read by Bateman.
I remember watching the author in Family Ties, so it’s interesting to have that connection while reading this book.
However, the stream of consciousness writing style isn’t for me. I found it a bit repetitive, and like I was being talked at for a prolonged period of time. That’s quite discomfiting.
I also don’t quite know what the point of this book is. Fame sucks and it’s awful to be recognised/ not-recognised? You have fame-related obligations? The author acknowledges she’s complaining about stuff that other people would love to have but continues to complain about them without explaining why it’s a huge problem.
Certain elements are understandable. Lack of autonomy, the stalker she had, the loss of privacy, those are horrifying. But a lot of people also have to deal with these issues without the support system of Hollywood agents and assistants.
I feel like the author had a lot to say and get off her chest, so I’m glad that she’s done that with this book, but it didn’t really add anything to my understanding of fame and it’s implications for famous people.
However, the stream of consciousness writing style isn’t for me. I found it a bit repetitive, and like I was being talked at for a prolonged period of time. That’s quite discomfiting.
I also don’t quite know what the point of this book is. Fame sucks and it’s awful to be recognised/ not-recognised? You have fame-related obligations? The author acknowledges she’s complaining about stuff that other people would love to have but continues to complain about them without explaining why it’s a huge problem.
Certain elements are understandable. Lack of autonomy, the stalker she had, the loss of privacy, those are horrifying. But a lot of people also have to deal with these issues without the support system of Hollywood agents and assistants.
I feel like the author had a lot to say and get off her chest, so I’m glad that she’s done that with this book, but it didn’t really add anything to my understanding of fame and it’s implications for famous people.
An interesting book about the highs and lows of fame from the perspective of someone who has lived it. I enjoyed reading an insider's account of living in the spotlight and now have some empathy for those in the spotlight, particularly for those young performers who become famous before they realize what they signed up for. (Still no sympathy for the reality "stars"). My reason for 3 stars is that the chapters, while short, were sometimes disjointed and read like a person's thoughts rather than being laid out in a straight narrative form. Still not a bad read.
I found this book so interesting. I loved her as an actress in the 80's, but it was so riveting to learn of the behind-the-scenes details that shaped who she became as an adult woman. Smart and witty, honest to the core. Loved.
informative
fast-paced