From Booklist Not many people may remember it today, but five years ago, Roseanne (Do we really need more than one name?) wrote a book called, no surprise, Roseanne. It dealt rather benignly with the members of her family, making them seem more madcap than malevolent. Well, a different Roseanne must have written this book, which is not surprising since she claims here to suffer from multiple personalities. This is a very angry book, and it's written from the perspective of a woman who claims to have been sexually and physically abused by both parents and abandoned by the rest of her family when she decided to go public with her revelations. She savages her ex-husband so wittily you almost feel sorry for the guy: "[Bill] moved on his own to L.A. to be a Sunset Strip hippie. Finding the work too demanding .ÿ20.ÿ20. he took a job as a night clerk in a motel." The first producer of her show, with whom Roseanne continually fought, fares worse: "hack son-of-a-bitch" is the least of her epithets about him. And, of course, her parents come in for the most vehement attacks of all. Anyone who has seen Roseanne plugging her new book on the talk shows (only those who interviewed her were allowed advance copies of the book) might well have noted that the woman with the number-one rated television show in the country seems profoundly depressed, and she categorically states that nothing has helped her state of mind--not the money, not the fame, not her reasonably successful marriage to second husband Tom Arnold. Though laced throughout with Roseanne's bitchy, funny take on the world, this book reveals a very sad woman, which, if even half the things she says about her life are true, she has reason to be. Ilene Cooper Read more
K**7
Wtf
If you wanna hear all about Tom Arnold then read this book
M**A
Five Stars
Glad to have found!
C**E
Great read!!!!
This good was actually very good. I like the behind the scenes look I get on a show I grew up loving. She is brutally honest!
R**L
Who Knew?
Roseanne is always brilliant. For some reason this audio book is more relevant now than it was 20 years ago.
F**T
The truth about women!
I love her honesty in this book. It's a horrible yet inspiring story of so many struggles. I could definitely relate. I commend her for her courage and bravery to stand up and speak out.
G**I
So much you don't realize on the surface...
I really liked this book, but I think I liked her first book,[...]... better. Though, in this one she had less fear of the truth, wasn't afraid to get raw, and admit not only other's shortcomings, but her own...Again, I was struck by the fact that she was so brilliantly intelligent, yet emotionally wounded, a poetess, a feminist, a mysticist, a flower child, a mother, a queen in her own world. All of these different parts of her enveloped her and sometimes threatened to take over who was truly "Roseanne".I was shocked, actually, how the first season she had to fight so hard to get her character to be... well, HER. She had to fight tooth and nail not to be yet another Samantha or June, not to be what the act that had GOTTEN her the show was built around. Her biggest supporters were, at that time, John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf. They stood by her when the rest of the studio loathed her for speaking her mind and fighting for her own truth. And, then there was Tom Arnold, who I actually gained a little respect for after reading this.He was with her before she was a star, her best friend, her writing partner-- a man who silently was in love with her, but she was married to an emotionally manipulative drunk, who tried to constantly use her own children against her, and actually held secret meetings with the studio brass to conspire against her, as well as The Enquirer and her own children, telling them that their mother must love her "little job" more than them because she was no longer a stay-at-home Mom. (Despite the fact that he, himself, when left to watch the kids was oft times too drunk to even get them to school...) Of course, that's different than the general consensus at that time, that he attached himself to her coattails after her fame...Though, things with Tom weren't all roses, either. She was in denial about his coke habit, but eventually through him getting help, was able to face her denial about her own, abusive and parasitic family. And that her father molesting not only her and her sisters, but her DAUGHTER, and saying "Call it molest, I can live with that-- that's just a woman being hysterical"... well, that was just sickening.But she seemed to have come out the other end stronger for it-- though, she was still married to Tom at the end of this book, so I don't know what happened next... but all in all, despite her ascervic (and sometimes quite raunchy) wit), beneath that is a very strong, intelligent, and LOVING person, who I hope now is doing well.
T**L
Roseanne Barr Pentland Arnold Thomas: Part 2
I must say that I didn't exactly know what to think when I saw a book with Tom and Roseanne on the cover. But seeing as "Roseanne" is one of my favorite shows, I had to pick it up. This is Roseanne Barr-Arnold's second book; I have not yet read the first one. The book discusses everything between the start of her stand-up act through her marriage with Tom Arnold. She has lots of fun bashing all of the people she worked with on her hit sitcom and her ex-husband, Bill Pentland, who she was married to for 16 years and had 3 children with. The thing that is ironic about this book is how Roseanne talks about how much she loves Tom Arnold, when she divorced him the same year that this book was released. The book is actually quite interesting, however. We see that Roseanne Barr and Roseanne Arnold are definetely two different people. This Roseanne is sticking with her story about her father molesting her and her sisters. (The Roseanne Barr of 2004 is now getting along with her family.) I think that this book is a little one-sided, though. Roseanne doesn't seem to think about how her children must feel during this divorce. I do recommend it for those of you intrigued by Roseanne Barr-Pentland-Arnold-Thomas's life story.
J**X
A tell-all and accuse-all of a memoir
This is Roseanne's second autobiography, the one in which she alleges childhood sexual abuse by both her mother and father. She also details how her younger sister fled her parents' house due to abuse (and now denies any abuse) and how Roseanne's daughter was also abused by Roseanne's father. Roseanne claims her weight issues stem from childhood sexual abuse. In a bizarre chapter at the end, Roseanne even alludes to having multiple personality disorder, as a means of surviving abuse.Roseanne also dishes about the formative years of her sitcom and her desperate struggle for creative control, as well as her romance, marriage, and creative partnership with Tom Arnold. She also describes in detail the infamous National Anthem debacle, from what her intentions were through the aftermath.I don't know if I find Roseanne 100% credible. She's outrageous and unbalanced and I can't help but feel that she skewers the truth to meet her own needs. If you can get past that, this makes for an interesting read.
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