Streisand: A Biography

Rating:
Summary: A Lovingly Documented and Well Researched Biography
Review: After reading, Edwards book on the famous singer, I found that Edwards has definately done her homework. There were many interesting and fun facts and factlets about Barbra's life and, especially, the people in them. However, the last few chapters fall apart and I couldn't help but wonder what the big rush seemed to be in not paying as close attention to detail as Edwards had early on in Barbra's life. Clearly, she holds Streisand in high regard, since Edwards presents her life as if she is one of her biggest fans. The book opens with the Las Vegas concerts and ends about 5 years after, giving the reader no sense of closure. A flaw in writing the biography of a person who's story isn't over yet.

Rating:
Summary: A Lovingly Documented and Well Researched Biography
Review: I just finished Anne Edwards' biography of Streisand- in one day, and I am not even a fan of the woman. However, viewing Streisand through Edwards' eyes makes the reader root for the insecure teenager, the "homely" girl from Brooklyn, who despite a disturbing lack of support which started with her own mother's criticism of her career choice- managed to blast into world superstardorm as a Broadway headliner, bestselling recording artist and director, producer and star of her own Hollywood movies. She was a little girl who bought into the fantasy of movies- and was placed in the unique position to create fantasy herself, thanks to what Edwards calls her "chuptzah"- a winning mixture of charm, impossibly high standards, and absolute artistic control over every venture she undertakes. Edwards paints Streisand in bold strokes-quite subtly, with her warts and all. The reader may feel unsatisfied though, because although we get a thorough profile of Streisand the performer and businesswoman, it is still Barbra-the-human-being that is elusive. More insight into her relationship with her son, Jason (who happens to be gay) would have been in order. Regardless of these shortcomings- Edwards' biography triumphs as a beautifully written portrait of a wonderfully multi dimensional woman.

Rating:
Summary: An innocent child? Or a flustered fool?
Review: I read Edwards' rendition of Streisand on a full stomach--indeed, had I eaten one more bite, I would have choked in a way that would have repulsed the most sea-tested sailor. Perhaps it was this context--a context at once full and barren--that allowed me to plunge into Streisand's persona with such plodding, cautious, phobic zeal. Would this book answer the main question: is Babs a hapless victim; is she an innocent child; or is she an immature hapless brat whose very own defensiveness results entirely in her tireless attempts to put others on the defensive in her presence? Once you are certain the world revolves around you, to put others on the defensive is your only resort when an unnamed discomfort disturbs your fragile psyche--when for a passing moment the reality that you are not as great as you think you are dares manifest itself; and you, with just slightly greater impetus, dare not see it for what it is really is: a truth that threatens the (necessary) house of cards that you --and your adoring lemmings--call reality. Edwards' treatment here sidesteps these questions by becoming a literary lemming. Her introduction and her conclusion are like two pies on a ledge of a house: screaming the warning "don't jump around or the pies may tip over and fall!" Edwards is a fan. That is why this book is so excellent. She loves Babs. I do. You do. Babs does. Andre does. Our president does. Buy the book and share it with your OWN Babs. Cross the line. To make a connection. A Streisand Connection.

Rating:
Summary: Edwards' Failure
Review: In order to be fair I read this book twice. I adore Babs--I live my life to be like hers; I want my resonance to sympathize with her resonance. I want people to spend time with me and to think that they have really been in the company of Babs. Or at least AS IF they had been in her company--I want to leave a similar impression. I really really really do. I approached this book in much the same way. I wanted to think that this book was in Babs' library. Instead, if anything, Edwards' treatment locates this book not in her library but perhaps in her pantry--right between that canned vegatable that the previous owners left behind and the cantalope pie tin. Edwards' doesn't get Babs' main rhetorical mechanism--of putting the world on the defensive to protect her from her own defensiveness. Edward's BUYS INTO Babs' mechanisms rather than calling them out. In a sense, Edwards argues for the grandeur of the Emperor's new clothes. I give it 5 stars because, as the other reviews attest, her fans want to be duped. Hence, I celebrate 5-star stupidity.