Rating: 
Summary: Yikes!
Review: Although not the best writing style, the story does flow and this book turned out to be a page-turner. Before reading this book, I had no fondness for Anne Heche. I thought she was a perfectly adequate actress, but I believed her jumping from relationship to relationship (with whoever was the most famous or whoever had the most money) was a bit opportunistic, and maybe I still think that. However, her book explains her actions.
Anne believes that her father molested her - although she does not present any particular concrete memory to back this up. She told her mother that she had herpes on her face, and her mother admitted that when Anne was a baby, she had what was probably herpes on her vaginal area. Apparently her mother didn't catch them from husband, or if she did, she wasn't saying. What upset Anne so much was that her mother would never say she was sorry, or acknowledge that she was in any way responsible for not protecting Anne. What's weird (to me) is that obviously her father was a homosexual who had gay relationships with other adult males (he died of AIDS), but according to Anne's story, he was also a heterosexual pedophile - what's up with that?
Her father was a choir master who moved from church to church and her mother did not work (until much later). Her mother somehow managed to feed the family on the $5.00 a week her husband brought home. It's obvious that many of Anne's memories are not clear, but that's the way it is for many abuse survivors. Not only was Anne sexually abused, her father physically abused all the kids (her brother got blamed for stealing money - her father was the culprit), and the children were not allowed to ask questions and were punished for this. Her mother stood by him because that's what a good wife does, and above all, she was worried about getting into heaven. Although her mother told Anne that one of her little Jewish friends was a monster and going straight to hell, she later dated two married Jewish men herself.
Luckily Anne was discovered by a Proctor and Gamble talent scout while in high school, auditioned for a soap, and got the heck out of that mess. Her life afterwards actually went pretty smoothly - she seemed to get any acting job she wanted, got along well with others, and even had Steve Martin wanting to marry her. Anne was in therapy at a young age, but unfortunately, went a little haywire somewhere in her twenties. Due to her religious upbringing (all her mother cared about was Jesus' opinion, not her kids), and trying to deal with her dysfunctional family, Anne developed an alter ego, Celestia, who was the daughter of God, come to save mankind. Amazing things happened, albeit slightly otherwordly, and Anne filled two books with the writings (in another language) of Celestia. She also did drawings and poems. I wish that she had printed some excerpts of these. I think that along with those, some family pictures would have helped this book out tremendously.
What I'm not clear on, is the day she was going to get on the ship to go to heaven, she took Ecstasy, which she said that "they" instructed her to do. Was her fantasy afterward due to the drug, or would it have happened anyway? Because she certainly seemed to wise up pretty quickly once she was in the hospital.
Overall, I think Anne Heche has done a lot of work through the years on her emotional well-being, and seems to have it together at this point. She definitely has a couple of things straight: We are all children of God, and to love someone else, you must first love yourself. Thanks, Anne, for sharing your story.
Rating: 
Summary: Searing, Evocative, Touching, and Brilliant!
Review: Anne Heche received a lot of flak for her supposed psychotic episode in 2000. (She believed her name was Celestia, and she was wandering in Fresno, CA, searching for her spaceship.) Yet what we learn from this disturbing and poignant memoir is that Heche suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. "Call Me Crazy" is an incredible book, unsettling and inspirational at the same time. Through Heche's bravado storytelling, there is something in the book that allows us to confront our own demons. "Call Me Crazy" is a search for acceptance, peace, and, most of all, love. Heche achieves the inner sanctity she so desired, and ends this astonishing piece of literature by wishing the reader "love that sees all of you and asks no sacrifice". Anne Heche is a wonderful person with a great deal of passion and courage. "Call Me Crazy" changed my life, and it will change yours too.
Rating:
Summary: an intriguing memoir
Review: Anne Heche writes an intimate, sad, story of a girl who went through hell. I found it to be poignant, surprising, and sweet. There are a couple of graphic descriptions of events in her life that most people would find a little disturbing.it takes guts to pour out that much of yourself, candidly and honestly, and I reccommend this book just simply to hear about the world someone else has had to endure.
Rating: 
Summary: Crazy/Beautiful
Review: Anyone who has seen Anne Heche prance through her current Broadway hit will have difficulty believing she ever was crazy, but if her memoir is to be believed, she did suffer through some difficult patches in her life. In one episode she stares like Isabel Archer into the fireplace and sees the pictures in the flames, the pictures of her past, a past that involved a sordid childhood secret, and also dating Steve Martin which couldn't have been easy. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
People say that Ellen De Generes based the characterization of her forgetful fish in FINDING NEMO on Anne Heche when the mental illness made her forget things (such as if she was heterosexual or not), but in this book Anne Heche sets the record "straight" as it were. She is never less than candid, but I wonder if someday she'll look back on this book and ask herself, did I just write this to make money? And she might look at some of her films with the same idea, such as that awful adventure comedy with Harrison Ford.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone Can Learn Something From This Book
Review: At first I thought it was rather pretentious for any 31-year-old to be writing their autobiography, but after having read this book by Anne Heche, it is obvious to see that so much has already happened in her thus-far short life that it is worthy of an entire novel. Most people only know of Anne Heche as the woman who dated Ellen DeGeneres, and then later broke up with her, went crazy, and then decided that she wasn't gay after all and subsequently married a man. While these are the facts that make the newspaper and tabloid headlines, they only scratch the surface of a very traumatic and eventful life. In this novel, Heche tells us about her life which began with an abusive childhood. Her father was a lazy unambitious tyrant who abused her emotionally, physically, and sexually and later confessed to being a homosexual and died of AIDS. She talks in depth about her ongoing struggles with religion, drugs, mental illness, and romance. She also talks about her rise to success as an actress, as well as the notoriety that comes with her career. I was particularly interested about her description of her delusions. At first she thinks she is God, herself, and then she schizophrenically develops an alter ego named Celestia. I've seen most of the movies that Anne Heche has been in, but I never really thought much of her until I read this novel. She has certainly endured a lot in her life, and the scars of her past have not yet healed completely, but there's something to admire in her strength and courage. Being a straight male, I was hesitant to read this novel thinking that it was targeted towards women. However, I honestly enjoyed it and learned something from it. I recommend this book for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: The truth hurts
Review: I cried and cried. This book will forever be in my memory. Being an abused child, I too felt her pain and my own all over again. Her reflection explained some of my own mysteries as to why I felt the way I did. I never knew much of Anne Heche, nor did I even care to know. But, I thought it would be interesting to read a biography and since my sister said it was powerful I decided to read it. I am very glad I did. There are so many survivors out there and people are afraid to tell their stories because people look down on them with shame and disgust. Mental illness can be a combination of environment and physiological factors. And that can change. The details of these stories are horrific and the sooner we realize it happens everyday around us, the more we will be able to help the children who are still being victimized by their own family members. Read Dave Pelzers books too. "A child called it" and "The Lost boy" these stories are real and it doesn't get much worse. My book comes out this year and you are in for another shock. Anne, Dave and I are all in our mid 30's. I am not a famous person, but evil doesn't care if you're rich or poor, male or female. The book is baring her soul and tells her secrets. She is a rare jewel. I too could not put the book down. It inspired me to continue reading. I had a dry spell for about 10 years. That says a lot to me. Hope it does to you too. Good job Anne for your bravery! Don't look down and don't look back.
Rating: 
Summary: Killed my affection for Anne Heche
Review: I really liked Anne Heche once; I found her attractive talented and sexy. Then I picked up this book on audiotape, written by the author. The best I can say for it is that it isn't boring - it made the miles go by quickly on the long drive I was taking at the time. The book goes much like the movie, "The Lonely Lady," a film I list as the worst film I ever paid admission to. Both of them are one long, grating claim of victimization of a woman by nearly everyone she has known. I don't doubt that Anne's father was less than ideal. It's pretty much on record that he led a double suburban husband / gay man about town life. But her claims of him being sexually abusing her - a female child - since infancy are unbelievable, and are probably a product of her extreme bitterness toward the man, not to mention her dubious choice of a therapist. Like others, one of my first viewings of Anne was in the movie "Wild Side," in which she had a love scene with Joan Chen. The scene is justly famous, not just for the lesbian angle to it but the fact it was genuinely well-scripted and sweet. Whether she enjoyed doing the scene or not, I wanted to know more about making it. But the only mention of "Wild Side" in the book is a snarling reference about having to play a call girl in an unnamed film. It's typical of the way the book snaps at its fan audience. No photographs are included. While she does write at some length about Ellen Degeneres (the only person who is described in flattering terms) her affairs with Steve Martin and everyone else get short shrift. Say, don't you want to know more about my haullucinatory theology? It's notable that she seems to be getting few significant job offers the past couple years. This may be because of her recent marriage and maternity. But I tend to suspect another reason is like Francis Farmer, her talent is simply not worth the considerable trouble of working with her.
Rating:
Summary: Killed my affection for Anne Heche
Review: I really liked Anne Heche once; I found her attractive talented and sexy. Then I picked up this book on audiotape, written by the author. The best I can say for it is that it isn't boring - it made the miles go by quickly on the long drive I was taking at the time. The book goes much like the movie, "The Lonely Lady," a film I list as the worst film I ever paid admission to. Both of them are one long, grating claim of victimization of a woman by nearly everyone she has known. I don't doubt that Anne's father was less than ideal. It's pretty much on record that he led a double suburban husband / gay man about town life. But her claims of him being sexually abusing her - a female child - since infancy are unbelievable, and are probably a product of her extreme bitterness toward the man, not to mention her dubious choice of a therapist. Like others, one of my first viewings of Anne was in the movie "Wild Side," in which she had a love scene with Joan Chen. The scene is justly famous, not just for the lesbian angle to it but the fact it was genuinely well-scripted and sweet. Whether she enjoyed doing the scene or not, I wanted to know more about making it. But the only mention of "Wild Side" in the book is a snarling reference about having to play a call girl in an unnamed film. It's typical of the way the book snaps at its fan audience. No photographs are included. While she does write at some length about Ellen Degeneres (the only person who is described in flattering terms) her affairs with Steve Martin and everyone else get short shrift. Say, don't you want to know more about my haullucinatory theology? It's notable that she seems to be getting few significant job offers the past couple years. This may be because of her recent marriage and maternity. But I tend to suspect another reason is like Francis Farmer, her talent is simply not worth the considerable trouble of working with her.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put the book down.
Review: I'm the webowner of Mental Health Today and I found this book not only to be an enjoyable to read as I could not put it down, but felt that it will greatly assist others who have been sexually abused and hopefully society will begin to understand the effects of sexual abuse through this book. The book does not mention Anne's particular diagnosis which may have been helpful to the reader, but does provide a clear account of what Anne experienced. Anne discusses her thoughts and feelings about the sexual abuse she endured while growing up and made a connection between this abuse and the many psychotic episodes she experienced. I feel this book will be extremely helpful for anyone who experiences some psychosis in their lives and/or for those who have been sexually abused. I praise Anne highly for providing us with the experiences of her own life as I feel this book will not only be helpful to victims of abuse but for families as well to assist them in understanding what their loved one suffers. I only hope that more celebrities will come forward with their stories, bringing mental health disorders more into the light. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be tricked, very disappointing
Review: It's not that I don't believe her story. It's just I've seen the same scenario in so many other books and Lifetime TV movies. While her tale is terrible, it doesn't make for particuilarly interesting reading, at least for me. Her father sexually molested her for years, her mother didn't care, she grew up poor and unloved, she never felt love from her parents, and it made her nuts as an adult. *YAWN* As for the "amusing" sections of her thinking she's the Second Coming, her hearing God, being Celestia, and tracking down that spaceship in the desert, that was probably less than 5% of the book! We're talking 15-20 pages, tops. I was eagerly awaiting those "entertaining" parts. Trust me, the "good" passages are the ones that have already been reprinted in articles. You're to page 187 or so of a 245 page book before you even read the word "Celestia." Up to then, it's details about her dysfunctional childhood, her early career and inability to enter into healthy adult relationships, which hardly makes her unique. Also, I wanted good dish on her relationships with Ellen and Steve Martin. Once again, there was VERY little of that. She covers Steve Martin in about 2 pages. She gives Ellen about 10, but it's equally vapid. If you're a die-hard fan of Heche, go for it. If you want to read her whacky Celestia stories and have a laugh, save your money, they are few and far between.
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