A review by kurtwombat
My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

 There is no way that I would ever attempt to read this book—my interest level is not quite strong enough to wade into a 1000 printed pages. However, delving into the audiobook—even a daunting 48+ hours (a good 20 hours longer than my previous high)—was a mostly a joy. Read by the author still sporting traces of her Brooklyn accent, Streisand keeps most of the book light and conversational—supplying momentum even when your interest might flag. At points amused or emotional—it might be acting but she’s good at it. For me some of the “I’m building a house” stuff wasn’t as interesting but the author’s enthusiasm comes across. Also, discussing her interest in politics was interesting but a little hard for me to take suffering as I currently am from a bit of  post-election malaise. I was all in on the nuts and bolts talk of Broadway, Hollywood and her musical career. I know Streisand fans who probably started crying before getting past the table of contents—I’m not that fan but this is quite a mammoth accomplishment (the life and this book). There is also something to be said about this as a gender equality text—you could edit this down to 300 pages of her pushing back at gender restraints in America. Sometimes she won, often she did not and paid the price. Of course, this is her presentation—who knows how close to the truth—but you can’t deny that much of her celebrity backlash comes down to her acting in ways acceptable for men but not for women.