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A review by theresidentbookworm
Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson
3.0
I came to be interested in Pamela Anderson from one of my favorite TikTok accounts, @lauraediez. She makes videos talking about various women in pop culture who operated in sexist power structures (rock music, Playboy, etc.) and the impact (good and bad) that has on their lives. She's made videos on Anna Nicole Smith and Playboy more specifically, and that's where I started to learn about Pamela. From there, I watched Pamela's Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story, which is excellent. Because now I was completely a fan, I decided I needed to read her recent memoir.
To be honest, I prefer the documentary over the memoir simply because the archival footage and Pamela's interviews and footage of her life (particularly that with her sons) give you a much more well-rounded sense of her. You get to see both who Pamela is at her core and how that is so disconnected from the public perception of her. Love, Pamela is a short memoir but also a little rambling. Pamela sprinkles in her own poetry in the middle of chapters between narratives, which feels a little disjointed. It's also absolutely not a dishy memoir. Even in this memoir, she keeps you at length. You don't get much about her career or her marriages. Pamela as a person seems to have fallen into her career. She drops the names of incredibly famous people (for example, Julian Assange), and you're left to wonder, "How on Earth did Pamela meet him?" She has nothing but kind things to say about men like Hugh Hefner (ew) and Karl Lagerfeld (also, ew). Also, other than her children aging, it's really hard to keep track of time here. Post Baywatch and Tommy Lee, Pamela just seems to wander and bounce around, working with PETA and participating in environmental activism. I love this for her, but honestly it's not that interesting to read about.
Listening to Love, Pamela felt like listening to my cool, slightly kooky aunt tell me a long story while saging my house and trying to convince me I need crystals. If you're a Pamela Anderson fan, this is worth a read, but if you're just learning about you I'd recommend the documentary instead.
To be honest, I prefer the documentary over the memoir simply because the archival footage and Pamela's interviews and footage of her life (particularly that with her sons) give you a much more well-rounded sense of her. You get to see both who Pamela is at her core and how that is so disconnected from the public perception of her. Love, Pamela is a short memoir but also a little rambling. Pamela sprinkles in her own poetry in the middle of chapters between narratives, which feels a little disjointed. It's also absolutely not a dishy memoir. Even in this memoir, she keeps you at length. You don't get much about her career or her marriages. Pamela as a person seems to have fallen into her career. She drops the names of incredibly famous people (for example, Julian Assange), and you're left to wonder, "How on Earth did Pamela meet him?" She has nothing but kind things to say about men like Hugh Hefner (ew) and Karl Lagerfeld (also, ew). Also, other than her children aging, it's really hard to keep track of time here. Post Baywatch and Tommy Lee, Pamela just seems to wander and bounce around, working with PETA and participating in environmental activism. I love this for her, but honestly it's not that interesting to read about.
Listening to Love, Pamela felt like listening to my cool, slightly kooky aunt tell me a long story while saging my house and trying to convince me I need crystals. If you're a Pamela Anderson fan, this is worth a read, but if you're just learning about you I'd recommend the documentary instead.