Review of Barbra Streisand: On the Couch
- Amenrodion
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Review of Barbra Streisand: On the Couch
Barbra Streisand: On the Couch by Alma H. Bond, Ph.D., is a fictional biography revolving around psychotherapy sessions conducted by renowned psychologist Dr Darcy Dale with the Barbra Streisand of Hollywood glory. The reader is given a firsthand look into Barbra Streisand’s life as a collage of experiences, events and relationships that shape the famous movie star is created. Consequently, we learn of the traumatic childhood events that shape her drive to be a successful artist. We are given an inward look into her tumultuous love affairs before her marriage with Josh Brolin. These sessions explore her failures and successes, innermost desires, relationship with her biological son, children through marriage, and goddaughters.
At some point, I believed that this was a real biography and that this psychologist had written a real-life memoir of her sessions with Barbra Streisand. I had moments of outrage at the therapist’s periodic unprofessional behaviour. Her ability to hold herself accountable for her wrong projections unto her famous client and the fact that she was able to succeed with Barbra Streisand where so many other therapists had failed was admirable. In my opinion, there is no greater hallmark of success for a book than when you can experience escapism, that art of suspension of belief, as Coleridge famously defined it. I found myself conducting google searches to confirm that accounts of Barbra’s life reported in the book were indeed real. This author did a remarkable job researching this character as all major life events described in this book are real.
Barbra Streisand: On the Couch is a great work of fiction-humorous, moving and so entertaining you don’t want to put the book down. Another reason I found the book so appealing was due to the conversations being so life-like as the author wrote Barbra's conversations in the way she imagines Barbra would talk. The memoir is structured according to the dates that sessions are held. That is the way the narrative is chronologically ordered. I liked the fact that the author took time out to explain in footnotes, certain words (psychiatric terms, Yiddish terms, slang etc.) so the reader can follow along, but this was not a comprehensive list. I did not like the spacing format of the book as spaces between session dates were a bit too much for my liking. A single line or at most double-line spacing would have been sufficient.
I love Hello Dolly. It was my first real introduction to a Hollywood musical. Imagine my surprise learning of the squabbles and the hostility that occurred on-set. It’s a bit like when they tell you never meet your heroes to avoid being disappointed by them but instead, do not learn what goes on behind the scenes of your favourite movies. It was quite astonishing to learn that Hello Dolly fizzled at the time of its release. It was an entertaining movie, in my opinion. The way Barbra Streisand is portrayed in this book makes me ambivalent towards her as a character, but I understand her and I sympathize with a lot of what she has been through, and I revelled in her triumphs. I wonder if Barbra Streisand read this book. If she did, does she like it? Does she think the author came close to understanding the core of who she is as a person? Does she hate it? Does she feel the author did a great disservice to her? We might never know.
This book is for people who love to read about celebrity gossip, fictional biographies, and comedies. It’s not for people who want books revolving around serious issues, thrillers, dramas or mysteries. There is a lot of profanity in this book so if you find profanity offensive or intolerable, this book is not for you. This book enthralled me. The author wrote in such a way that the book felt incredibly real. I, therefore, rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars.
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Barbra Streisand: On the Couch
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