Audition: A Memoir
by Barbara Walters
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Book Summary Information
Author: Barbara WaltersEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2008-05-06
ISBN: 030726646X
Number of pages: 624
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of Audition: A Memoir
Book Review: TV Star Hurts Her Journalistc Reputation By Giving Too Much Information About Her Unethical and Immoral Life
Summary: 4 Stars
This well-written, incredibly detailed autobiography of the biggest female pioneer in television news ends up being a sad read because of the many self-damaging stories that Barbara Walters tells. "Too much information" should have been the title of the book, because Walters thinks it's important to tell us that she slept with her first boss out of college and lost her virginity, then feared she was pregnant after having an affair with a Frenchman and struggled with whether she should illegally abort the baby (it ended up she wasn't pregnant), she married men she wasn't in love with, she slept with men she was in love with, she almost married a famous homosexual, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
She even talks about having three miscarriages with her second husband, but then says she's grateful for the miscarriages because she fears that any baby of hers may have had the "hereditary" mental retardation condition of Walters' older sister! Wow--it's hard to believe a well-educated woman would print such a shameful admission.
She also gave a speech minutes after learning of her precious sister's death--then lied to her elderly mother by claiming her sister was still alive.
The woman has besmirched her own memory by now making us question anything she has ever done in the journalistic field. As a journalist, she is suppposed to tell the truth, expose the truth and promote the truth. But in this confessional she admits to often lying about major things (she lied about her kid's age to get the child on a plane and has even recently lied for Star Jones on the View), using her power to keep news of her dad's suicide attempt out of the papers, use a notorious friend to get her dad's criminal charges dropped, and, worst of all, WON'T EVEN TELL US THE YEAR OF HER BIRTH!
So the woman who insists on digging into the personal details of other public figure's lives and then expose them to all of America has worked hard to cover up and lie about her own life. This book is now supposed to somehow set everything straight, but instead it makes her seem like a much smaller person. Those who read the book will never be able to take Walters seriously again, since she lies and cheats and sleeps around so often that you have to question her credibility.
When the media do question her credibility she reacts hysterically. She complains throughout the book when the media raise legitimate criticisms about her work or choices. Maybe it's time she starts listening to them.
She also seems to have lived a VERY well-off life, even though she likes to emphasize the lean years. She still has not gotten her driver's license--and why should she since she had a personal driver picking her up ever since she was a child? She seem out of touch with much of the rest of the world, admitting to not knowing some very middle-class things (like never having heard of Fresca when President Johnson offered her one in 1968. Didn't she even watch TV commercials on her own show or go grocery shopping for herself??? The answer is probably not!
She constantly talks about feeling guilty but in every case it's her own fault--usually she has lied or hurt someone or chosen work over family. She seems oblivious to her own negatives, thought, and doesn't seem to understand the harm she has done. The reader will feel sorry for her adopted daughter because it is so obvious in the book that Walters paid more attention to her intervewees and lovers than her child.
Walters comes across as a terrible mother, terrible wife, insecure journalist, terrible person. So why is she admired in any way?
The book is well researched (by someone else) and Walters probably had help writing it, since it is very well written and edited. The are odd gaps--such as the fact that she can't remember what classes she took in college or can't remember the name of the place where she got her first job out of college--but she is getting old. We don't know exactly how old, but you could probably guess somewhere around 78 or 79 today, based on the other details she gives.
She also claims her being the first female co-host of the Today show is "not noted in history books." Ah...sorry, Barbara, but it's noted in EVERY book about TV history. She then writes, "It was not in my natures to be courageous, to be the first..." Ah, her false modesty is showing. Her life was all about trying to be the first.
At 580 pages the book is way too long. There are entire chapters on her famous interviews that are just rehashes of things Walters has said already over the years and not a lot of new insight. So half of the book is her personal story and the other half less interesting stories about her interviews.
It's a great book filled with fascinating stories--it's one that needed to be written and has a lot of important details about the history of television. But she also does a lot of whinig and complaining, putting herself down. This is not the Barbara on the TV screen, the self-confident woman who would fight to get the best interviews. This book portrays the insecure, introverted Barbara. Even the title "Audition" is a bit of a fakery--she claims she has always had to audition and continues to do so, yet the facts prove that she stumbled into many jobs without any audition and that she can have pretty much anything she wants today. So the question is--which is the true Barbara Walters? It's hard to know because this book just raises so many questions about her lack of character that you won't know what to believe when you're done reading it.
Summary of Audition: A Memoir
Young people starting out in television sometimes say to me: ?I want to be you.? My stock reply is always: ?Then you have to take the whole package.?And now, at last, the most important woman in the history of television journalism gives us that ?whole package,? in her inspiring and riveting memoir. After more than forty years of interviewing heads of state, world leaders, movie stars, criminals, murderers, inspirational figures, and celebrities of all kinds, Barbara Walters has turned her gift for examination onto herself to reveal the forces that shaped her extraordinary life.
Barbara Walters?s perception of the world was formed at a very early age. Her father, Lou Walters, was the owner and creative mind behind the legendary Latin Quarter nightclub, and it was his risk-taking lifestyle that gave Barbara her first taste of glamour. It also made her aware of the ups and downs, the insecurities, and even the tragedies that can occur when someone is willing to take great risks, for Lou Walters didn?t just make several fortunes?he also lost them. Barbara learned early about the damage that such an existence can do to relationships?between husband and wife as well as between parent and child. Through her roller-coaster ride of a childhood, Barbara had a close companion, her mentally challenged sister, Jackie. True, Jackie taught her younger sister much about patience and compassion, but Barbara also writes honestly about the resentment she often felt having a sister who was so ?different? and the guilt that still haunts her.
All of this?the financial responsibility for her family, the fear, the love?played a large part in the choices she made as she grew up: the friendships she developed, the relationships she had, the marriages she tried to make work. Ultimately, thanks to her drive, combined with a decent amount of luck, she began a career in television. And what a career it has been! Against great odds, Barbara has made it to the top of a male-dominated industry. She was the first woman cohost of the Today show, the first female network news coanchor, the host and producer of countless top-rated Specials, the star of 20/20, and the creator and cohost of The View. She has not just interviewed the world?s most fascinating figures, she has become a part of their world. These are just a few of the names that play a key role in Barbara?s life, career, and book: Yasir Arafat, Warren Beatty, Menachem Begin, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Roy Cohn, the Dalai Lama, Princess Diana, Katharine Hepburn, King Hussein, Angelina Jolie, Henry Kissinger, Monica Lewinsky, Richard Nixon, Rosie O?Donnell, Christopher Reeve, Anwar Sadat, John Wayne . . . the list goes on and on.
Barbara Walters has spent a lifetime auditioning: for her bosses at the TV networks, for millions of viewers, for the most famous people in the world, and even for her own daughter, with whom she has had a difficult but ultimately quite wonderful and moving relationship. This book, in some ways, is her final audition, as she fully opens up both her private and public lives. In doing so, she has given us a story that is heartbreaking and honest, surprising and fun, sometimes startling, and always fascinating.
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