Reviews

My Life So Far by Jane Fonda

brittpax's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

5.0

tiffanyrich623's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

youeatdogfood's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad slow-paced

4.0

Ugh I just love Jane Fonda so much. What a woman

bealittlebrave's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

The audiobook version is sadly quite abridged, but even so it's worth having Jane give an account of her utterly fascinating life.

moollii's review

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5.0

Never underestimate what might be lying dormant beneath the surface of a backcombed blonde wearing false eyelashes, all she might need is to be asked

anneinus's review

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4.0

4-4.5 stars. I think I have read better memoirs, but Jane Fonda's story is a story to be told.
What I (as a 20 year-old) liked most, was to be teleported into the 40s-very early 2000s. A time I couldn't experience myself.
Moreover, I learned more about American history (I'm not from the US), especially about the Vietnam war (of course from her perspective). I watched two of her movies (Klute & On Golden Pond) during the time I read her memoir, which I can highly recommend (whatever movies you choose) because you get the inside view of Jane and which scenes were important to her/what happened off camera and so on.
I also liked her reflective parts, and how her character changed over time.

bookwyrm_kate's review

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5.0

An absolutely fascinating life! This woman is incredible.

ebooklover's review

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5.0

Jane Fonda has lived hundreds of lives but in My Life So Far she distills them down to three acts.

I was already a huge fan, but now I'm a full fledged Fonda stan! She just has had the most remarkable career.

I had basically only experienced her as an actress; the first movie I saw her in was a weird little funeral comedy called This is Where I Leave You and I found it to be pretty unremarkable. Then I started Grace and Frankie in college and started to get it. Get what all the hype is about this legendary actress. She brought so much warmth, love, complexity and humor to her character Grace - and the show's theme of friendship really spoke to me.

Now, I know, Grace and Frankie was just the tip of the iceberg.

Jane explores her relationship with her legendary father and has done some remarkable self-work to understand how he has influenced and shaped her. She writes with just stunning self-awareness that I can't help but admire. Even more interesting to me is her relationship with her mother, a troubled woman who she struggled to love.

There is this beautiful motif about butterflies and her mother that just keeps popping into my head. Jane is a clear writer, but has a slight literary sensibility that really impressed me. And elevated the book above a typical memoir.

She really goes into everything here: the exercise videos, her Oscar winning performances, her three marriages and of course Hanoi Jane. These events mostly took place before I was born, so this was all new to me. And for that reason, it was all interesting! I am not sure if this book will hit as hard for people who witnessed these moments in Jane's life, but for me I was listening with wrapped attention for the duration of this incredibly long book (the longest I've read this year!).

bmpolito's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

stepstate's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

3.75