|
| Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time | 
 enlarge | Author: Valerie Bertinelli
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $7.50
You Save: $22.45 (75%)
New (39) Used (15) from $5.96
Avg. Customer Rating:  192 reviews
Sales Rank: 550035
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.7 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0743572149
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.45028092
EAN: 9780743572149
ASIN: 0743572149
Publication Date: February 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Losing It - Time I won't get back again March 22, 2008
28 out of 34 found this review helpful
I agree with all the one star reviewers. I expected much more from this book, and felt disappointed and bored reading each chapter. I expected SOMETHING exciting or some type of page turner to keep me captive, but it never happened.
I really admired her UNTIL I read this book. She's pretty shallow, self-centered, self-absorbed and truly NOT that deep or intelligent.
My brief synopsis that this book tells you for 277 agonizing pages: Eddie was an angry, intense man who slept around, toured, did drugs and fought with pretty much everyone he came in contact with. Valerie is a struggling actress (since 'One Day at a Time' days) trying out for all sorts of roles for movies and sitcoms, fluctuating weight and eating issues, slept around (not as much as Eddie or that's what she wants you to think). Wolfie was loved by both parents, joined his dad's band as a guitarist and subjected to a dysfunctional situation with Eddie and Valerie. Eddie and Valerie stayed together for 20 years and yet both were distant and not making the marriage REALLY work.
NOTE: For those who say it is well written: I need to mention that there a MANY grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book.
The scariest thing in her 'Thank You' section is where she states that she has MORE to say. Heaven help us all!
Overall review: BIG DEAL - NOT!!!!
What a load of vacuous drivel! March 11, 2008
23 out of 52 found this review helpful
This book has no substance. This person exposes her self-centered, self absorbed and incredibly shallow persona. Her digs at Republicans are an obvious ploy to continue the seperationist movement within the Liberal community. Her lack of professionalism is apparent in her book. She never discusses any in-depth character study for the roles that she protrays. Obviously she has a lack of empathy for anyone who is willing to sacrifice everything for the life of an unborn child. Let me answer your question from your book about why a mother would give up her life for her unborn child. She looks at her beautiful children, that she loves with all her heart. Knows that to terminate this pregnancy would require that the unborn child be torturously murdered in the womb and can not allow herself to murder a part of herself to save her life. That is true heroism. You talk in your book about how newborn's are sensitive to smells so you "brush your teeth and use mouth wash" before nursing your new baby. Yet you don't realize that unborns are sensitive to being rendered limb from limb and vacuumed from the womb. How shallow is that? This book is just one disappointment after another. We are the same age. Yet you seem so much younger in the way you process information and your inability to make grown-up decisions. This book is really all about a "wanna be" and "it's not my fault because..." I would recommend this book to take on vacation and use the pages to start a beach fire for roasting marshmellows.
Save your money! March 16, 2008
22 out of 29 found this review helpful
Very disappointing! Save your money! If you are curious to read it like I was, get it from your library! I am soooo glad I did not waste money on this book. I wanted to read it because I liked the person I "thought" she was plus I was into Van Halen when they were in their prime. I expected so much more from this book and it did not deliver. I cannot believe it is number one on some bestsellers lists. I would think that the word would be out now NOT to waste your money on it!
It sounded much more interesting when she was on Oprah. But that is what Oprah does so well, gets books on the best sellers list.
As others have said, the book has NO substance at all. It is very choppy. It is like she would have a thought and just write it down even though it made no sense and didn't relate to what she was writing about. It was one boring chapter after another.
I kept reading it because I wanted so bad for it to get better as I went along. But it never did.
I also don't get why she felt the need to name drop all the men she slept with. I don't feel it is anyones business. My husband doesn't even know who I lost my virginity too! Some things are meant to be private. If she wanted it to be a "juicy" book then she should have gone into more depth and let it be a page turner.
Also in the book she name drops a lot of old TV shows and actors she worked with. But the book lacked so much substance that it would make no sense why she was telling you the information because it didn't matter other than to say she was working away from home.
I cannot believe this book actually went to press that way it was written!
Did I learn anything new about Eddie Van Halen? No, we all know he did drugs but so did she. The stuff she does write about their marriage is not "page turner" material either. In my opinion she was absent from the marriage too....but yet she kept whining about what it lacked.
I really don't get why she wrote this book......because she gained her life back?? Are you kidding? If she did you can't tell by this book.
In my opinion, the majority of her weight issues stem from her line of work. She had to be "skinny" in order to audition for parts and that still exists today. We all know that dieting to a certain number and then going off the diet will make you gain your weight back plus more pounds. I feel that is exactly what happened to her. I don't feel that her new Jenny Craig diet has really solved anything. Yes, she did lose weight but because she is eating 1200 calories. Jenny's food is not the "magic" pill. All diets work as long as you watch your calories in and your calories out.
So....Save your money! If you are still curious to read it, go to your library. This book is not worth a dime!!
 An honest memoir :-) February 26, 2008
19 out of 24 found this review helpful
I have really enjoyed reading this book. It is about her extraordinary highs and devasting lows in life and also a relatable account of her battle with her weight. It's honest and at times very raw and very real. Losing it is more than just her weight; it's about losing the shame and all of the bad stuff that she kept telling herself and losing those voices in her head (self esteem issues).
She talks very openly about relationships that she had. At 19 she dated Steven Speilberg (I don't think I remembered that), and of course her marriage to Eddie Van Halen with their infidelities. Four years into their marriage, she cheated and she talks about his affairs and how after 20 years she wanted a different life for herself. She'd tried to take control of her weight all the years, but it was only when Jenny Craig called that she really got control again of her weight and became successful at it.
I personally found this interesting because I grew up watching One Day At A Time and also like a lot of women, have battles with weight and food. Due to those reasons, you don't necessarily need to be a fan of Valerie's in order to enjoy this read and relate to her struggles and life. It's very interesting and real and I highly recommend it. I really loved it.
I am appalled... poor deluded Valerie ! March 2, 2008
18 out of 52 found this review helpful
I was enjoying this book til I got to the part where Valerie blames the other *woman* for the most part ...for her then-husband Eddie VanHalen for having an extra-marital affair... because Ed was WEAK and the woman should have known better !
Can you imagine how deluded poor Valerie must be that she must rationalize this in this manner?
Good Lord.. Eddie VanHalen is a grown man and should be held responsible for his actions as much as the other woman.
If he had been a wife abuser and physically hit his wife... I supposed she would have also said..
well, he couldn't help it..he's weak.
This kind of thing is seen so much...the woman gets mad at the other woman in an affair instead of being mad at the husband for cheating on her in the first place..
so she has to rationalize it and say...poor weak baby, my husband...he was
led down the primrose path by this evil woman who should have known better.
I am nauseated now and feel very sorry for Valerie!
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
