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| Audition: A Memoir | 
 enlarge | Author: Barbara Walters
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $9.43
You Save: $20.52 (69%)
New (73) Used (71) Collectible (12) from $9.43
Avg. Customer Rating:  238 reviews
Sales Rank: 691
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 624
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 2.2
ISBN: 030726646X
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.92
EAN: 9780307266460
ASIN: 030726646X
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Visible shelf wear -- may have some notes/markings on pages
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| Customer Reviews:
 Career-obsessed, needs to retire! May 12, 2008
39 out of 75 found this review helpful
Barbara Walters is trash, plain and simple. This woman spent her whole career working too hard, not taking care of her only child, and had an affair with a married politican. Walters failed at marriage three times, she explains her heart was too heavy, if she didn't want to get married then don't, what is so hard about that? She is money-hungry, she needs to retire! what is she waiting for? All she cares about is exploiting her collegues, she doesn't realize how she is coming off. Someone needs to tell this woman to stay home and enjoy life, instead of selling her life story for cash. Don't buy into the hype, she hasn't opened any doors for women, and who said she was smart? this book is not well-written and she's a journalist! give me a break.
 Star Jones is right May 10, 2008
30 out of 45 found this review helpful
I think I agree with Star Jones. Why is BW coming out with this right now?
I've admired the woman, but she's tarnished that with all these tales of adultery and poor parenting. While my admiration was obviously an illusion, why can't people allow a good, positive illusion to persist?
A two star review probably reflect my disappointment in the woman. Maybe the book itself should be more of a 3.5 star for readability. But it did leave a sour taste for me.
 Barbara Walters - the AUDIOBOOK reviewed May 6, 2008
27 out of 36 found this review helpful
Having read the book, I had to hear this version in her voice. Unfortunately, it is abridged. Neveretheless, Walters hits many of the high points here and hearing it read with her unique inflections and accents was worth it.
She talks about her troubled family. Her parents had a difficult marriage. Her dad was in show biz, first in running vaudeville then in nightclubs. He was mostly absent and went from wealth to poverty over and over. Very stressful for Barbara and her mom. Plus, her sister was intellectually challenged and that was tough for the whole family. Ironically, when TV came into existence it became her sister's boon companion.
Highlights: Walters describing her ascent at the TODAY SHOW as she shattered barriers and rose to the top. Her descriptions of interviews with people like Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro are priceless. Absolute fave from the audiobook version: Walters reaction to Gilda Radner's parody of her on Saturday Night Live. Walters was mortified and embarrassed but she got over it and she even does a funny imitation of Radner as BABA WAWA. Walters doing a parody of a parody of herself. Priceless!
Note*some of the juiciest stuff from the book is NOT on the audio version. Pay heed.
Barbara Walters - Earth Mother of the Universe May 9, 2008
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
I always wondered why Barbara Walters had a slightly unfocused look at the beginning of some of her broadcasts. She confesses that when she is nervous, she takes one puff of a cigarette just offstage, and (being a non-smoker) immediately feels slightly dizzy but relaxed. This is exactly the look I am thinking of -- eager but slightly unfocused for a moment, batting her eyelashes exactly twice.
It's the nicotine!
Miss Walters has produced a long and satisfying memoir which will become the beach read of the Summer. Early on, she boasts slightly of her skills as an editor. It's clear she has applied them to this book as well. Barbara Walters has produced a finely-lubricated engine of a narrative that keeps us moving rather swiftly through her early years and subsequent superstar status.
I imagine the book could easily have topped 1,000 pages had she not applied her skilled eye in chopping it down. Still, when Miss Walters writes about some of her more interesting interviews, Truman Capote for example, you almost wish she would go into more detail. There is a sense she is holding back for brevity.
However, there are so many incredible anecdotes -- one featuring Robert F. Kennedy and a Mynah bird had me howling -- and they are from such impressive individuals, you admire her even more for taking out what must have been some humdingers.
I don't want to give any of them away because they're too good. I bought this book on the day of its release and I am not disappointed.
I like Barbara Walters' tenacity and ambition, even if she feels her rise to the top was fueled somewhat by an anxious insecurity, a neverending audition. In fact, she's auditioning for us here. Her memoir is designed to be comprehensive and readable and it succeeds on both counts.
Some people define "Class" in an individual as warmth, empathy, intelligence, humor and diplomacy. You sense these people have a solid moral core. They may, in fact, make you feel slightly inferior in some areas, but of course would never let you know it, nor would they even feel it themselves. Barbara Walters is the type of woman who overtips and wouldn't be caught dead harrassing a waiter.
We haven't kept her on top all these years for nothing.
Get the book.
For me, the best parts are those about her personal life, her daughter, her sister, etc. May 17, 2008
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
I had very mixed reactions after reading this book. The personal sections, the ones dealing with her daughter, father and other aspects of life OFF screen were very engaging.
I can remember Barbara Walters from the days when she was a very young reporter or television journalist, the distinctive speech that was parodied on Saturday Night Live, the Barbara "Wah Wah" jokes and all the rest.
As a young female watching all that occur in a time when women's roles were changing, I often cringed when I saw her on television. It was like watching and FEELING a cultural paradigm - and I think this book reflects that as well.
Although Walters maintained a fairly professional facade throughout her career, I'm sure plenty of what happened to her, on air and off, stung. So to judge her too harshly would be wrong.
However, I DO think there are parts of this book which are too braggy, perhaps unintentionally so, perhaps even defensively so. The woman is used to attention, to a certain degree of power and to having fought her way from being scorned by male co-anchors to winning respect. That deserves note.
Still, it wasn't all the list of Firsts and Great Interviews that Walters writes about that actually touched and engaged me. Instead, it was her honesty about her personal, behind the scenes life. I recall seeing a show she did on adoptive parents and her own interview and the revelations of her adopted daughter. There were struggles between the two and even estrangement for a time. Also, Barbara had a sister with mental challenges and there was that as well as times when she had to put her career first and marriage and even her daughter second. There was a cost for that and I didn't feel Walter shied away from being honest about the realities.
Love her, hate her or feel indifferent towards her...the woman took on a tough job at a tough time for women who aspired to be on television as something other than stereotypes. I do think she seems to fawn a bit too much over some celebs in interviews but with others she surprises them and gets them to open up.
Finally, I'm always eager to know what keeps people like Barbara Walters to push on when others fall by the wayside. The answer? Insecurity and some fear. She is not unlike Larry King in that regard, a man who once had money and lost it all while in Miami and has seemed relentless since then. She is not unlike Sarah Jessica Parker, a woman who grew up on welfare and worries about every cent she spends (not that Walters and Parker are the same in every way but...) I think great insecurity often leads to great success and the unceasing drive to succeed.
Her revelations about her father, the danger of impoverishment and the responsibilities placed on Walter's shoulders were new to me. These parts of the book were particularly engaging.
I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would but felt it was an uneven ride but worth the trip.
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