Justine Bateman

Rounded up from 3.5 stars.

Reading Bateman's "Fame" is like listening to one long, breathless download by a smart and insightful person. This isn't a memoir about being famous, but it still provides a visceral sense of what it's like to be the person standing on the red carpet in front of the cameras -- and what it feels like later on, when the cameras are pointed at the person behind you, not at you.

My favorite takeaway was her observation that fame isn't something a person can control. It's a "sheath" which is "sprayed" on someone by others. And that sheath then influences every single interaction that person has with others, whether they want it to or not.

There's a fair amount of repetition of ideas, which is one of the reasons I didn't rate the book higher. Sometimes the urgent, breathless tone became a bit much ("breathless" as in saying quite a bit before stopping to actually breathe in again, not as in a Marilyn Monroe whisper), but Bateman did succeed in creating a sense of intimacy, of wanting to talk directly to the reader as a friend. So many people are star-struck by fame, yearn for fame, are scornful of fame, but she is one of the few who can describe what's like on the other side, and she urgently wants others to understand how it works. . . because it's not like what most of us imagine.… (altro)

*I received a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
This book provides many personal stories about the relationship between women and their own physical appearance and how society's expectations and judgments affect that relationship. Some of the reflections hit very close to home, as I am a woman in my mid-fifties. But overall I was unenthused about the entire book. The focus is on the experience of white women with few or no financial constraints. I think the book would have been better if it had examined the experience of a wider swath of women. But I appreciate the willingness to address this topic with honesty.… (altro)

Face by Justine Bateman is a work that tried so hard not to be too jargonish or theoretical that it became hard to discern what points are actually being made. While I think the book will still be empowering for many I also think another large group will be left scratching their heads.

I think the idea of presenting the types of things women go through with respect to appearance, and specifically the face, in short story form can be a very useful method. I recently read another book that did something similar. But what that book added that this book didn't was some context and theory around the stories. It really wouldn't have taken much, maybe grouping the stories by a common concept and offering a short conceptual chapter for each group explaining what is being shown and what we can learn and change in that area. Instead, it just becomes a collection of stories that leaves the reader largely wondering what they can gain from them.

I will still recommend this but mostly for those already well-versed in the theories surrounding this topic so that they can essentially insert their own conceptual chapters as they read. If I were still teaching any WGS courses I could see myself selecting some of these examples to highlight other more theoretical readings and discussions. I found her book Fame to be insightful and had expected something similar, so I would warn readers who think the same thing to temper their expectations.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.… (altro)