3 out of 4 stars
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The book, Barbra Streisand: On the Couch, is written by Alma H. Bond, Ph.D. It is an interview given in a first person perspective by Dr. Darcy Dale, a psychoanalyst, who had the opportunity to have Barbra Streisand, the renowned singer, actress and movie director, as her patient. Barbra takes us through the journey of her life with a lot of humor that overshadows the sadness it comes with.
Barbra had a difficult childhood. She grew up believing that she was ugly because she was told so by those around her. Her mother discouraged her from undertaking her career because she was too ugly to be an actress. She recalls her stepfather buying ice cream for all her friends and leaving her out because she was ugly. This pained her so much that she now makes sure she has coffee ice cream stocked in her refrigerator at all times. Barbra lets us in on her rise to stardom, touching on her career, love life, motherhood and marriage. Acting in the movie, Funny Girl, as Fanny, was so familiar that she felt like she was acting her life experience.This book is a very enjoyable roller coaster ride of her life.
Dr. Dale is as funny as Barbra herself and this has contributed to making this book a page turner. I enjoyed reading this book and did not want to put it down. This book is very educative. It gives the effects of child neglect. Barbra developed tinnitus as a child and only got cured of it in adulthood when she had a dream about receiving love from her mother who had shown her hatred all along. A child grows up to be insecure if they were shown hatred. In this book, Barbra put negative energy behind her and embraced determination to achieve her dreams. If one has a dream, focus is the key to achieving those dreams regardless of the negativity received from those around them. This book helped me learn what psychoanalysts do. I got to know Barbra better and empathized with her.
It was rather obvious that if one has a problem they should talk about it in order to get over it and find closure on the matter. What matters is the approach taken. I learned that not all psychoanalysts are the same. Some may have effective remedies, and others may not. Barbra was disappointed that 30 years of visiting different psychoanalysts did not change her life. Her sessions with Dr. Dale eventually gave her closure.
Even though I enjoyed reading this book, I faced obstacles. The book I downloaded was not well formatted. Some lines had a single word. There were misplaced quotation marks and some sentences had omitted words. Reading this book with these minor errors did not detract from the interview.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I wish the author had sought professional editing for this lovely book. For this reason, I cannot give it 4 stars. I cannot give it a lower rating because it is a very educative book.
I recommend this book to people who have had a tough childhood as they will be able to relate to it. I also recommend it to anyone who would like to know Barbra Streisand’s real life story and those who would like to know about psychoanalysis.
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Barbra Streisand: On the Couch
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