My Name Is Barbra

Reviews

Praise for My Name Is Barbra

"A 970-page victory lap past all who ever doubted, diminished or dissed her. . . . Exuberant and glorious. . . . There are just so many scintillating Streisands to contemplate over so many years: singer, actress, director, producer, philanthropist, activist, lover, mother, wife, friend, autobiographer."
—Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times Book Review

"The book is undeniably moving—it does not, even for a moment, read as false. . . . Streisand’s chatty, discursive presence hums on every page. . . . Riveting . . . . All the usual memoir forms rear their heads. There’s the sob story, the gallant bildungsroman, the louche chronicle of various addictive behaviors, the righteous making of an activist, the victory lap. Streisand’s book, in its sheer breadth and largesse, attempts to be all of these things, and thus becomes something incredibly rare. . . . If something interests her, then it is interesting, full stop. In a way, she draws on an old-fashioned idea of celebrity: to be a star is to be golden, and to make everything you touch look the same. . . . Streisand has never thought it necessary to contain herself, and there’s no reason to start now."
—Rachel Syme, The New Yorker

"The celebrity memoir I've coveted most is that of the singular Ms. Barbra Streisand. . . . We don't see a diva, we see a genius. . . .  In a society that tends to value women's passivity while lauding their accomplishments in hindsight, it's a distinct pleasure to look back with My Name Is Barbra and marvel at how the real she came to be."
—Brittany Luse, NPR
 
“[My Name Is Barbra is] enlightening. It’s shake-your-head funny and hand-to-mouth surprising. The lady who wrote it is in touch with herself, loves being herself. . . . Streisand’s boundlessness, her capaciousness — the lack of precedent for her whole-enchilada ambitions, the daffiness, the sexiness, the talent, orchestration, passion, originality; her persistence and indefatigability; the outfits; the hair — were a watershed.”
—Wesley Morris, The New York Times

“My Name Is Barbra is not to be dismissed, even at its astonishing length. It shows a busy intelligence at work and a fair degree of self-knowledge. I find much to admire about Streisand in her memoir, including her refusal to play down her own innate power.”
—Daphne Merkin, New York Review of Books

"Everything you could want from a Barbra Streisand memoir. . . . Scintillating. . . . The memoir is as sharp, funny and refreshingly candid as Streisand herself."
—USA Today

“A gloriously massive memoir from a sui generis star. . . . What a talent, what a career, what a life, and what a treat to relive it all with this most down-to-earth of demigods.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"This memoir is as extraordinary as the woman who wrote it."
—Booklist (starred review)

"Charming . . . funny . . . . Chatty and sincere, the book reads like a conversation, complete with asides and self-corrections. . . . The effect is like she's sharing coffee cake with us. . . . It feels like it's Streisand telling us all the things she's wanted to say for all of her 81 years on Earth. . . . If you've ever been a fan, even if it has been a while, I can't imagine you'd want to miss it."
—Chris Hewitt, Minneapolis Star Tribune

"My Name Is Barbra dispels rumors and myths but doesn’t hold back on scintillating tales of love affairs, on-set drama and unfiltered anecdotes about her discomfort with fame."
—Los Angeles Times

“The question of her talent was never really in doubt. . . . In Streisand’s book, though, there’s more than just talent; we are shown craft, intelligence, a winning, rare curiosity.”
—Independent Expand reviews