Her Name Is Barbra

by Randall Riese

Offers new revelations about the singer-actress' early career in Greenwich Village, on Broadway, and in films, as well as her political activism, her relationships with her family, and her work on "Prince of Tides"

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Music, Biography Memoir

678 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost gave this four stars because Barbra Streisand has lived a fascinating life, and I enjoyed vicariously experiencing much of it through this book. However, the first chapter and the long last section spends so much time on The Prince of Tides, just one of her projects, that at several points I thought the book should have been titled The Making of the Prince of Tides. Obviously the author thought that would be a selling point when the book was published around the time the movie came out, but Her Name is Barbra is intended as a portrait of her entire life, so the amount of pages dedicated to this one movie was distracting and annoying. If you skip through those sections and don't mind the gossipy, negative tone of some of the book, you will probably like it just fine. To me the takeaway was that Barbra Streisand succeeded not just because of her extraordinary talent, but because of her equally extraordinary drive to succeed. Good for her!

[Debbie Cubitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved hearing about Barbra’s life and thought the author did an incredible amount of research, so kudos to Randall for that. However, I felt that the author was extremely negative and biased towards Barbra; constantly talking about her having poor interactions with people (accusing her of having very little regard for anyone but herself, taking credit for what others have done for her, etc.) but anyone actually quoted in the book spoke very highly of her. I’m not sure what motivated Randall to put such a negative twist on everything but it definitely dampened my enjoyment of this book.

[Ellie Austin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only kind of read this book. I saw it on my brother's shelf for years and wanted to read it since I love Barbra. Dear Bro gifted the book to me and I was so excited. It started off boring and off topic, got interesting and then I just couldn't finish it. Ponderous and only questionably accurate I decided to stop wasting my time. What a disappointment!

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the book covers the majority of her career, a lot of it also focuses on the creation of the Prince of Tides. The tone of the book is a bit catty to the point that you can't really know how much to believe. Still - it makes for a good read.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I was expecting a gossipy bitch-fest along the lines of J. Randy Taborelli’s Call Her Miss Ross. What I got instead was a multi-faceted portrait of a very complicated woman. What some may interpret as bitchy, others see as assertiveness, I guess. Overall, it was a pretty even-handed treatment, and Riese’s breezy style made it a quick read. The only problem is that he devotes way too much space to The Prince of Tides, the thorny production of which easily takes up four times as many pages as any other project Streisand did. Random things I learned from this: Barbra exhibited diva-like behavior well before she got famous, as a youth she pioneered the thrift shop chic look by wearing self consciously kooky ’30s castoffs, and son Jason Gould was likely gay from the day he was born. Of course, I too would be ecstatic if my mom invited Donna Summer over to the house for an afternoon chat." - Scrubbles.net review, February 1, 2009.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has reinforced my earlier impression of Barbra. She's a control freak. But I still consider her one of my favorite female singers. It was written in 1996 though, and a lot has happened since then I'll bet. More men dated, and marriage to James Brolin. And her son Jason has long since come out of the closet.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 'Can't put down' book for me. It really shows how Barbra really is 'behind the scenes' and how determined she's always been to reach for her goals. It gives more of an idea of the person behind the voice and face and not the image she'd like to portray to the public.

[Vickie Jenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book mainly because I don't like her. After reading it, I still don't like her and now I know why.

[reinaknits · Rating 5 out of 5]

love my Barbra

[Darlene Herrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very interesting, readable biography.