Post by mamaleh on Aug 16, 2013 9:12:37 GMT -5
A long car trip to Williamstown, MA, enabled hubby and me to listen to all 6 CDs of Jones's memoir. She tells a very personal tale of her life and career, warts and all. In fact, given the focus on her bedroom activities, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those warts were of the genital nature. 
Those sections are definitely of the Too Much Information variety. I suppose some would find them titillating, but I found most of those details overly clinical and sad, as though she felt those experiences would compensate for a serial philandering first husband (the late Jack Cassidy). I most enjoyed the tales of her early life (a willful girl who really wanted to be a veterinarian); the bits of gossip about her famous friends (of course!), although Joan Collins vehemently denies the eye-popping incident Shirley cites involving Collins and her then-hubby Anthony Newley); and especially the tensions that boiled to the surface when Jack divorced his first wife to marry Shirley. It was shocking to learn of the cruelties that Cassidy inflicted on his sons, largely out of jealousy. I remember reading at the time about his tragic death in a fire. Despite his myriad faults, and a happy (mostly) marriage to Marty Ingels for the past 36 years, Cassidy remains the love of her life.
Jones is highly revelatory and honest about her own sometimes cheating ways as well as her sons' drug and womanizing problems. Like father, like son, it seems.
In sum: Fun for a long car trip or a beach read. But you may feel as though you've just had a gyno exam.
Ellen
Those sections are definitely of the Too Much Information variety. I suppose some would find them titillating, but I found most of those details overly clinical and sad, as though she felt those experiences would compensate for a serial philandering first husband (the late Jack Cassidy). I most enjoyed the tales of her early life (a willful girl who really wanted to be a veterinarian); the bits of gossip about her famous friends (of course!), although Joan Collins vehemently denies the eye-popping incident Shirley cites involving Collins and her then-hubby Anthony Newley); and especially the tensions that boiled to the surface when Jack divorced his first wife to marry Shirley. It was shocking to learn of the cruelties that Cassidy inflicted on his sons, largely out of jealousy. I remember reading at the time about his tragic death in a fire. Despite his myriad faults, and a happy (mostly) marriage to Marty Ingels for the past 36 years, Cassidy remains the love of her life.
Jones is highly revelatory and honest about her own sometimes cheating ways as well as her sons' drug and womanizing problems. Like father, like son, it seems.
In sum: Fun for a long car trip or a beach read. But you may feel as though you've just had a gyno exam.
Ellen