March 2023 Book Review

 Last month I completed 4 books

1) Lucky Suit by Lauren Blakley

2) Murder on an Irish Farm by Carlene O'Conner

3) Inside Out by Demi Moore

4) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

The Harry Potter book was a re-read.  I decided I want to re-read all the Harry Potter books, as it has been over 20 years since the first book was released. Plus, I love them.  

I didn't realize Lucky Suit was actually part of a series (The Guys Who Got Away #6), perhaps that is why I didn't really enjoy it much.

Murder on an Irish Farm is also part of a series (do you sense a theme so far).  It is book #8 of the Irish Village Mystery books.  Now these, I have read them all and I LOVE them.  They are what you call "cozy murder" mysteries.  The book is rather light-hearted, even though someone has been murdered.  But you are invested in the person that is murdered, but rather the main character of Siobhán O'Sullivan and how she goes about solving the crime.

I decided to select Demi Moore's 2019 biography "Inside Out" to review.  It was rather short, as far as biographies go (262 pages).  

Overall, I thought it was good.  I enjoyed it.  I do feel like she left a lot out though.  For instance, while she talks about how she met the men in her life (Emilio, Estevez, Freddy Moore, Bruce Willis, Ashton Kutcher), she doesn't get too personal into how she felt with them or give any personal details about their lives together and their breakups.  She kind of keeps it on the surface.

She talks quite a bit about how her parents were drug addicts and alcoholics and how she too, had problems with both drugs and alcohol.  She doesn't really seem to blame her parents for her problems but it is clear she knows she didn't really have good role models in her life.

She practically raised herself once she became a pre-teen.  She does mention her early beginnings with modeling and film roles but again, didn't really offer much insight on how all that came to be.  She mentions she started modeling because a girlfriend told her how she could make some money.  She talks about her first movie major movie role and the experience of filming it (Blame It on Rio), but doesn't mention how she obtained the role or how she really got her start in the industry.  She just says "When I was filming Blame It on Rio...I met this person and I did this" but how did she get that role, how did she feel about it, was she happy about it? Excited? What made her want to go into the movie industry?

Several times throughout the book, she discussed her body issues. Isn't it hard to believe that someone as beautiful as her would have body issues? But it just proves that all women do.  It made me a bit angry at the industry and I know this goes on, but still...When she was in "One Crazy Summer" she said she had put on a little weight (reasons for this is explained in the book) but please...she was still amazingly thin and beautiful.  Honestly, she is NOT fat in this film!

 

But before she filmed her next picture, "St. Elmo's Fire", Joel Schumacher, told her she was too fat and needed to lose 20 pounds.  God Bless Her, she said, "I knew he was right", I was so fat!.  How sad that she thought she was fat! How awful that he said she had to lose 20 pounds! I bet your bottom dollar he didn't tell Emilio Estevez to lose 20 lbs before he would give him the role - UGH!! Such a double standard.

Also, didn't it tick you off how Mare Winngham's character, Wendy, was always saying things and others were saying things about her weight - like she was a huge blob or something..OMG, if Wendy was considered fat, I'd hate to know what that think of me...but I don't care and I digress...

Back to Demi's book...while she did tell some a few very personal stories, overall, it just felt like she kept it at the surface.

After reading about her parents and a few other adults in her life, I think she just really tries to protect her heart and by keeping things on the surface, this is how she protects herself, and honestly, I can't say that I blame her.