I'll Scream Later[ILL SCREAM LATER][Paperback]

by Marlee Matlin

I'll Scream Later <> Paperback <> MarleeMatlin <> SimonSpotlightEntertainment

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Disability, Autobiography, Biography Memoir, Humor

Paperback

First published March 31, 2009

About the author

Marlee Matlin, deaf since she was eighteen months old, won the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role in Children of a Lesser God. She was also nominated for Emmy Awards for her performances in Seinfeld, Picket Fences, The Practice and Law And Order: SVU. Marlee also guest starred on ABCs award winning Desperate Housewives, My Name is Earl and CSI: New York. In 2007 Marlee joined the cast of Showtimes cutting edge drama The L Word. Marlee is the author of the childrens books Deaf Child Crossing and Nobody's Perfect. She is affiliated with a number of charities primarily benefiting children. Marlee lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband and their four children.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Marlee Matlin as a person, but as a writer, she has a lot to learn. I know she wrote this book with someone else, which makes it surprising that it's as bad as it is. The writing and execution are poor. She jumps all over the place and there are a lot of gaps time-wise. It would have been nice if she had written more about what it was like to grow up with a hearing loss - she really skipped over that part!

There's name dropping, which is to be expected with a celebrity memoir. I liked some of it - it was nice to know which celebrities were nice and accommodating and what went on behind the scenes - but some of it was totally unnecessary. Did I have to know that Goldie Hawn held her baby for over an hour on a flight once?

I only picked up this book because, yes, I was desperate for books on vacation and saw it at the library. I had passed over it several times before because I noticed she capitalizes Deaf and that always pisses me off. Especially when someone like her does it. I don't get it -- she grew up speaking and reading lips and in the book talks about how she straddles the fence between both worlds. She clearly doesn't identify herself as being 100% culturally deaf, and takes pride in being able to speak AND sign, which is great. So to me, capitalizing the word Deaf is truly inaccurate, because it only represents a certain segment of the population. If deaf is not capitalized, it includes EVERYONE, which is what should have been done in the editing of this book. As a journalist and an editor, it's a major pet peeve of mine!

If I had passed over this book, though, I wouldn't have learned that Marlee has done a lot for those of of us with hearing loss, like advocating for closed captioning. I do hope she continues to wield her influence in Washington as well as Hollywood!

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I really connected with Marlee. The things she mentions about growing up deaf.. the way she had to have the lyrics written out for her to understand a song... the preference for action or thriller movies and tv shows simply because they are easier to understand.. There was so many simliarities between Marlee and myself it was like a literary looking glass. Of course the similiarities stop there as you will certainly never see me on the cover of a magazine or in a movie! But I felt I could connect with her. I also loved the fact that she doesn't really seem "hollywoodish" or better than everybody else.. She seems "normal" and laid back.

Marlee pretty much holds nothing back in this. She talks about her parents and the tensions she has with her mother. She comes clean about her drug use, sexual abuse at the hands of a babysitter and later, a teacher. She tells all about boyfriends, friends, movies, and also how she has felt attacked by the deaf community at times and why she has done some of the things she did that has set them in such a turmoil. A prime example is when she spoke rather than signed name nominations at an awards ceremony.

There was a bit of jumping back and forth but it's her story and she will tell it the way she wants to. The only thing I did not like was the pages after pages about William Hurt aka Bill. I couldn't stand him and I will never watch a movie that has him in it. I would have preferred more details about her happier relationships and less Bill. I respect he had a major impact on her but their fighting and screaming at each other and his hurting her got frustating to read so much of. Maybe a bit more of Richard Dean Anderson would have improved it.

I know this is a book review and not Facebook or Twitter or whatever them websites are, but I want to take time to thank Marlee Matlin for her amazing work in getting close captioning installed in the televisions in 1993. Life before close captioning was hard. It was impossible to watch tv and understand. Everybody would be laughing and you would feel left out sitting there wondering "what is so funny...???" Closed captioning has made a huge and wonderful impact on the deaf and hearing impaired community. Marlee, thanks. Until I read this I had no idea she was behind it. Wow.

Amazing woman. Amazing story. Amazing actress. An absolute must read for deaf women everywhere. Marlee did it. We can do it too. Deafness does not have to stop anybody from doing what they want to do.

[Dann]

DNF @ 10%

I’m physically unable to read autobiographies right now.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saw Marlee Matlin speak today at the Festival of Books, and she signed a copy of her autobiography for me. She is absolutely stunning in person and so sweet!

Okay, have to say I was pretty disappointed in reading this. I didn't expect it to be amazing literature, as most star autobiographies aren't, but it was really, in my opinion, of just a listing of all the men she dated/slept with and all the drugs she did. Made me sad because I do like Marlee Matlin's work so much and she has always been so gracious. I suppose everyone is entitled to their skeletons, but I'm not sure I need to read all about them...

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll Scream Later was an interesting read, but not quite what I was expecting. Admittedly, I don't read a lot of autobiographical, Hollywood-tell-all books, but I found this book to be heavy on the name-dropping and light on the editing. The writing was very choppy, even within the chapters, the subjects would change abruptly. I was also upset by Ms. Matlin's use of the word "Deaf." For people who are not familiar with the Deaf community and Deaf culture, a capital "D" signifies that a person is culturally deaf. This means that an individual with a hearing loss embraces the Deaf community and utilizes and cherishes American Sign Language. Deaf spelled with a lower case "d", as in "deaf," signifies that one has a hearing loss but is not necessarily involved with the Deaf community. While many people around the world have a hearing loss and are deaf, they are not automatically considered Deaf. I take no exception with Ms. Matlin referring to herself as Deaf, because I feel that she can identify and label herself as she sees fit. I don't know her and I cannot judge whether or not she is truly a member of the Deaf community. However, the word "deaf" never appeared in this book without being capitalized, including an instance where Ms. Matlin shares an anecdote about a woman telling her that she had a "dog who was Deaf." I'm fairly certain that canines cannot be culturally Deaf. Many times when Ms. Matlin was meant that someone (or something) had a hearing loss she used the word "Deaf," when she really should have written it as "deaf."

That being said, I'm a huge Marlee Matlin fan. When I was in college one of my interpreting buddies and I went to see her give a presentation in Cleveland and we were quite impressed with her. She seems like a person who truly cares about others and has been nothing but true to herself in a world that isn't always willing to accept people with differences.

A lot of what she wrote about when it came to her relationship with her parents struck a chord with me because I work with deaf and hard of hearing students who have struggles communicating with and relating to their parents. That language barrier is such a huge thing. I could also relate to her experiences with misconceptions and stereotypes in Hollywood when it comes to deafness and ability. The students with whom I work deal with those same misconceptions at school and in the hearing world at large.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

This book has some interesting bits at the start, but Matlin never takes a deep dive into most topics. I admired that she was willing to write about experiences that must have been difficult, even if they weren't closely examined. Of course, that was before the boredom set in for me. I made it to maybe 70 or 80 percent before I had to start skipping ahead, so I mostly hung in there.

The most interesting segments were about the repeated physical abuse and at least one rape she suffered from William Hurt, made more so by knowing how those details landed when the book was released in 2009 - the revelations barely caused a ripple. It was amazing that she was willing to open up about it at all, even if it felt like she could have talked more about how it affected her life and relationships after.

[Dru · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed reactions to this book. With her frankness, I almost wondered if she wrote this to have a kiss-and-tell book, with an emphasis on the name dropping bit. Yet I related to her experiences as a Deaf person who also has a role in the hearing world, using her voice. Receiving backlash is something I sympathized with, having gone through it myself. Taking the risk for criticism from the Deaf community always exist when you are in the public eye, and she has handled it graciously. Lastly, I wished it was written better. I'm unsure if it's due to Marlee or her co-writer. But I do not deny that it was an entertaining read- kudos to Marlee for having guts to write this book, regardless of what her intentions may have been.

[BJ Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire anyone who has the drive and positive self-image to refuse to be diminished or defined by a disability. Marlee Matlin is Deaf, and has a happy marriage with four healthy children. She is also an accomplished actress, with a career that began with an Oscar-winning role in Children of a Lesser God. I first saw her in Reasonable Doubts, which I loved, and enjoyed her role as a professional pollster in West Wing.

After reading her book, I have to say I also admire her for overcoming her self-inflicted drug addiction. This book, however, was a weak 3* for me because of the strong emphasis on her numerous sexual relationships. I understand that these relationships also helped make her the person she is today, but I don't need or want to know what goes on in the bedroom (euphemistically speaking!) It is because of this tendency to 'bare-all' in their memoirs that I seldom read autobiographies, and I now know some things about Ms. Matlin that I wish I didn't.

[Melissa T · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was, to say the least, an interesting read. It was written in a different style than other memoirs I've read. People sometimes say, they write the way they speak. Well, Marlee Matlin does just this. A lot of her speech is short, to the point. Sometimes I would say not as descriptive as someone else might have written it, and this may have to do with her being deaf. I learned through a little outside research, that there is Signed English, which is an almost word for word, more precise form of sign, that's designed to teach rules of syntax and grammar, and then there's of course ASL, which is more of shorthand version, it conveys the general idea being discussed. Marlee, for the most part, uses ASL in her signing, and it comes across in her writing. Many of the sentences are short and to the point, the general idea is there, without all the fluff of extra words.
One thing I felt was somewhat confusing were the transitions into some of the other topics. I could see the general idea of them, but I thought they could have been handled somewhat better, because a lot of the time I found myself thinking, "Now how did those two fit together," and having to go back and rearead a little.

[Jada Robitaille · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had picked this book because I had seen her in the film Children of a Lesser God and thought that she was an amazing actress. After that film I began to watch other shows and movies she had been in. When I had seen this memoir I had expected to read about the actress that I had seen in countless films and her success as an actress. What I had gotten though was far from expectation from eighteen months her life was a constant battle. When I read some of the horrific experiences that she has had I couldn't put the book down. I liked how she had demonstrated that her life was far from perfect even when she had finally achieved success. I also liked how she had included some of her personal photos in the book. I did not like however that she would skip certain times of her life. I agree with Lisa that “She jumps all over the place and there are a lot of gaps time-wise.” which makes it difficult to follow at times. What I also liked was that although she jumped around, she still managed to tell extremely important stories of her life in great detail which allows the reader to over look the jumps in time. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn about real stories and those who are interested in Marlee Matlin as both and actress and a person.

[-t r · Rating 2 out of 5]

I adore Marlee Matlin. I really do. She's sexy, hot, and a fantastic actor. I give her - as I do any actor - serious props for making it in an industry where most don't.
That said, I couldn't stomach most of this autobiography. The schlock that spews from the pages on how wonderful everyone is, and how great her life is made me want to hurl. Even her stint in rehab was painted with rose-colored paint. Her teenage rebellion is looked upon fondly.
The tumultuous relationship with William Hurt felt more like an "oh, gee, we didn't get along and fought viciously, took drugs and drank for 2 years. But it was wonderful!"
The tone of the book doesn't ring true. Everyone she worked with was awesome, she has the best friends in the world, the best husband and kids in the world, the most wonderful ex-boyfriends in the world, blah blah blah. The only reason I finished it is because I respect her talent as an actor so much.
If this was done by a ghost-writer, Ms. Matlin should get her money back. If not, she should definitely stick to acting because writing is not her strong suit.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading this, I thought of Marlee as just a deaf actress. But now, WOW. I now have respect for Marlee and for what she's done to help America be a bit more accessible for those who can't hear, including myself. Marlee opens up with some dark secrets that she's held onto her whole life. I wanted to dive into the book and give her a hug. She's worked hard to be successful in the acting world and clearly doesn't let deafness stop her! In fact, she's restored my strength and pride in being deaf when I needed it the most. Thank you, Marlee.

This book does hop around like crazy, and there's editing problems like spelling Gallaudet "Gallauder," but the hopping around didn't bother me one bit. If anything, it made the book more candid and personal. I could feel her energy through the book, which was great and inspiring.

Some people complained of the name dropping and that there was too much sex detail, but it all shaped Marlee and made her who she is. Haters gonna hate, but I liked those details included in the book.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because I'm interested in learning about the Deaf community and I like Marlee Matlin as an actress. I appreciated the insight into her experience as a deaf woman and her tenuous relationship with the Deaf community. Overall, it was a great reminder that deafness is not a disability in that it did not hold Marlee back. However, as a book, I found it very disappointing. There is no common thread or theme throughout the book; instead, Marlee stuffs many different stories together and it ends up feeling disjointed and jumbled. Also, my biggest pet peeve: spelling errors and typos. Ug.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marlee Matlin is an inspiration and a delight, and I'm honored to share a birthday with her! She's taken on life and challenges in a beautiful head-on way, and I loved reading about all the beautiful relationships she's built with all the people who have enhanced her life, along with her dedication to close-captioning and accessibility of media for those who are Deaf/hard-of-hearing. (I also loved learning that she was the producer for the DCOM Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-Off!)

[Kyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts of this book were very difficult for me to read because they hit a little too close to personal experience; but, Marlee Matlin has lived a very interesting life and I was touched by how candid she was in telling her story.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marlee Matlin’s life story is absolutely fascinating! This book, unfortunately, was really disjointed and poorly written.

[Jennifer Mangler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't have anything to say about this one. Glad I read it.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who don't already know, at the age of 50 I've decided to start learning American Sign Language for the first time; and like many people who start ASL classes, one of the first things I did was re-watch the 1986 drama Children of a Lesser God, the film that turned deaf actress Marlee Matlin into the youngest recipient ever of the Best Actress Oscar, a record she still holds to this day. That reminded me that I've always wanted to know more about this intriguing person, who's never exactly been in the center of my radar but who always seems to be in the news every few years for this or that interesting development; so I thought I'd sit down and finally read her 2009 autobiography.

And I'm glad I did, because Matlin turns out to be exactly as fascinating a person as I suspected she was, and delivers a tell-all memoir here that doesn't gloss over the dark bits but rather confronts them straight head-on. For example, that she was sexually molested as a teen not by one person but two different people (a babysitter and a teacher) while growing up in suburban Chicago; and that this led to a young adult life of early drug abuse and sexualization; and that this then led her to a fascination with dating violent men, including getting involved in a two-year abusive relationship with her Lesser God co-star William Hurt; and that this in turn led to her seeking rehab treatment right in the middle of Lesser God awards season, including being shut off from the public in the Betty Ford Center on the day her Oscar nomination was announced.

It's some pretty heavy-duty stuff, but Matlin handles it here with grace and humor, not great writing by any means but competent enough to be highly readable (aided by what I suspect was only a light touch by ghostwriter Betsy Sharkey). What's most interesting after this dark youth, frankly, is how quickly she managed to ingratiate herself into celebrity life after her Oscar nomination; plucked out of obscurity for the Lesser God role, after the Oscar she moved to Los Angeles and quickly fell into a string of famous casual boyfriends (including Rob Lowe, Richard Dean Anderson, and eventually showrunner David E. Kelley), who then threw her into life with the rich and famous, Matlin finding herself hanging out with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Hillary Clinton only a handful of years after being a teenaged community theater newbie in Morton Groves.

Eventually Matlin got married to a cop completely uninvolved with show business, had four kids with him, and settled into a life as a soccer mom and serial philanthropist, which is where the book takes a downward turn and becomes like listening to a group of middle-aged suburban women gripe about their petty problems over mimosas at the local mini-mall's TGIFriday's; but for the most part this was as interesting and revealing as I would ever want a celebrity memoir to be, and especially fascinating precisely from learning that Matlin has had a much more checkered relationship with the Deaf community than you would expect. (Basically, every time she'd mention anything about deafness in her twenties, half the Deaf community would applaud her and the other half would roast her, and she quickly learned to stop making overtures towards the Deaf community altogether, investing her time instead in behind-the-scenes charitable work.) Like a lot of these kinds of autobiographies, it's recommended if you're specifically interested in learning more about her, but can be skipped if you don't.

[AJW · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a deaf person myself, I can appreciate that this isn't your standard show biz biography. Opportunities for a deaf person to rise to the top are rarer than a gold ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. And Marlee Matlin deserves enormous credit for grapping hold of her ticket to Fame and making the most of it, beginning with her visit to Betty Ford's Clinic to tame her drug addiction. She could have so easily squandered her chance. But she didn't. Well done, Marlee!

Personally I enjoyed the first part of her autobiography the most where she talks about growing up deaf in a family of hearing people, as I could relate to that. The frustration. The communication difficulties. And the chapters around her stormy relationship with William Hurt were also fascinating to me as the details were so brutally honest. Then the rest of her book is about her various film and TV projects along with her various boyfriends and later, her growing family life. I couldn't relate to that part as she lives in such a different world to mine. And I'm not particularly interested in Hollywood. But if you are, then you'd enjoy this part of the book as she writes candidly about the people she meets.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a difficult time rating memoirs because the story itself is true and real and how can I judge it?

That being said I do love Marlee. I've been obsessed with the show Switched at Birth and when I realized she had a biography it was a no brainier to read it. I was a little disappointed that it ended up being written long before SAB came out but of course, that couldn't be helped.


Reading about her life and struggles was absolutely interesting and engaging. However I felt like the pacing of the book was just off in a way I couldn't place my finger on. There was a lot of time jumping, though not necessarily dramatic, enough to throw me off. She mentions dating and subsequently breaking up with a boyfriend, then later when she meets her husband she's still dating the guy she had previously broken up with. Obviously the stories took place at the same time, but the timelines weren't incredibly clear to me all the time.

The stories were interesting, but in general it felt segmented and didnt flow the way I would've liked and it made it feel like a longer read than what it probably was.

If you're interested in celeb bios this is definitely an interesting one.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

TNBBC Summer 2009 Challenge 16.6 - Two authors by the same name (part one) 326 pages.

I throughly enjoyed this book. Marlee Matlin is one of my favorite actors and it was good to read about her life. I was surprised by her high school years...typical pot smoking teen. Hollywood didn't have to change her! Fame did change her when she gave up the drugs for a clean life.

I would also get the DVD Children of a Lesser God because a big part of the book deals with it.

It was also facinating learning about what part an interpreter plays in her professional life.

What does a "working actor" mean? Your husband keeps his job and you take whatever jobs you can get. Fame does not equal money.

It was an easy read. But like any memoir sometimes it seems very self-centered and like a lot of name dropping. But when the book is about you and the people you know that happens.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads has made me have a huge collection in my wanting to read pile, as of last night there were at least 430 books piled up inviting me to read them. I seldom just go to the library to browse, I do all my choosing sitting on the couch. Cold and chilly nights are making me head to bed early to read too, which is much more relaxing than trying to choose what rubbish to watch on tv.

Marlee Matlin was a unknown deaf actress who won an oscar at 21 for Children of a Lesser God. I enjoyed hearing about her growing up and her career in acting, although I was a bit surpised by her being in such a bad relationship for so long with her co-star William Hurt.

I like that the memoir reveals what a normal person she is, that her head hasn't been turned by Hollywood fancies, that she lives a normal life with a policeman husband and four children. 3/5

[Lenny Husen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, rounding up because I got out of this exactly what I expected/needed from a Memoir by Marlee Matlin. I did NOT feel she blames anyone else for her flaws. She is a self-absorbed person who is also a delight. I enjoyed spending time with her.
This book is packed full of great anecdotes.
It is hard for me to imagine any fan of Matlin's not loving this book and I am definitely a fan.
She was fair to everyone in her life, including Bill Hurt who comes across as fascinating, narcissistic and sympathetic.
There was a lot of love expressed in this book to all the people who helped her and made her what she is today.

Who shouldn't read it: Anyone who expects celebrities to be wise or profound.

This book read like a very long People Magazine article. Photos were very good quality compared to many memoirs/biographies.

[Kelsey Baguinat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a huge fan of Marlee Matlin's since I was a little girl; I've always admired and looked up to her. Her new book is full of stories about her life up until now. After reading it, I can definitely say that I admire her even more!

The only reason I'm not giving this book 4 stars is that I don't feel like it was very well written/edited. It seems like there are bits and pieces thrown around that don't really fit in the particular spot that they chose to put them. It seemed really choppy and didn't have smooth transitions into the next topic/story, so that really took me out of it at times.

[Dioscita · Rating 2 out of 5]

The potential for this book was there. Marlee Matlin has lived a very interesting life, has had an exceptionally rich career, and has grown quite accustomed to a great deal of attention. That last item is, perhaps, why this book fails for me. Because instead of intrigued and supportive of its author, I instead found myself curling my lip and muttering, "Wow! How's that for spoiled and arrogant?!?" And that's not what a writer wants her readers to be thinking...usually.

[Jacob Lasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely a very different read for me.

I love Marlee Matlin and this book made me love her even more. I admire that she has no problem admitting that she is far from perfect, that she's made mistakes that people would be terrified to admit publicly like this. This autobiography is very honest, heartbreaking, and sometimes quite funny.

This took forever for me to get in the mail. Amazon... But it was worth the wait. :)

[Lorian Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin  



this book is so freaking amazing and i love it but i never knew about her dark past this book just amazed me from reading it marlee matlin is amazing actress and i love her from my favorite show switched at birth

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit too all over the place for me. She jumped from topic to topic, sometimes revisiting old ones instead of expanding all at once... at times things were mentioned and then laughed off or skipped over. I wanted more, and maybe she just wasn’t ready to share more.

[Stacy Nix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marlee has had a tough life.

[Mabon Finch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing read! Such an incredible journey. Marlee is extremely candid throughout, and always finds ways to inspire through her stories and struggles.