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The Beauty of Living Twice
Sharon Stone, one of the most renowned actresses in the world, suffered a massive stroke that cost her not only her health, but her career, family, fortune, and global fame. In The Beauty of Living Twice, Stone chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life and writes about her slow road back to wholeness and health. In a business that doesn’t accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, Stone found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to make a difference in the lives of men, women, and children around the globe.
Over the course of these intimate pages, as candid as a personal conversation, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments, and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a career in an industry that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children, and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family’s reconciliation and love.
Stone made headlines not just for her beauty and her talent, but for her candor and her refusal to “play nice,” and it’s those same qualities that make this memoir so powerful. The Beauty of Living Twice is a book for the wounded and a book for the survivors; it’s a celebration of women’s strength and resilience, a reckoning, and a call to activism. It is proof that it’s never too late to raise your voice and speak out.
Over the course of these intimate pages, as candid as a personal conversation, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments, and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a career in an industry that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children, and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family’s reconciliation and love.
Stone made headlines not just for her beauty and her talent, but for her candor and her refusal to “play nice,” and it’s those same qualities that make this memoir so powerful. The Beauty of Living Twice is a book for the wounded and a book for the survivors; it’s a celebration of women’s strength and resilience, a reckoning, and a call to activism. It is proof that it’s never too late to raise your voice and speak out.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published March 30, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 807 reviews
March 2, 2024
First off, this is NOT the book most people probably expect, nor, to be honest, is it one many people would WANT! While I am not a super fan of Stone's work, much of which I haven't even seen, I thought there would be much more about that. I'd say that no more than 15% is about her career - yes, there is a chapter devoted to her breakthrough in 'Basic Instinct', and a few pages here and there on her other notable screen work - '"Stardust Memories', 'Total Recall' and 'Casino' each get mentioned, but not in any great detail. But, even when she has come off as a bit of a ditz on the occasional talk show, I've always admired Stone for her gutsiness, her individuality, and undeniable intelligence behind all the superficialities - and I was most curious about her comeback from two devastating brain hemorrhages.
Fortuitously. about a third of the book is devoted to that, as well as her other personal health and other setbacks - including three third trimester miscarriages and a double-mastectomy. A third of the book is devoted to fathoming her family's history of silence, violence and abuse, her reconciliation with her parents, coming to term with molestation by her maternal grandfather, and the joys she has found in mothering her three adopted sons. And the final third is devoted to her spiritual awakening in tandem with that understanding, and her devotion to charity work. All of this makes for harrowing, and often unpleasant revelations - but also riveting: I finished the entire book in about 4 hours.
One comes away from the book with both a better understanding of how Hollywood didn't really know what to do with her talents, and often denigrated her unceasing attempts to better her craft, but also with a great deal of respect for what she has accomplished outside of her field - she has raised millions for amFAR, and started her own charitable foundation with her sister, Project Hope, that helps with the homeless.
Unfortunately, sometimes her earnestness becomes a bit strident, and her prose sometimes descends to cliché. Large portions of her life seem unaccounted for - her second husband is only mentioned ONCE (although there is the indication that she had to sign an NDA to resolve their acrimonious custody dispute over her first son, which might account for his absence), and the non-chronological structure is such that one doesn't always know where one is in her journey. But there's no denying Stone has lived a unique and colorful life, and this certainly does full justice to that.
Fortuitously. about a third of the book is devoted to that, as well as her other personal health and other setbacks - including three third trimester miscarriages and a double-mastectomy. A third of the book is devoted to fathoming her family's history of silence, violence and abuse, her reconciliation with her parents, coming to term with molestation by her maternal grandfather, and the joys she has found in mothering her three adopted sons. And the final third is devoted to her spiritual awakening in tandem with that understanding, and her devotion to charity work. All of this makes for harrowing, and often unpleasant revelations - but also riveting: I finished the entire book in about 4 hours.
One comes away from the book with both a better understanding of how Hollywood didn't really know what to do with her talents, and often denigrated her unceasing attempts to better her craft, but also with a great deal of respect for what she has accomplished outside of her field - she has raised millions for amFAR, and started her own charitable foundation with her sister, Project Hope, that helps with the homeless.
Unfortunately, sometimes her earnestness becomes a bit strident, and her prose sometimes descends to cliché. Large portions of her life seem unaccounted for - her second husband is only mentioned ONCE (although there is the indication that she had to sign an NDA to resolve their acrimonious custody dispute over her first son, which might account for his absence), and the non-chronological structure is such that one doesn't always know where one is in her journey. But there's no denying Stone has lived a unique and colorful life, and this certainly does full justice to that.
August 23, 2021
Audiobook… read by Sharon Stone
….7 hours and 24 minutes
LOVED LOVE LOVED ***LOVE*** this memoir.
If I were still writing reviews- lengthy- more detail ones - I’d have a lot to write.
It’s not necessary to be a *Sharon Stone* fan to experience the wisdom, courage, grace, and clarity from which Sharon Stone writes.
It’s powerful - intimate - informative- eye-opening - enjoyable - fascinating- educating - spiritual - beloved:( through transitions, change, suffering, death, and other losses)…
On top of everything (else) -and there’s a lot of everything ‘else’…..
Sharon has crafted a very fulfilling and important path to understanding and healing ourselves and finding peace.
Highly recommended……
[women my age and ‘up’ will especially appreciate ‘specific’ parts]
Ha….
and….
if you want to know the truth behind that black gap T-shirt Sharon wore to the Oscars years ago — you’ll learn that too!!
NOTE… this is still me NOT writing reviews!!!! 💕
….7 hours and 24 minutes
LOVED LOVE LOVED ***LOVE*** this memoir.
If I were still writing reviews- lengthy- more detail ones - I’d have a lot to write.
It’s not necessary to be a *Sharon Stone* fan to experience the wisdom, courage, grace, and clarity from which Sharon Stone writes.
It’s powerful - intimate - informative- eye-opening - enjoyable - fascinating- educating - spiritual - beloved:( through transitions, change, suffering, death, and other losses)…
On top of everything (else) -and there’s a lot of everything ‘else’…..
Sharon has crafted a very fulfilling and important path to understanding and healing ourselves and finding peace.
Highly recommended……
[women my age and ‘up’ will especially appreciate ‘specific’ parts]
Ha….
and….
if you want to know the truth behind that black gap T-shirt Sharon wore to the Oscars years ago — you’ll learn that too!!
NOTE… this is still me NOT writing reviews!!!! 💕
December 23, 2022
The Year of Women--in which I'm devoting 2021 to reading female authors only--continues with Sharon Stone and The Beauty of Living Twice. Published this year, Stone charts the peaks and depressions of her extraordinary life so far, beginning her story at the ER bleeding in her brain and nearing death in 2001. Her childhood in Pennsylvania, modeling and acting career, tempestuous family, ten years of superstardom, sexual abuse by her maternal grandparents, philanthropic work and rehab from her stroke are explored. It's a harrowing trip.
-- By not being put in a typical gender role-playing position at home, I was able to learn a lot of traditionally male-oriented skills, such as how to make and pour concrete, and how to lay a stone wall so it didn't fall over. All of us learned how to build a house, and since we grew up in Amish country, we learned it the Amish way, building the frame and the sides and then raising them with ropes. I mowed the lawn, shoveled snow, climbed trees, and played golf. I beat up my brothers, so I didn't get beaten up. Which is not to say there wasn't an absolute rule with Dad about not hitting girls; it was just that the boys didn't think it applied to sisters until we kicked their asses.
-- As a model, I was often called in to do the "difficult" jobs. I guess they thought I was the smarter, tougher one. Those jobs where they thought the guy might be tough, or the client hard to deal with. I worked with the Buf-Puf client who put me in a light box: a small box the size of my body lined entirely with lights, with a dish of water in front of me; I was meant to take the sponge out of it and show it to the camera near my face. She just kept telling me a thousand ways to say "Buf-Puf": accent on the "Buf" or on the "Puf," whatever--she kept drilling me as if I were an object in the box. And for her I was. A million-degree box, with an assistant putting cold towels on my back so I didn't pass out.
I did jobs famous men who arrived drunk, and with famous men who arrived sober and were terrific and with whom I am friends today, like Bruce Willis, who was spectacular and funny and kind.
-- After I was told that I got the part in Basic Instinct, I was asked to come in to meet with Paul Verhoeven, as well as some other people from the production company. I was so nervous and excited I could hardly hear.
I met with Paul in the company's offices in Hollywood, then said hello to a few other people on the way down to fill out some paperwork and meet the line producer, an older, kind of dodgy man, in his messy office. He closed the door and sat down and said, "You were not our first choice, Karen. No, you were not even the second or the third. You were the thirteenth choice for this film."
He continued to call me Karen all through the making and postproduction of the movie.
I left that meeting so messed up that I got into my car in the parking lot, put on my rap music super-loud, and back into a semi three feet behind me.
-- Also, for the ten years of the on-fire piece of my career this caused me to skip all medical needs. Dislocated shoulder: suck it up. Root canal in my trailer with no novocaine at lunchtime: that was not a great one, I can say; I had that redone twice--and then had total jaw surgery to repair the damage from this absolutely stupid behavior. Bursting ovarian cyst: get some super-strong meds, and change it from a standing scene to a sitting scene. Broken foot from an overzealous stuntman: get a bigger boot for that foot, finish the show, and then get it rebroken and repaired after the show wraps. In other words, shut up and deal. There isn't room for babies in this biz, especially if I, as a woman, want to prove my mettle.
-- Now that I look back on it, the hideousness of all of it, the unbearable pain of recovery, how I could be sitting on the couch and it would feel like someone had punched me in the face; my head would swivel, I would make a sound as if hit, and my face, only on that side, would suddenly turn bright red. Or I would get brutal pains on the top of my head and these inch-high lumps would come up, scattered over my scalp. Or my leg would feel like it was bleeding or wet, or burning. My fuse box was so messed up it was sending all kinds of weird signals all over the place. I was about to find out that I wouldn't be able to read for another two years or remember where I'd put down my teacup. But I was up and I was alive and I had a one-and-a-half-year-old baby boy who needed a mother. I didn't know how I would do it, but I knew I would.
Stone's #metoo moments are like practice drills compared to her serious tests: growing up in a lower-middle class family of six in Pennsylvania, three miscarriages, losing custody of her adopted son and the removal of two benign tumors in her breasts, which led to her laying on one side, which led to blood pooling on that side of her brain which nearly killed her. A difficult rehabilitation and a search for inner peace was waiting for her next. Material rewards had been fleeting. Basic Instinct, her most popular film, is cited most often and her account of its opening weekend is one of the more amazing descriptions of the actor's life I've come across:
-- When I played a serial killer in Basic Instinct I tapped into that rage. It was terrifying to look into the shadow self and to release it onto film for the world to see. To allow people to believe that I was "like that." Even more, to let myself know that I have or had that darkness within. I can say that it was and is the most freeing thing I have ever done. To engage my full self so very deeply and to free that dark angel. To know that I was angry--to know that I was so angry that I would have loved to stab Clarence to death--was incredibly freeing.
Ultimately, it also let me know that I wasn't really the stabbing type. Letting myself process that rage was magnificent, and I think letting others feel that release was a bit therapeutic for the audience. I know it's not just me.
The day Basic Instinct came out in theaters I hired a limo. Mimi and I started in Harlem and went to movie theaters all over NYC, from one side of town to the other, into the wee hours of the morning. We had bought two bowler derbies and wore our hair up inside and both of us wore our glasses. We watched about twenty minutes at each theater.
Harlem was my favorite. People were yelling and screaming at the screen. Cheering my character on. We were having a ball, seeing the reactions all over town. We stopped in the Upper East and West Sides, Hell's Kitchen, all the way into the Bowery. We were running in and out of theaters at various points during the film and fleeing like thieves into the day and night. And the audiences went wild, they loved this movie! It was one of the best times.
The next morning while we had a glorious, celebratory breakfast, the horrible reviews came out.
I found The Beauty of Living Twice compelling not by virtue of its writing, its study of the acting craft or even its potential for backstage intrigue. Stone admits that actresses have a reputation for "faking it"--which made her diagnosis nearly fatal and far more difficult than it should've been--but even taking that into account, I was moved by the strength this woman has summoned to complete the many trials of her life. She should not be alive. We shouldn't even know her name.
Sharon Stone was born in 1958 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Her father was a tool-and-die manufacturer. Her mother was a homemaker and briefly an accountant. Considered academically gifted as a child, Stone was awarded a creative writing scholarship to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania at the age of 15. Crowned Miss Crawford County in 1975, Stone was drawn to the film industry and dropped out of college. Initially interested in directing, she moved to New York to pursue a modeling and acting career. She was plucked as an extra on Woody Allen's Stardust Memories for a larger, memorable but non-speaking role in the 1980 film.
Stone spent a year in Zimbabwe and South Africa for her first film leading role in King Solomon's Mines and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold. Supporting roles in two more action films led to a break playing a treacherous spy in the blockbuster Total Recall for director Paul Verhoeven. When as many as twelve leading ladies passed on the role of Catherine Trammell in Verhoeven's next film Basic Instinct, Stone fought for a screen test and won the part. Superstardom ensued.
The prestige of her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress opposite Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci in Casino led to Stone producing and starring in The Quick and the Dead, for which she plucked Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio out of obscurity to co-star with her. Stone has served as Global Campaign Chair for amfAR for twenty years, heightening awareness for AIDS research. In 2013, she was honored by the Nobel Peace Laureates with the Peace Summit Award for her work. Stone lives in San Francisco.
Previous reviews in the Year of Women:
-- Come Closer, Sara Gran
-- Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
-- Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, Viv Albertine
-- Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier
-- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
-- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-- The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
-- Miss Pinkerton, Mary Roberts Rinehart
-- Beast in View, Margaret Millar
-- Lying In Wait, Liz Nugent
-- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
-- Desperate Characters, Paula Fox
-- You, Caroline Kepnes
-- Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
-- Don't Look Now and Other Stories, Daphne du Maurier
-- You May See a Stranger: Stories, Paula Whyman
-- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw
-- White Teeth, Zadie Smith
-- Eva Luna, Isabel Allende
-- Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion
-- Eve's Hollywood, Eve Babitz
-- You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir, Parker Posey
-- By not being put in a typical gender role-playing position at home, I was able to learn a lot of traditionally male-oriented skills, such as how to make and pour concrete, and how to lay a stone wall so it didn't fall over. All of us learned how to build a house, and since we grew up in Amish country, we learned it the Amish way, building the frame and the sides and then raising them with ropes. I mowed the lawn, shoveled snow, climbed trees, and played golf. I beat up my brothers, so I didn't get beaten up. Which is not to say there wasn't an absolute rule with Dad about not hitting girls; it was just that the boys didn't think it applied to sisters until we kicked their asses.
-- As a model, I was often called in to do the "difficult" jobs. I guess they thought I was the smarter, tougher one. Those jobs where they thought the guy might be tough, or the client hard to deal with. I worked with the Buf-Puf client who put me in a light box: a small box the size of my body lined entirely with lights, with a dish of water in front of me; I was meant to take the sponge out of it and show it to the camera near my face. She just kept telling me a thousand ways to say "Buf-Puf": accent on the "Buf" or on the "Puf," whatever--she kept drilling me as if I were an object in the box. And for her I was. A million-degree box, with an assistant putting cold towels on my back so I didn't pass out.
I did jobs famous men who arrived drunk, and with famous men who arrived sober and were terrific and with whom I am friends today, like Bruce Willis, who was spectacular and funny and kind.
-- After I was told that I got the part in Basic Instinct, I was asked to come in to meet with Paul Verhoeven, as well as some other people from the production company. I was so nervous and excited I could hardly hear.
I met with Paul in the company's offices in Hollywood, then said hello to a few other people on the way down to fill out some paperwork and meet the line producer, an older, kind of dodgy man, in his messy office. He closed the door and sat down and said, "You were not our first choice, Karen. No, you were not even the second or the third. You were the thirteenth choice for this film."
He continued to call me Karen all through the making and postproduction of the movie.
I left that meeting so messed up that I got into my car in the parking lot, put on my rap music super-loud, and back into a semi three feet behind me.
-- Also, for the ten years of the on-fire piece of my career this caused me to skip all medical needs. Dislocated shoulder: suck it up. Root canal in my trailer with no novocaine at lunchtime: that was not a great one, I can say; I had that redone twice--and then had total jaw surgery to repair the damage from this absolutely stupid behavior. Bursting ovarian cyst: get some super-strong meds, and change it from a standing scene to a sitting scene. Broken foot from an overzealous stuntman: get a bigger boot for that foot, finish the show, and then get it rebroken and repaired after the show wraps. In other words, shut up and deal. There isn't room for babies in this biz, especially if I, as a woman, want to prove my mettle.
-- Now that I look back on it, the hideousness of all of it, the unbearable pain of recovery, how I could be sitting on the couch and it would feel like someone had punched me in the face; my head would swivel, I would make a sound as if hit, and my face, only on that side, would suddenly turn bright red. Or I would get brutal pains on the top of my head and these inch-high lumps would come up, scattered over my scalp. Or my leg would feel like it was bleeding or wet, or burning. My fuse box was so messed up it was sending all kinds of weird signals all over the place. I was about to find out that I wouldn't be able to read for another two years or remember where I'd put down my teacup. But I was up and I was alive and I had a one-and-a-half-year-old baby boy who needed a mother. I didn't know how I would do it, but I knew I would.
Stone's #metoo moments are like practice drills compared to her serious tests: growing up in a lower-middle class family of six in Pennsylvania, three miscarriages, losing custody of her adopted son and the removal of two benign tumors in her breasts, which led to her laying on one side, which led to blood pooling on that side of her brain which nearly killed her. A difficult rehabilitation and a search for inner peace was waiting for her next. Material rewards had been fleeting. Basic Instinct, her most popular film, is cited most often and her account of its opening weekend is one of the more amazing descriptions of the actor's life I've come across:
-- When I played a serial killer in Basic Instinct I tapped into that rage. It was terrifying to look into the shadow self and to release it onto film for the world to see. To allow people to believe that I was "like that." Even more, to let myself know that I have or had that darkness within. I can say that it was and is the most freeing thing I have ever done. To engage my full self so very deeply and to free that dark angel. To know that I was angry--to know that I was so angry that I would have loved to stab Clarence to death--was incredibly freeing.
Ultimately, it also let me know that I wasn't really the stabbing type. Letting myself process that rage was magnificent, and I think letting others feel that release was a bit therapeutic for the audience. I know it's not just me.
The day Basic Instinct came out in theaters I hired a limo. Mimi and I started in Harlem and went to movie theaters all over NYC, from one side of town to the other, into the wee hours of the morning. We had bought two bowler derbies and wore our hair up inside and both of us wore our glasses. We watched about twenty minutes at each theater.
Harlem was my favorite. People were yelling and screaming at the screen. Cheering my character on. We were having a ball, seeing the reactions all over town. We stopped in the Upper East and West Sides, Hell's Kitchen, all the way into the Bowery. We were running in and out of theaters at various points during the film and fleeing like thieves into the day and night. And the audiences went wild, they loved this movie! It was one of the best times.
The next morning while we had a glorious, celebratory breakfast, the horrible reviews came out.
I found The Beauty of Living Twice compelling not by virtue of its writing, its study of the acting craft or even its potential for backstage intrigue. Stone admits that actresses have a reputation for "faking it"--which made her diagnosis nearly fatal and far more difficult than it should've been--but even taking that into account, I was moved by the strength this woman has summoned to complete the many trials of her life. She should not be alive. We shouldn't even know her name.
Sharon Stone was born in 1958 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Her father was a tool-and-die manufacturer. Her mother was a homemaker and briefly an accountant. Considered academically gifted as a child, Stone was awarded a creative writing scholarship to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania at the age of 15. Crowned Miss Crawford County in 1975, Stone was drawn to the film industry and dropped out of college. Initially interested in directing, she moved to New York to pursue a modeling and acting career. She was plucked as an extra on Woody Allen's Stardust Memories for a larger, memorable but non-speaking role in the 1980 film.
Stone spent a year in Zimbabwe and South Africa for her first film leading role in King Solomon's Mines and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold. Supporting roles in two more action films led to a break playing a treacherous spy in the blockbuster Total Recall for director Paul Verhoeven. When as many as twelve leading ladies passed on the role of Catherine Trammell in Verhoeven's next film Basic Instinct, Stone fought for a screen test and won the part. Superstardom ensued.
The prestige of her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress opposite Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci in Casino led to Stone producing and starring in The Quick and the Dead, for which she plucked Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio out of obscurity to co-star with her. Stone has served as Global Campaign Chair for amfAR for twenty years, heightening awareness for AIDS research. In 2013, she was honored by the Nobel Peace Laureates with the Peace Summit Award for her work. Stone lives in San Francisco.
Previous reviews in the Year of Women:
-- Come Closer, Sara Gran
-- Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
-- Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, Viv Albertine
-- Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier
-- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
-- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-- The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
-- Miss Pinkerton, Mary Roberts Rinehart
-- Beast in View, Margaret Millar
-- Lying In Wait, Liz Nugent
-- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
-- Desperate Characters, Paula Fox
-- You, Caroline Kepnes
-- Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
-- Don't Look Now and Other Stories, Daphne du Maurier
-- You May See a Stranger: Stories, Paula Whyman
-- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw
-- White Teeth, Zadie Smith
-- Eva Luna, Isabel Allende
-- Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion
-- Eve's Hollywood, Eve Babitz
-- You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir, Parker Posey
August 14, 2021
A one-star rating for this Hollywood star's "TELL ALL"......
that never really did "TELL ALL".
Quite frankly, I was expecting much more from a Hollywood icon with a reported IQ of 154, who appeared in over 70 movies and television shows.
Before reading this book, I knew that Sharon Stone's personal life featured just as much "drama" as her professional life -- and this, too, piqued my interest in her newly released memoir.
Overall, Sharon Stone's memoir was disjointed, superficial, and suffered from too many omissions and political rants.
Since Sharon Stone's life events were not revealed in chronological order, the book seemed choppy and "all over the place." Also disappointing was Sharon Stone's failure to share behind-the-scenes details about many of the films/television she starred in.
Few words were said about her two failed marriages and two broken engagements -- although she did state that a signed NDA prevented her from revealing details about her contentious 13-year custody battle over adopted son #1 that she had with husband #2. And, finally, Sharon Stone provided little information about her personal life as a mother of three adopted boys. The fact that key events from Sharon Stone's life were excluded in this memoir was a HUGE letdown.
I listened to the audiobook that was read by Sharon Stone. I usually love it when a celebrity author reads his/her own memoir but with this book, Sharon Stone just seemed to drone on. Also, although I respect Sharon Stone's political beliefs and her role as an activist, this book included waaay too many political rants that completely turned me off.
Sharon Stone's rise to fame as well as her efforts to rebuild her life and write about her recovery after her stroke are all very admirable. This book, however, is a very poor reflection of the actress's talent and robust accomplishments.
that never really did "TELL ALL".
Quite frankly, I was expecting much more from a Hollywood icon with a reported IQ of 154, who appeared in over 70 movies and television shows.
Before reading this book, I knew that Sharon Stone's personal life featured just as much "drama" as her professional life -- and this, too, piqued my interest in her newly released memoir.
Overall, Sharon Stone's memoir was disjointed, superficial, and suffered from too many omissions and political rants.
Since Sharon Stone's life events were not revealed in chronological order, the book seemed choppy and "all over the place." Also disappointing was Sharon Stone's failure to share behind-the-scenes details about many of the films/television she starred in.
Few words were said about her two failed marriages and two broken engagements -- although she did state that a signed NDA prevented her from revealing details about her contentious 13-year custody battle over adopted son #1 that she had with husband #2. And, finally, Sharon Stone provided little information about her personal life as a mother of three adopted boys. The fact that key events from Sharon Stone's life were excluded in this memoir was a HUGE letdown.
I listened to the audiobook that was read by Sharon Stone. I usually love it when a celebrity author reads his/her own memoir but with this book, Sharon Stone just seemed to drone on. Also, although I respect Sharon Stone's political beliefs and her role as an activist, this book included waaay too many political rants that completely turned me off.
Sharon Stone's rise to fame as well as her efforts to rebuild her life and write about her recovery after her stroke are all very admirable. This book, however, is a very poor reflection of the actress's talent and robust accomplishments.
May 24, 2021
Disappointing - needs editing!
I like Sharon Stone and enjoy (most of) her movies, and from watching her in various interviews over the years, I think she’s smart and has something to say. And I believe that even after having read her book, which, like many celebrity autobiographies, ought to be an “as told to” bio. While the opening pages are as compelling as a page-turning thriller, and the stories of her childhood growing up in rural Pennsylvania are honest and raw - and serve as a love letter to her family - the book ultimately simply unravels. She has a lot of interesting and important things to say - but it is an incoherent mess. There is no “aha” moment as in, “ok I survived this brain aneurism, now I’m gonna clean up my act and live differently” - so why the title? Living twice means two different lives...but you can’t tell where anything ends or begins. She would have done better with a great editor! I gave it 3 stars because I think she’s bravely fought through so much in her life and lived to tell about it.
I like Sharon Stone and enjoy (most of) her movies, and from watching her in various interviews over the years, I think she’s smart and has something to say. And I believe that even after having read her book, which, like many celebrity autobiographies, ought to be an “as told to” bio. While the opening pages are as compelling as a page-turning thriller, and the stories of her childhood growing up in rural Pennsylvania are honest and raw - and serve as a love letter to her family - the book ultimately simply unravels. She has a lot of interesting and important things to say - but it is an incoherent mess. There is no “aha” moment as in, “ok I survived this brain aneurism, now I’m gonna clean up my act and live differently” - so why the title? Living twice means two different lives...but you can’t tell where anything ends or begins. She would have done better with a great editor! I gave it 3 stars because I think she’s bravely fought through so much in her life and lived to tell about it.
April 20, 2021
The biggest takeaway from reading this book is that Sharon Stone is NOT a writer. It’s a scattershot of a memoir, like your finding pages of her diary strewn around a parking lot on a blustery day.
September 26, 2021
5 Stars for The Beauty of Living Twice (audiobook ) by Sharon Stone read by the author.
This was a really enlightening book. I’ve really enjoyed Sharon Stone’s movies but I didn’t know anything about her background. Hearing her talk about her struggles and how she overcame them makes her performances even more special to me.
This was a really enlightening book. I’ve really enjoyed Sharon Stone’s movies but I didn’t know anything about her background. Hearing her talk about her struggles and how she overcame them makes her performances even more special to me.
January 21, 2025
Sharon Stone's autobiography is a bit more akin to a self-help manual. Disjointed at times and weirdly written - lots of one or two word sentences and lots of 'you'll see if you keep reading the book' kind of hooks, I was confused as to who her audience was. I came out thinking that Sharon was a hippie who seemed a bit too serious for her own good. In general, a forgottable & weird memoir.
January 11, 2026
Audiobook (7 hours) narrated by the author, Sharon Stone
Publisher: Books on Tape (Random House Audio)
Sharon Stone sits down and talks directly to you, openly, directly, and with candor, through this audiobook. 🎧💌📖
The author link, while not stated, goes to a plethora of Sharon Stone's. For more information about this Sharon Stone, please visit her Wiki page or her IG: 🌐📱
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_... 「 ✦ 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞 ✦ 」
https://www.instagram.com/sharonstone/ 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦
The audio is flawless. ✩♬ ₊˚.🎧⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Sharon Stone hasn't been and wasn't on my radar. 📡
I was click scrolling around the internet and I happened upon a Sharon Stone interview with an interesting headline, so I clicked in. 🗣️🎙️
The interview mentioned a book. This book. It was available at my local library through Libby, so I picked it up, and here we are. 📚🎧☕
In life we all face unexpected obstacles, some more than others, with a small amount winning the unexpected obstacle lottery, with that winning ticket that keeps showing up despite never opting in. 🎫
When others are openly vulnerable about their lives, especially those who from the outside seem to have it all together, figured out, or have made it, it can bring a semblance of clarity, understanding, and self forgiveness or acknowledgement. It's not that we don't know that others lives aren't total perfection, but even before social media those in the public eye often have a very curated view of their life on display. 🚫🧱🏞️🎭👀
I loved this book as a fellow woman reading about the life of another woman. ♀️👱🏻♀️👩🏻🦰👩🏻👧🏽👧🏾♀
I enjoyed all of it. I felt that she was open, vulnerable, sassy, raw, loving; truthfully all of the emotions, as she shared her life, her self, and some advice to whomever was reading or listening. ❤️🔥
In closing, while not a fan of Oprah, this is the interviewer who Sharon Stone chose to speak with about her memoir. It seems to be a good overview of her book and perhaps a good way to see if this is something that you may want to spend your valuable time reading: 📚🎧☕⏳
https://youtu.be/3IWuARoBJo4?si=1qO2o... 🎬
Publisher: Books on Tape (Random House Audio)
Sharon Stone sits down and talks directly to you, openly, directly, and with candor, through this audiobook. 🎧💌📖
The author link, while not stated, goes to a plethora of Sharon Stone's. For more information about this Sharon Stone, please visit her Wiki page or her IG: 🌐📱
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_... 「 ✦ 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞 ✦ 」
https://www.instagram.com/sharonstone/ 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦
The audio is flawless. ✩♬ ₊˚.🎧⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Sharon Stone hasn't been and wasn't on my radar. 📡
I was click scrolling around the internet and I happened upon a Sharon Stone interview with an interesting headline, so I clicked in. 🗣️🎙️
The interview mentioned a book. This book. It was available at my local library through Libby, so I picked it up, and here we are. 📚🎧☕
In life we all face unexpected obstacles, some more than others, with a small amount winning the unexpected obstacle lottery, with that winning ticket that keeps showing up despite never opting in. 🎫
When others are openly vulnerable about their lives, especially those who from the outside seem to have it all together, figured out, or have made it, it can bring a semblance of clarity, understanding, and self forgiveness or acknowledgement. It's not that we don't know that others lives aren't total perfection, but even before social media those in the public eye often have a very curated view of their life on display. 🚫🧱🏞️🎭👀
I loved this book as a fellow woman reading about the life of another woman. ♀️👱🏻♀️👩🏻🦰👩🏻👧🏽👧🏾♀
I enjoyed all of it. I felt that she was open, vulnerable, sassy, raw, loving; truthfully all of the emotions, as she shared her life, her self, and some advice to whomever was reading or listening. ❤️🔥
In closing, while not a fan of Oprah, this is the interviewer who Sharon Stone chose to speak with about her memoir. It seems to be a good overview of her book and perhaps a good way to see if this is something that you may want to spend your valuable time reading: 📚🎧☕⏳
https://youtu.be/3IWuARoBJo4?si=1qO2o... 🎬
April 4, 2021
I'm super surprised. Most memoirs and biographies for me are entertainment, guilty pleasure. This particular book I had to put down so I could pause and think. And rethink. If for no other reason this is worth reading as a reminder to stop the storytelling...or at least acknowledge that what you are telling yourself and projecting outwards is a story. Not even, often, our own story. It's an unconscious continuation of the story we were plunked into by birth and circumstance. How do we break down what we are doing and recognize what's truth vs fiction? How do our own perceptions compare to what others see? How do we bridge that gap? How do you break out of perpetuating projected attitudes and stereotypes when you don't even recognize that it is happening?
If life is a stage and we are actors, it's good to know who's really writing the script we are speaking.
Also includes a good bit of gossip and fun anecdotes so your head doesn't crack open. So yes, guilty pleasure still included.
If life is a stage and we are actors, it's good to know who's really writing the script we are speaking.
Also includes a good bit of gossip and fun anecdotes so your head doesn't crack open. So yes, guilty pleasure still included.
July 22, 2021
Jul 22, 3am ~~ Review asap.
Jul 22, 1pm ~~ I learned about this book when I read a review by GR friend Joe Valdez. I was intrigued and ordered from my favorite used bookseller. And since I have run out of space in my Haven't Read These Yet bookcase, when it arrived I put it in a cubby in my desk to read as soon as possible.
So here we are. I knew of Sharon Stone from her work in movies, but I knew nothing about her private life, and just a little bit about the health scare she had with her stroke. Well, let's be blunt. It was not merely a health scare, the woman came so close to dying that I am still amazed she survived at all, let alone with the ability to tell us all about it.
This is one strong woman, let me tell you. From youth to the present day she has had to be tough to survive, and that inner steel was vital for everything else. She talks about her life, her sons, her childhood, her modelling and acting careers, her charity work.
But at the end of the book she felt as distant as she was before I started reading. I can admire her strength of character, identify with her determination to do more than merely deal with the effects of her health crisis, and even see her as a vital role model for any woman who wants to live life on her own terms. But I didn't have my usual memoir withdrawal symptoms. I tend to carry the author around in my head for a few days after any memoir, either marveling at their life or wishing I could sit and chat with them in person.
At the end of this book all I felt was joy that she has found her path and admiration for her courage in sharing it. She is tough, she is special, she may be very different in person, but on the page, at least for me, she is still a closed book. But a closed book who deserves the blessings she has found and hopefully will continue to receive.
Jul 22, 1pm ~~ I learned about this book when I read a review by GR friend Joe Valdez. I was intrigued and ordered from my favorite used bookseller. And since I have run out of space in my Haven't Read These Yet bookcase, when it arrived I put it in a cubby in my desk to read as soon as possible.
So here we are. I knew of Sharon Stone from her work in movies, but I knew nothing about her private life, and just a little bit about the health scare she had with her stroke. Well, let's be blunt. It was not merely a health scare, the woman came so close to dying that I am still amazed she survived at all, let alone with the ability to tell us all about it.
This is one strong woman, let me tell you. From youth to the present day she has had to be tough to survive, and that inner steel was vital for everything else. She talks about her life, her sons, her childhood, her modelling and acting careers, her charity work.
But at the end of the book she felt as distant as she was before I started reading. I can admire her strength of character, identify with her determination to do more than merely deal with the effects of her health crisis, and even see her as a vital role model for any woman who wants to live life on her own terms. But I didn't have my usual memoir withdrawal symptoms. I tend to carry the author around in my head for a few days after any memoir, either marveling at their life or wishing I could sit and chat with them in person.
At the end of this book all I felt was joy that she has found her path and admiration for her courage in sharing it. She is tough, she is special, she may be very different in person, but on the page, at least for me, she is still a closed book. But a closed book who deserves the blessings she has found and hopefully will continue to receive.
April 11, 2021
Totally recommend this book - but NOT if you are hoping for a tale of bed hopping and Hollywood gossip. It is a small window into the life of a woman who has risen and fought her way above and through more challenges than most.
It’s so easy to see a beautiful and successful woman from the outside and assume they have it all. Sharon blows that myth apart with just enough honesty to see the shine of her authentic self.
From the edges of poverty, childhood incest, and failed relationships to career highs and lows - all the way to a near death experience. This book shares just enough of all of it for the reader to truly appreciate the fact she has found genuine peace, forgiveness and meaning in her 60’s.
To be honest I knew who she was (ofcourse) but haven’t really seen much of her work. Well, now I want to!
It’s so easy to see a beautiful and successful woman from the outside and assume they have it all. Sharon blows that myth apart with just enough honesty to see the shine of her authentic self.
From the edges of poverty, childhood incest, and failed relationships to career highs and lows - all the way to a near death experience. This book shares just enough of all of it for the reader to truly appreciate the fact she has found genuine peace, forgiveness and meaning in her 60’s.
To be honest I knew who she was (ofcourse) but haven’t really seen much of her work. Well, now I want to!
June 6, 2022
Przemocowe dzieciństwo. Brak rodzicielskiej miłości. Bieda. Brak słów otuchy. Obdarcie z intymności. Brak pewności siebie. Seksistowskie komentarze. Brak wiary. Walka o życie.
Czytałam i zaciskałam zęby, kiedy zrozumiałam, że przez to i jeszcze więcej przeszła JEDNA osoba. Czytałam i zrozumiałam, że historia Sharon jest w większości historią wielu kobiet. Czytałam i zrozumiałam, że ciężko być sobą, kiedy ktoś nieustannie rzuca Ci kłody pod nogi. Czytałam i zrozumiałam, że pięknie jest żyć raz, a jeszcze piękniej jest żyć dwa razy - świadomie i po swojemu.
Czytałam i zaciskałam zęby, kiedy zrozumiałam, że przez to i jeszcze więcej przeszła JEDNA osoba. Czytałam i zrozumiałam, że historia Sharon jest w większości historią wielu kobiet. Czytałam i zrozumiałam, że ciężko być sobą, kiedy ktoś nieustannie rzuca Ci kłody pod nogi. Czytałam i zrozumiałam, że pięknie jest żyć raz, a jeszcze piękniej jest żyć dwa razy - świadomie i po swojemu.
March 30, 2021
Actress and human rights activist Sharon Stone's brave, contemplative and inspiring memoir, THE BEAUTY OF LIVING TWICE, is a tale of survival: surviving physical and sexual abuse as a child, an aneurysm and stroke that derailed her life for two years and the 13-year legal fight to regain the custody of her first adopted son.
Stone's acting career skyrocketed with 1992's BASIC INSTINCT. She was 34 and writes, "I was aging out of the business I hadn't really gotten into yet." The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination, but she remembers when her name was read at the ceremony, many in the audience laughed. That disrespect and sexism continued on the sets of other films (including one unnamed director who wouldn't direct her unless she sat on his lap). Even though she produced the 1995 western THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, she had to fight for her choice of director and co-stars. (She personally paid Leonardo DiCaprio's salary when the studio didn't want him.) In 2001, she suffered a stroke. "My right vertebral artery... was torn to a fine shred and I was bleeding into my face, my brain, my head, and my spine," she writes. Doctors told her family she had a 1% chance of survival. "No one told me those odds," she writes. "I read them in People magazine." Her painful and arduous recovery took more than two years.
Stone's tough and touching memoir reveals the traumas, setbacks and gritty determination to survive and thrive that have previously been hidden beneath a beautiful façade. This will be a book club favorite.
This is a candid and remarkably inspiring memoir of abuse, loss, survival and revival for readers who appreciate gritty tales wrapped in Hollywood glitter.
Stone's acting career skyrocketed with 1992's BASIC INSTINCT. She was 34 and writes, "I was aging out of the business I hadn't really gotten into yet." The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination, but she remembers when her name was read at the ceremony, many in the audience laughed. That disrespect and sexism continued on the sets of other films (including one unnamed director who wouldn't direct her unless she sat on his lap). Even though she produced the 1995 western THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, she had to fight for her choice of director and co-stars. (She personally paid Leonardo DiCaprio's salary when the studio didn't want him.) In 2001, she suffered a stroke. "My right vertebral artery... was torn to a fine shred and I was bleeding into my face, my brain, my head, and my spine," she writes. Doctors told her family she had a 1% chance of survival. "No one told me those odds," she writes. "I read them in People magazine." Her painful and arduous recovery took more than two years.
Stone's tough and touching memoir reveals the traumas, setbacks and gritty determination to survive and thrive that have previously been hidden beneath a beautiful façade. This will be a book club favorite.
This is a candid and remarkably inspiring memoir of abuse, loss, survival and revival for readers who appreciate gritty tales wrapped in Hollywood glitter.
April 7, 2021
Very unorganized and scattered.
April 3, 2021
I wish this was better.
September 3, 2021
Да се напише наново ... може да се намери красота някъде там.
Закономерно е след като достатъчен брой холивудски автобиографии са надминали очакванията ти (Деми Мур, Брайън Кранстън, Арни, за Майкъл Кейн да не говорим ... друга категория е книгата), то да попаднеш и на такава, която да те разочарова. Ама по всички параграфи.
Защо тръгнах с по-голяма кошница:
- Стоун има емблематични роли и то не като типичната празноглава красавица.
- Досега съм имал съставено мнение за много висока интелигентност. Всеизвестно е феноменалното ѝ IQ. (още един пример, че то май не е толкова решаващо).
- Имаше го много добрия пример на актриси от нейния ранг със сполучливи биографии, прочетени страхотно от самите тях. Все пак са актриси ...
Слушах книгата, прочетена от нея и:
- Разхвърляна.
- Не казва почти нищо полезно. ... Всъщност, май наистина нищо. Имам чувството, че я е писала за себе си или просто ей така ... Нямало е (а може би и не е допуснала съвети) кой да я навигира в това начинание.
- Разбрах повече за разни медицински състояния, отколкото за професията ѝ. Но и те бяха предадени с някакъв патос и драма, който не ми се понрави. Да, ясно, преживяла е много сериозни здравословни проблеми и явно това я е променило. Сама признава, че мозъкът ѝ не е това, което е бил.
- Политическите и феминистки послания бяха основата, на която е градена книгата.
- Изкарва се жертва буквално във всяка една описана ситуация. Така ми се струва.
- Прочитът е супер изкуствен. Ироничният смях, драма ... не можех да повярвам актриса от такава класа да чете собствената си книга толкова неубедително.
Основно раделям автобиографиите на два типа:
1. Такива, които пишеш за себе си и
2. Такива, които пишеш за (полза на) другите (чрез собствената си история).
Харесвам втория тип.
В първия тип се оправдаваш, обвиняваш, обясняваш ... няма смисъл.
Пример за първия тип примерно е автобиографията на Майкъл Оуен. И тази.
Пример за втория тип е на Майкъл Кейн и на Брайън Кранстън. На Хенри Форд, ако щете, преди 100 г. Няма значение от професионалното поприще.
На Арни е някъде разкрачено по средата между двата типа, но имаше поне забавни моменти. Най-малкото да разкаже как един републиканец се е оженил за жена Кенеди.
Тук няма и една забавна дума, да не говорим за случка. Та, ако държите да се потопите в няколко часа мелодрама от лично, здравословно и професионално естество ... а, и политическо, феминистко и още ... заповядайте.
Закономерно е след като достатъчен брой холивудски автобиографии са надминали очакванията ти (Деми Мур, Брайън Кранстън, Арни, за Майкъл Кейн да не говорим ... друга категория е книгата), то да попаднеш и на такава, която да те разочарова. Ама по всички параграфи.
Защо тръгнах с по-голяма кошница:
- Стоун има емблематични роли и то не като типичната празноглава красавица.
- Досега съм имал съставено мнение за много висока интелигентност. Всеизвестно е феноменалното ѝ IQ. (още един пример, че то май не е толкова решаващо).
- Имаше го много добрия пример на актриси от нейния ранг със сполучливи биографии, прочетени страхотно от самите тях. Все пак са актриси ...
Слушах книгата, прочетена от нея и:
- Разхвърляна.
- Не казва почти нищо полезно. ... Всъщност, май наистина нищо. Имам чувството, че я е писала за себе си или просто ей така ... Нямало е (а може би и не е допуснала съвети) кой да я навигира в това начинание.
- Разбрах повече за разни медицински състояния, отколкото за професията ѝ. Но и те бяха предадени с някакъв патос и драма, който не ми се понрави. Да, ясно, преживяла е много сериозни здравословни проблеми и явно това я е променило. Сама признава, че мозъкът ѝ не е това, което е бил.
- Политическите и феминистки послания бяха основата, на която е градена книгата.
- Изкарва се жертва буквално във всяка една описана ситуация. Така ми се струва.
- Прочитът е супер изкуствен. Ироничният смях, драма ... не можех да повярвам актриса от такава класа да чете собствената си книга толкова неубедително.
Основно раделям автобиографиите на два типа:
1. Такива, които пишеш за себе си и
2. Такива, които пишеш за (полза на) другите (чрез собствената си история).
Харесвам втория тип.
В първия тип се оправдаваш, обвиняваш, обясняваш ... няма смисъл.
Пример за първия тип примерно е автобиографията на Майкъл Оуен. И тази.
Пример за втория тип е на Майкъл Кейн и на Брайън Кранстън. На Хенри Форд, ако щете, преди 100 г. Няма значение от професионалното поприще.
На Арни е някъде разкрачено по средата между двата типа, но имаше поне забавни моменти. Най-малкото да разкаже как един републиканец се е оженил за жена Кенеди.
Тук няма и една забавна дума, да не говорим за случка. Та, ако държите да се потопите в няколко часа мелодрама от лично, здравословно и професионално естество ... а, и политическо, феминистко и още ... заповядайте.
July 5, 2021
A different kind of celebrity bio from a different kind of celebrity.
The book begins with Stone's very near death experience. We then move in and out of her life, in somewhat but not strictly chronological order. Her poor Irish-American family, her getting out of a small Pennsylvania town into modeling and then acting.
But the book soars in her tales of friendships, of service to others, of her spiritual life and of her life with her three children. And the story of a woman in a business controlled by, dominated by men who stood her ground and wants justice for all the women who have been brutalized by men. And not just in the business.
A book worth reading.
The book begins with Stone's very near death experience. We then move in and out of her life, in somewhat but not strictly chronological order. Her poor Irish-American family, her getting out of a small Pennsylvania town into modeling and then acting.
But the book soars in her tales of friendships, of service to others, of her spiritual life and of her life with her three children. And the story of a woman in a business controlled by, dominated by men who stood her ground and wants justice for all the women who have been brutalized by men. And not just in the business.
A book worth reading.
June 17, 2022
“we can reach for that light; we can look into that light. we can carry that light, be that light, and know that we are not digital, we cannot be replaced by that because we are the one thing that matters more. call it what makes your heart sing; but call it with love, because that light will lift you, cleanse you, and save you. it is the beauty of living twice.”
reading this felt like i was getting advice from a sister, a friend, someone i have known my entire life, not a hollywood legend. just beautiful, and a remarkable story of a survivor.
reading this felt like i was getting advice from a sister, a friend, someone i have known my entire life, not a hollywood legend. just beautiful, and a remarkable story of a survivor.
December 30, 2021
“It would be fair to say I fucked myself.”
This year I’ve read more celebrity memoirs than I have ever in my dang life. I picked this one up because I remember seeing a tweet by Sharon Stone where she was pretty much just begging people to realize that Covid was not hypothetical bullshit and she’s putting people in the ground because of it. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but I remember it was desperate and full of rage. My library recommended this to me and I instantly recalled that tweet.
It opens with Stone talking about her having a stroke and what it was like to bleed into your brain and your face. Then have a doctor advocate for an extremely dangerous procedure that would probably kill you, had not a nurse speak up with an alternative, allowing her to fire her doctor and buy time enough to figure out what was happening. It turns out she needed to have some kind of spinal surgery, relearn how to walk, and get back the use of her short term memory. They found that out eventually because she begged her best friend, telling her that she felt like she was dying, to convince them to take another shot at a diagnosis by using a microscopic camera that was moved up to her brain stem, which was disintegrating, or something?
That’s how this thing starts, okay.
It ends with Sharon Stone, for maybe the fourth time, reiterating how much victims of sexual assault and abuse need solidarity and compassion and help and closes it out with hot line numbers.
In between she talks about things like being told she wasn’t fuckable enough at 34 to make it in the business 6 months before she started in Basic Instinct. Or how her producer told her on another set to fuck her co-star because then they’d have good on screen chemistry. She told him, and others, that if fucking a shitty actor to make him an _okay_ one, she suggested they all go fuck him themselves and leave her out of it.
That’s around the time she says it would be fair to say she fucked herself. She reported people who harassed her and others, reported people who showed up drunk or high or ill prepared, and when she was asked to do things she didn’t want to do, she said ‘no’.
That doesn’t even go into her personal loss and abuse. It’s a pretty heavy book. I wasn’t expecting it, to be honest. She laughs at herself as well, it’s not all tears. Saying she repeatedly has put her foot in her mouth but continues to grow and learn.
I think, because I listened to it on audio, this hit in unexpected ways. Usually memoirs like this are read sort-of without emotion, or by someone else, and it almost always is worse than just reading the book. However, Stone narrates this incredibly well. She doesn’t try to control her voice. You can tell she is about to lose it as her voice warbles or pauses. Turns out she can deliver lines extremely well. Who knew?
This year I’ve read more celebrity memoirs than I have ever in my dang life. I picked this one up because I remember seeing a tweet by Sharon Stone where she was pretty much just begging people to realize that Covid was not hypothetical bullshit and she’s putting people in the ground because of it. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but I remember it was desperate and full of rage. My library recommended this to me and I instantly recalled that tweet.
It opens with Stone talking about her having a stroke and what it was like to bleed into your brain and your face. Then have a doctor advocate for an extremely dangerous procedure that would probably kill you, had not a nurse speak up with an alternative, allowing her to fire her doctor and buy time enough to figure out what was happening. It turns out she needed to have some kind of spinal surgery, relearn how to walk, and get back the use of her short term memory. They found that out eventually because she begged her best friend, telling her that she felt like she was dying, to convince them to take another shot at a diagnosis by using a microscopic camera that was moved up to her brain stem, which was disintegrating, or something?
That’s how this thing starts, okay.
It ends with Sharon Stone, for maybe the fourth time, reiterating how much victims of sexual assault and abuse need solidarity and compassion and help and closes it out with hot line numbers.
In between she talks about things like being told she wasn’t fuckable enough at 34 to make it in the business 6 months before she started in Basic Instinct. Or how her producer told her on another set to fuck her co-star because then they’d have good on screen chemistry. She told him, and others, that if fucking a shitty actor to make him an _okay_ one, she suggested they all go fuck him themselves and leave her out of it.
That’s around the time she says it would be fair to say she fucked herself. She reported people who harassed her and others, reported people who showed up drunk or high or ill prepared, and when she was asked to do things she didn’t want to do, she said ‘no’.
That doesn’t even go into her personal loss and abuse. It’s a pretty heavy book. I wasn’t expecting it, to be honest. She laughs at herself as well, it’s not all tears. Saying she repeatedly has put her foot in her mouth but continues to grow and learn.
I think, because I listened to it on audio, this hit in unexpected ways. Usually memoirs like this are read sort-of without emotion, or by someone else, and it almost always is worse than just reading the book. However, Stone narrates this incredibly well. She doesn’t try to control her voice. You can tell she is about to lose it as her voice warbles or pauses. Turns out she can deliver lines extremely well. Who knew?
June 24, 2021
Every time I read one of these celebrity biographies I am left wondering why Hollywood is so revered. Like many stars, Ms. Stone has had a difficult past filled with abuse and family problems. This book is interesting insofar as every person’s life is unique and interesting. This is not a gossipy, tell-all read. It largely consists of details of the author’s childhood, more recent health problems, and what she has come to learn from it all. She frequently mentions how intelligent and altruistic she is and continues to be to the point of excess. The book felt very disjointed and seemed to skip around and repeat certain things. That said, it did feel like she wrote the book herself without using a ghost writer, so I give her that.
April 20, 2021
Meh. Some of it was interesting but it focuses largely on her childhood, her charity work and her stroke/brain hemorrhage. Which are, in fact, interesting to read about (particularly her family) and she is introspective, but If you are expecting to hear anything about her experiences Hollywood, movies, costars, single parenting, the adoption of her children, losing custody of her oldest son, her marriage or other romantic relationships, aging out of Hollywood and jobs drying up, how she makes a living now, etc. it isn’t in there, aside from her briefly addressing “that scene” in Basic Instinct. And the absence of all of that material feels fairly glaring for a memoir. I don’t need her to spill every private detail about everything, but I think you expect much more — Demi Moore’s memoir is a good example.
June 3, 2021
Sharon Stone writes in a open, easy style that feels as though she is sitting down having coffee with the reader as she recounts the various stages of her career and of growing up in Pennsylvania. Her description of her stroke was most horrifying and fascinating. Her search for balance in her life interesting. Her retelling of her childhood was both horrible and good. She describes some of her kin as pretty out there characters . She is stone strong and flinty on the outside. Beautiful and earnest, becoming a richer ,giving woman more and more. I wish pictures had been included in the book..but the internet provided instead. This is a satisfying read of a super star of the screen and life.
May 5, 2021
A few parts were interesting but she meandered and the timelines were confusing.
June 21, 2021
The first half was completely engaging and deserved 5 stars but the second one rambled a little and deserved only 3.
January 24, 2024
THE TIMES #1 BESTSELLER
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
One of Vogue's Best Books to Read in 2021
One of O Magazine's 55 Most Anticipated Books of 2021
This is NOT a typical autobiography, this is not about stardom, fame, money, films. This is about LIFE. How fragile live can be, how hard it is to be positive with everything going wrong.
How Hollywood turned their back on her, how quickly you can be forgotten.
How a strong, intelligent woman looks at her own life and faces it with a new look.
Sharon Stone, one of the most renowned actresses in the world, suffered a massive stroke that cost her not only her health, but her career, family, fortune, and global fame. In The Beauty of Living Twice, she chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life, and the slow road back to wholeness and health. In an industry that doesn't accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, Stone found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to make a difference in the lives of women and children around the globe.
Over the course of these intimate pages, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments, and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a business that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children, and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family's reconciliation and love.
Stone made headlines not just for her talent and beauty, but for her candour and her refusal to "play nice," and it's those same qualities that make this memoir so powerful. The Beauty of Living Twice is a book for the wounded, and a book for the survivors; it's a celebration of women's strength and resilience, a reckoning, and a call to activism. It is proof that it's never too late to raise your voice, and speak out.
Thanks for all the charity work you do Sharon, I will never forget when you sent me a signed photo, but also a letter.
Four stars.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
One of Vogue's Best Books to Read in 2021
One of O Magazine's 55 Most Anticipated Books of 2021
This is NOT a typical autobiography, this is not about stardom, fame, money, films. This is about LIFE. How fragile live can be, how hard it is to be positive with everything going wrong.
How Hollywood turned their back on her, how quickly you can be forgotten.
How a strong, intelligent woman looks at her own life and faces it with a new look.
Sharon Stone, one of the most renowned actresses in the world, suffered a massive stroke that cost her not only her health, but her career, family, fortune, and global fame. In The Beauty of Living Twice, she chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life, and the slow road back to wholeness and health. In an industry that doesn't accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, Stone found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to make a difference in the lives of women and children around the globe.
Over the course of these intimate pages, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments, and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a business that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children, and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family's reconciliation and love.
Stone made headlines not just for her talent and beauty, but for her candour and her refusal to "play nice," and it's those same qualities that make this memoir so powerful. The Beauty of Living Twice is a book for the wounded, and a book for the survivors; it's a celebration of women's strength and resilience, a reckoning, and a call to activism. It is proof that it's never too late to raise your voice, and speak out.
Thanks for all the charity work you do Sharon, I will never forget when you sent me a signed photo, but also a letter.
Four stars.
December 9, 2021
This is an amazing memoir. At first, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, because there's no discernible structure to it. Stone tells you what she feels like telling you, in no particular order. She can go from Basic Instinct to her childhood and then to when she had the stroke, in quick succession.
But once you get used to her stream-of-consciousness style, it's easy to love her. She's such a strong, smart, ballsy force to be reckoned with. Some of her story was shocking, but I guess it shouldn't have been.
Her activism, strength, and ability to stand up for herself was inspiring. It was nice to finally read about a star who didn't snort her money away and go on constant benders. Refreshing, actually.
One thing I would have loved to know is how the injury that almost killed her happened. She doesn't say, but I'd certainly like to avoid it if I can! It sounds horrible.
But once you get used to her stream-of-consciousness style, it's easy to love her. She's such a strong, smart, ballsy force to be reckoned with. Some of her story was shocking, but I guess it shouldn't have been.
Her activism, strength, and ability to stand up for herself was inspiring. It was nice to finally read about a star who didn't snort her money away and go on constant benders. Refreshing, actually.
One thing I would have loved to know is how the injury that almost killed her happened. She doesn't say, but I'd certainly like to avoid it if I can! It sounds horrible.
June 24, 2021
I’ve enjoyed Sharon Stone’s movies over the years, especially Basic Instinct. I was eager to read her memoir and mostly it didn’t disappoint. She has been through a lot in her life and has learned quite a bit, which she passes on in her book. It’s worth reading, especially if you are a fan of hers.
July 23, 2021
Originally published on my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
2.5 stars
Sharon Stone writes about plenty of dramatic moments in her 2021 memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice. To date, her life story includes adopting three sons, surviving two traumatic brain injuries, contributing mightily to good causes, and yes, acting up a storm. However, her writing style just didn’t work for me. It’s disjointed and rambling, with an odd cadence and flashes of strange grammatical choices.
Still, you might love this book. The writing style might feel like a famous person pulling back the curtain and baring their soul. For me, it was more head-scratching that fist-pumping.
There are a lot of things I admire and respect about Stone. She’s accomplished plenty, especially considering some of her difficult childhood experiences. We’re only a few years apart in age, and I’ve had my share of brain-related concerns. So, I was curious to hear more about how she overcame the medical situation. Unfortunately, the topic garnered few pages. Instead, the book included much more about her childhood and early years than more recent times.
About the writing style
Stone puts together cohesive stories, sentences, and paragraphs. But within any chapter the topics wander around. Her focus felt unclear. It’s neither chronological nor organized by topic. So, she jumps from her family of origin to Hollywood to AMFAR, all in a short span. This made me feel reader’s whiplash and kept me from fully connecting with her.
Then about halfway through, Stone talks about the effect her brain aneurysm had on her memory. And I started to surmise why the book is what it is. Essentially, I wonder if Stone chose to allow her post-TBI situation to show in her writing style.
One of my dearest friends had a brain injury from a car accident. Although she gained back her ability to function mostly normally, we always had challenges with communication. She hated email because it was hard on her brain, even years later. I could be way off base here, but I suspect Stone has her own communication limitations.
My conclusions
I want to be completely clear. Stone offers up a lot of intense stuff in this memoir. I loved her stories about her time in Africa. And she weaves in some perspectives on spirituality and politics that add dimension to other stories. Her survival instincts are well-honed, and she deserves plenty of credit for that.
Still, the writing style of this book put me off. I kept hoping a better sense of cohesiveness would happen. I wish she’d used more ghost writing and perhaps organizational editing to overcome some of the randomness. On the other hand, this could be a window into how a post traumatic injury brain works, which is a good thing.
If you’re up for navigating the writing style, you may love this book. To say I recommend it feels like a stretch to me, though.
Pair with In Pieces from Sally Field, which sets the celebrity memoir bar very high. Its writing is particularly well crafted.
2.5 stars
Sharon Stone writes about plenty of dramatic moments in her 2021 memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice. To date, her life story includes adopting three sons, surviving two traumatic brain injuries, contributing mightily to good causes, and yes, acting up a storm. However, her writing style just didn’t work for me. It’s disjointed and rambling, with an odd cadence and flashes of strange grammatical choices.
Still, you might love this book. The writing style might feel like a famous person pulling back the curtain and baring their soul. For me, it was more head-scratching that fist-pumping.
There are a lot of things I admire and respect about Stone. She’s accomplished plenty, especially considering some of her difficult childhood experiences. We’re only a few years apart in age, and I’ve had my share of brain-related concerns. So, I was curious to hear more about how she overcame the medical situation. Unfortunately, the topic garnered few pages. Instead, the book included much more about her childhood and early years than more recent times.
About the writing style
Stone puts together cohesive stories, sentences, and paragraphs. But within any chapter the topics wander around. Her focus felt unclear. It’s neither chronological nor organized by topic. So, she jumps from her family of origin to Hollywood to AMFAR, all in a short span. This made me feel reader’s whiplash and kept me from fully connecting with her.
Then about halfway through, Stone talks about the effect her brain aneurysm had on her memory. And I started to surmise why the book is what it is. Essentially, I wonder if Stone chose to allow her post-TBI situation to show in her writing style.
One of my dearest friends had a brain injury from a car accident. Although she gained back her ability to function mostly normally, we always had challenges with communication. She hated email because it was hard on her brain, even years later. I could be way off base here, but I suspect Stone has her own communication limitations.
My conclusions
I want to be completely clear. Stone offers up a lot of intense stuff in this memoir. I loved her stories about her time in Africa. And she weaves in some perspectives on spirituality and politics that add dimension to other stories. Her survival instincts are well-honed, and she deserves plenty of credit for that.
Still, the writing style of this book put me off. I kept hoping a better sense of cohesiveness would happen. I wish she’d used more ghost writing and perhaps organizational editing to overcome some of the randomness. On the other hand, this could be a window into how a post traumatic injury brain works, which is a good thing.
If you’re up for navigating the writing style, you may love this book. To say I recommend it feels like a stretch to me, though.
Pair with In Pieces from Sally Field, which sets the celebrity memoir bar very high. Its writing is particularly well crafted.
August 5, 2021
In retrospect, I should have stopped reading after this gem of a paragraph, on page 40:
Like, what the fuck?
I picked this up because I thought I could relate to Sharon Stone as far as how life changing a major medical trauma can be (we're also both native Pennsylvanians). While the survival and recovery of Stone's stroke and its complications are incredible, there seems to be no difference between her as a person before and after the incident, once she was fully recovered. The title obviously implies otherwise and is therefore misleading from the start.
There are some great bits in this book, hence two stars instead of one, like when Stone talks about growing up poor in rural Pennsylvania. But the book as a whole is incredibly disjointed and disorganized. A good memoir doesn't need to start at childhood and end up in the present, but there has to be some rhyme or reason to the order of stories told.
A lot of the most important parts of Stone's life are brought up vaguely and without conclusion. I wasn't expecting to know everything about her ex-husbands and partners, but they are only mentioned in distant ways. I don't even know any of their names. She does reveal that there are details around losing and gaining back custody of her eldest son that she cannot disclose because of legal reasons, but these mediocre resolutions seem to happen too often.
About a solid third of the book is Stone is extensively listing all of her charity efforts. In the last chapter it feels like she's trying to throw in all the ones she forgot to mention previously. There is also a confusion-inducing paragraph that is just a list of all the countries she's been to.
In one of the last chapters called Karma, Stone talks about the horrific comment she made during a red carpet interview with an unvetted Chinese journalist (she reminds us of these facts of his identity often) about a massively deadly earthquake possibly being karma applied to the country of China in exchange for their treatment of the Tibetan people. She didn't really apologize back then and she still doesn't here--in fact she spends more time complaining about the statement Dior made to cover their asses when she refused to apologize as their brand ambassador. Then she complains about not being able to take her sons to China and remains confused how she insulted an entire country. It's baffling.
This could have been a decent memoir had there been an editor brave enough to really edit this, but I'm guessing Stone might not have listened to them anyway.
When I was a kid we all thought Nubby Neuwirth was an idiot. Not an idiot savant, as we now celebrate. This was back when he used to talk to his lunch box at the bus stop. In fact, we used to hit him with it. The lunch box, not the bus stop, in case you're an idiot too.
Like, what the fuck?
I picked this up because I thought I could relate to Sharon Stone as far as how life changing a major medical trauma can be (we're also both native Pennsylvanians). While the survival and recovery of Stone's stroke and its complications are incredible, there seems to be no difference between her as a person before and after the incident, once she was fully recovered. The title obviously implies otherwise and is therefore misleading from the start.
There are some great bits in this book, hence two stars instead of one, like when Stone talks about growing up poor in rural Pennsylvania. But the book as a whole is incredibly disjointed and disorganized. A good memoir doesn't need to start at childhood and end up in the present, but there has to be some rhyme or reason to the order of stories told.
A lot of the most important parts of Stone's life are brought up vaguely and without conclusion. I wasn't expecting to know everything about her ex-husbands and partners, but they are only mentioned in distant ways. I don't even know any of their names. She does reveal that there are details around losing and gaining back custody of her eldest son that she cannot disclose because of legal reasons, but these mediocre resolutions seem to happen too often.
About a solid third of the book is Stone is extensively listing all of her charity efforts. In the last chapter it feels like she's trying to throw in all the ones she forgot to mention previously. There is also a confusion-inducing paragraph that is just a list of all the countries she's been to.
In one of the last chapters called Karma, Stone talks about the horrific comment she made during a red carpet interview with an unvetted Chinese journalist (she reminds us of these facts of his identity often) about a massively deadly earthquake possibly being karma applied to the country of China in exchange for their treatment of the Tibetan people. She didn't really apologize back then and she still doesn't here--in fact she spends more time complaining about the statement Dior made to cover their asses when she refused to apologize as their brand ambassador. Then she complains about not being able to take her sons to China and remains confused how she insulted an entire country. It's baffling.
This could have been a decent memoir had there been an editor brave enough to really edit this, but I'm guessing Stone might not have listened to them anyway.
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