In Pieces is an apt title for this memoir from Sally Field. It gives an overall impression of her life and career, but for those looking for more of an autobiography, I think you'll be disappointed. She details the early days of her success on TV, but bypasses large parts of her acting career which most people today know her by. Enjoyable as a portrait of a woman, but lacking as a movie star autobiography.
The majority of the memoir is about family and their support as she began acting and her success as Gidget and The Flying Nun. There were, of course, hard times with some abuse and an eating disorder, all while trying to appear as America's Sweetheart. Cut to a breakout role is Sybil, Smokey and The Bandit, and her Oscar winning role as Norma Rae in 1980. Having just read Burt Reynolds memoir, it was interesting to hear her version of their relationship - the other side of the same story. Reynold's ex-wife Loni Anderson wrote in her autobiography with venom, and from Sally's recollections, he was toxic. I wonder if she waited until he had passed to open this to the world. We jump from Norma Rae to Steel Magnolias and Lincoln, bypassing many movies like Places In The Heart (which won her an Oscar, and a place in pop culture with a consistently misquoted acceptance speech), Mrs. Doubtfire, Soapdish, Forrest Gump, Murphy's Romance and Absence of Malice. I would have liked to know more about her choices in these films, what is was like to work with other filmmakers, but the focus is more on her relationships with her family and children.
Memoirs are always an interesting read, but for me this had gaps too large to cross. What I anticipated wasn't there, and what was did not compel.
Unless you are a big fan of hers, I'm sorry I wouldn't recommend it.
2018 / Hardcover / 416 pages
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