Customer Reviews

After the Fall: How I Picked Myself Up, Dusted Myself Off, and Started All Over Again

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book AFTER THE FALL is a very interesting autobiography by a charming and talented performer. It describes how Suzanne Somers became one of the the most famous TV performers in the 70s only to become one of the most unsuccessful TV performers of the 80s. She deserved better than what she got on THREE'S COMPANY. It was especially interesting to read about how Suzanne reacted when she met the actress who replaced her on THREE'S COMPANY. The book is also about how Suzanne and her husband blended their families together. Suzanne's husband was very resentful of her son and it was sad to read about the way Bruce was treated for many years. But in the end everything works out for the best. And I can only hope that one day there will be a THREE'S COMPANY reunion?

Although I am not a huge reader of books, I have to admit going through depression before I moved last summer. I picked up this book in the library and enjoyed every word. Suzanne Somers survived the hard times of her early career and rose to fame. This is a great book to read. I was fortunate to locate a copy on Amazon and happy to say I now own my copy. I enjoy watching her movies,and also her sitcoms Three's Company and Step By Step. Pick up your copy you will not be disappointed and enjoy. The title just fits of how my life went over the years , and how I got myself together to survive.

I'm glad that Suzanne Somers has found peace and happiness in her life. I was disappointed though with her road to peace. She was young and immature when she filmed "Threes Company". I do agree with her that she deserved to be paid as much as a male and it is unfortunate that, at that time, Hollywood didn't think so. Her account of how poor she was as an unwed mother, before her rise to fame, didn't set well with me. California was and is a welfare state. Why didn't she go on public assistance? She spoke to Barbara Walters of the shame of posing nude so she could support her young son. Yet, in Dec. 1984 she posed nude again for "Playboy Magazine". She failed to mention that in the book, yet there is a picture of the cover of "Playboy". Her excessive spending and then sudden loss of income didn't make me cry. Spending $1500.00 each day for make-up and hair styling. That's rent for most people in California. She mentioned how Allens parents were a little uncomfortable of she and Allen spending so much money on elaborate gifts at Christmas time. His parents were very poor when he was little. You would think that she would have remembered her days of struggling as a single mom and how every penny counted. Finally, how in the world could she stay with a man who for years didn't want anything to do with her son! She says that her son always came first. If her son came first, she should have told Allen to take a hike! How could she hear Allen speak to Bruce the way he did and then speak of passionte nights in bed with Allen? I hope that Bruce has truly healed from the hurtful past. However, for him I would recommend a book titled, "Toxic Parents", by Dr. Susan Forward. I come from a broken home and "Toxic Parents" helped me a lot. As for Allen, he should be ashamed. What kind of a role model has he been for Bruce, Stephen and Leslie?

This book spoke to my heart and I thought it was wonderful and to the point. It showed how you have to take responsibility for what you are and the decisions you make. And also it showed how you can pick yourself up and move on and not have to be stuck in a rut. I encourage any and everyone to read, you'll learn things you never knew.

This is a book that many divorce/step families could relate with. I was amazed to see that a movie star had the same feelings as I do in regards to step children. I am not alone!! I admire Suzanne for describing her inappropriate outburst and her feeling guilty afterweres. I t was impressive that she was sharing with us information that would make her look awful. The book inspire me to read her first book, "Keeping Secrets". My Dad is an acoholic too and maybe I act a certain way because off that too, if Suzanne Somers does.

"After The Fall" is Suzanne Somers follow-up book to her hugely successful 1988 memoir "Keeping Secrets". In this outing Suzanne begins the book with her getting the breaththrough role of Chrissy Snow in 1977. Her life would never be the same. Suzanne documents both her personal and professional life as she writes about trying to bring two separate families together (she has one son and her husband has two children) while balancing her newfound celebrity on a hit TV series.

The most telling part of the book takes place during the summer of 1980 when she and her husband/manager Alan Hamel went to the "Three's Company" producers and demanded a substantial pay hike (from $30,000 a week to $150,000) as well as receiving 10% ownership of the show. Both Suzanne and her husband were given the boot as Suzanne was promptly fired and she was blacklisted in Hollywood for over a decade. Despite what critics of Suzanne have said about her being a money-grabbing celebrity she had every reason in the world to want to be paid more than what she was making. She knew full well what people like Carroll O'Connor and Red Foxx were making on their respective shows, and she also knew that as men they demanded and got their just rewards. So, she assumed as one of the leads on "Three's Company" and as one of the people who helped make the series a hit and her producers rich she would be afforded the same luxuries as others on network TV. To her shock she was booted from the series. Nevertheless, Somers writes about how being fired changed her outlook on life, how she had to adjust to losing her celebrity, and how she had to cope with the loss of a salary coming from being on a #1 series.

Overall, "After The Fall" is a good read especially if you want an insight into the backside of Hollywood in the late 1970's. It's also a must-own if your a fan of "Three's Company" as Suzanne gives you a glimpse into the making of the series, the infighting behind the scenes, and the jealousies between her and her co-stars.

I have had the opportunity to read this book and the recently published "Come and Knock on our Door" by Chris Mann, all within a week of each other. I found Ms. Somer's book to be very honest in the fact that she doesn't just whine and complain that she lost her job on America's #1 sitcom of the 70's, but she let's us in on a few character traits of her own that aren't exactly flattering. Let's face it, this woman has been to hell and back in her fight for happiness. Maybe taking on the "there's enough pie for everybody" attitude regarding the Three's Company fiasco was perhaps not one of her better judgement calls, but I do believe that she received the short end of the stick. I grew up watching Three's Company and the show was never the same after her departure. The producers had to set an example for future gold digging actors. She just happened to be the "nun who was hanged". I found "Come and Knock on our Door" to be a smear-campaign to discredit Ms. Somers and to somehow blame her for the Company's demise. And for what? It's ironic that only a handful of chapters in her book deal with Three's Company. She has been through a lot worse than being fired from a sitcom. Her book is primarily about trying to raise a step family in the middle of tinseltown, and at the same time trying to develop and maintain an everlasting love with her husband. The book was so uplifting that I could not put it down. I laughed, I cried and went through a few other emotions that I haven't exactly been in touch with in a while. There is certain criteria I look for in a book before I buy. I better be laughing, crying.... or learning something. This book serves all three purposes.

This is a book that many divorce/step families could relate with. I was amazed to see that a movie star had the same feelings as I do in regards to step children. I am not alone!! I admire Suzanne for describing her inappropriate outburst and her feeling guilty afterweres. I t was impressive that she was sharing with us information that would make her look awful. The book inspire me to read her first book, "Keeping Secrets". My Dad is an acoholic too and maybe I act a certain way because off that too, if Suzanne Somers does.

What I like about this book the most is her candidness about how the effects of growing up with an alcoholic father clouded her judgment on everything from her son to her husband to her career. Money in her life was just another way to make people happy. I wonder if even today the effects of alcoholism have really dissipated. Only those who have truly experienced a raging alcoholic father can fully understand the life long ripple that never ends. Suzanne is more that brutally honest in her descriptions of her feelings and is willing to put her heart out there, knowing that not all people who read her story will understand. I bought the book hoping to understand more about her affair with her now current husband, yet she spoke little of it, but my guess is it is because the book was more about The Fall.

I like Suzanne Somers, but I didn't grasp how she actually got back on her feet AFTER THE FALL, which is what I wanted to know!