Customer Reviews

Anonymity

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

 

 

Eloquent is the best word I can use to desribe Susan Heche Bergman's telling of her family story. Having read both Anne and Susan's stories about their family life, it is always interesting to see the different perspectives from siblings in the same family. I recommend listening to Anne's story first on CD as she adds profound emphasis to the telling and like so many good stories they are truly oral histories. I think it is nearly impossible for anyone to judge a family story other than those people who have lived the story. I thank them both for being brave enough to share their thoughts and perspectives on what happened while they were growing up. Clearly we are priviledged to be listening to what would normally only be divulged in a therapist office. We all need to hear more of these stories in order that we may come to understand that it is society's closed doors that keep people locked inside closets they don't know how to open; unfortunatley, for the Heche children, with devastating consequences. I have rarely read more finely written closing chapters than those where Susan descibes her longing to be throughly known pehaps "only as God could observe." My final thoughts upon finishing both books is that these sisters are closer than they know.

This books is eloquent, honest and infatuating. It is also a rare devout Christian voice that doesn't sound like James Dobson... and is well worth reading for those reasons.

And it's a very powerful morality play.

"Anonymity" is on a very short list of books that changed my life. The basic premise of the book -- that secret morality is a self-deception-- was exactly what I needed as I was developing my personal values.

I often think about "Anonymity" as I consider making a moral decision; my decision will probably become public at some point.

I read this book years ago before anyone had heard of Anne Heche, former "wife" of Ellen Degeneres and author of a new book, Call Me Crazy. In this book--Anonymity--Anne's siter Susan tells a tragic story of a gay man who was ashamed of being gay and a wife who is the epitome of denial. Everyone in the family suffers (read about the son!) in their own way. The only one who seemed to escape it at all was Anne, the pretty, blond sister who had gone to New York to become an actress. Yet today Anne "recollects" horror stories about her family which do not jive at all with this honest, poetic book by Susan. Read this book for a story of true family dysfunction in the 20th century. It is quite a book! Very well written and honest. (I am hoping it comes back in print with the recent publicity Anne's book is receiving.)

This memoir is about a family that finds out, after their father's
death from AIDS in 1983, that he was gay and leading a double life.
Ms. Bergman attempts to understand and forgive while reconciling her
spiritual and ethical beliefs about life with her father's actions.

Her father's homosexuality is only one of the ways he distanced him-
self from his family. He was a huckster, opportunist and scam man
in search of 'the great deal'.

The book is interesting but a bit obtuse and postured. I recommend
The Family Heart: A Memoir of When Our Son Came Out in addition to
this book.

Bergman's lyrical prose wraps around your heart at every turn. If you haven't read Anonymity this year, you must.

Anonimity's author is an intriguing woman who holds within her the angst of the lives lived by her family members. Her book is very personal, yet I feel that it does not bring us any closer to knowing the author in a true sense. It leaves me wanting her to scream out the anguish she holds inside and to break open her candy coated facade.Her writing is quite poetic, but it is lacking the area of self-discovery which causes her writing to feel smothered and tiresome.

Although my heart goes out to both of the Heche sisters and I have read both equally bad books I can not recommend either one of the books. I would however love to see a neutral party interview all the family members and friends of their father and the family to obtain a more coherent telling of the tale. It appears that Ann and Susan don't get along and neither one did much research in writing the book. Save your money for future tell alls by the Condits, Kennedys, Clintons, Ramsays, and OJ Simpsons.