Customer Reviews

As I Am: an Autobiography

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

 

 

To my great surprise, I enjoyed this autobiography very much and was sorry when it ended. I had seen a few of Patricia Neal's movies, but was not a fan, and expected to skim through the book; instead I found myself savoring every word. What a life she's had, full of dramatic highs and lows. She found early success on Broadway and won an Oscar during her long Hollywood career, and is known for her love affair with Gary Cooper (she details many other affairs, as well) and her strokes, when she was 39 and pregnant, which left her unable to speak and walk.

Her turbulent marriage to eccentric writer Roald Dahl, the death of a child, the accident that left another child brain-damaged, and her relationships with a who's-who list of show biz greats combine to make this a book that is very hard to put down. It is written with so much energy and determination that I became fascinated with Patricia Neal. She is known publicly for her great personal strength, but honestly reveals her weaknesses and fears as well. Highly recommended as an outstanding Hollywood autobiography.

Kona

roald dahl said it best, "pat is the most honest person ever!" she certainly is, i read the book in one day and as the other reviewer stated, i was sad to see it end, her book was so inspirational that i find myself turning to it in my times of darkness, i think every young woman should read this book, it's like having that mother daughter talk with your mom- great read!!!

1million stars!!!!

As a Cooper fan, I only honestly bought the book to read about Pat's side of her affair with Gary. To my delightful surprise the book from the first page was enthralling and it took no time at all to finish. Her candor, her details of other affairs and her honesty and openess make this a truly impressive read and you soon think of her as a person rather than an actress or someone that had an affair with the famous Gary Cooper.

Definitely worth the money but more importantly, worth your time. Buy it and buy it NOW!!!

Patricia explains in detail the ups and downs that have occurred in her fruitful life. The strength she showed after her near fatal stroke is a true inspiration to not only other strike victims but to all of us. She totally exposes her feelings regarding her relationship with Gary Cooper, the subsequent abortion and the animosity she received from his daughter. What a beautiful and sad love they shared. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Patricia Neal the actress but also anyone who is inspired by a very brave woman. Also anyone who like myself are fans of Gary Cooper will be very interested in the personal side of this man and the huge part he played in Patricia's life.

Flew through this book. It was so well-written, honest and interesting, I could hardly put it down.

Although I couldn't understand her behavior when she was younger, being a well brought up woman, she seemed pretty loose, I do admire her courage and ability to cope through all her tragedies. I can even kind of understand her marrying someone she didn't really love because she knew she'd never find another true love because she had already found him, and she wanted to start a family. Her husband did a lot to help her and she acknowledges that, said she wouldn't have survived if it weren't for him, but he seemed cruel and rude to most everyone, she went along with whatever he said, even cutting her mother out of her life at one point. In fact, I never realized she had so many tragedies in her life.

But throughout, she didn't try to excuse her behavior or choices and I found that really refreshing. She was a very talented actress, I enjoyed her in "Hud" and the episode on "Little House on the Prairie", especially and she certainly had to cope with more than most people.

Was inspirational, sad and interesting all at the same time.

Anyone who has had to deal with someone who had a stroke will learn a lot from this book.

This book has just about stopped me cold from reading any more autobiographies (Ok, I'm lying, but at least I'll take a break). It was recommended by a friend, I didn't know that terribly much about Patricia Neal but remembered that she was in "A Face In The Crowd" and "Hud" (both great movies) and I was always slightly afraid of her husky voice onscreen as a child! Well, after you read this book, you'll know more than you ever dreamed about one person. Ad infinitum. The quick 4-1-1: Neal was from Kentucky, her Dad was a mine supervisor. They had money when she grew up. She had an older sister and a younger brother. Her Dad died when she was before eighteen. Her parents supposed her desire to act/perform during high school. She was a well-known beauty in her area.She went to Notrthwestern. She dropped out after two years and moved to New York to be on the stage. Eventually won a Tony award and got a 7-year contract in Hollywood. Fell in love with Gary Cooper during timing of "The Fountainhead," they had a multi-year affair. First marriage to Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). That's about half the book. I could tell you about her first daughter's death from measles, her son's accident that caused major head injuries, her cerebral aneurysm, her years recovering from a massive series of strokes, her life in England, but you can just read the book yourself. I have simply never read an autobiography that was filled with both mundane and profane details, and endless emotional self-examination. Enough already! This was a woman who was a gifted performer, came from a privileged background, and lived a life filled with major peaks and valleys. At the end, her inordinate self-absorption made any overriding message of the book unreachable to me.

My mother loved the book and was very pleased with condition of the book It was just like it was stated
on the internet.

.....So Neal describes the begining of her six year affair with Gary Cooper.

.....I bought this book because Cooper had been one of my boyhood movie idols and I was interested in learning more about him. After reading this book however, my opinion of Cooper turned from admiration and respect to disappointment and disgust. The "Coop", as he liked to be called, was a dandy and a ladies man who enjoyed having affairs with his leading ladies. Usually these ended shortly after the movie was in the can. In Patricia Neals case however, a star struck young actress young enough to be his daughter, Coop kept her on the hook for six years knowing full well that he would never marry her. When she got pregnant he arranged for her to have an abortion, "to save his career", and he hid in a car in an alley while she faced this gruesome ordeal alone. Cooper was the adult, after he added her scalp to his belt he should have broken it off for her sake but like a selfish lecherous old man he strung her along to the bitter end in the name of love.

.....My opinion of Neal is a little bit more conflicted. When reading an autobiography, the reader tries to get into the skin of the author and to understand the motives that drove her. I couldn't do this with Neal. I didn't understand how a well brought up Southern girl would allow her self to be seduced by a man who used her as a sex object while saving himself for marriage to another and then, after the marriage have the nerve to ask Pat for one last fling in the hay to remember her by. Instead of indignantly throwing him out on his ear, her attidude was "why not" and she began unbuttoning her blouse. I am sorry Pat but I cannot empathize with this behavior ...it seems slutty to me.

.....Perhaps a psychiatrist could have helped her understand her penchant for having affairs with much older men but I don't know if they could have cracked the puzzle of why she married Roald Dahl, a man she admitted she didn't love but one that she vowed to never divorce, although she did divorce him finally after years of abusive treatment. If Dahl was anything like the way she described him in her book I don't think I could have spent more than five minutes in the same room with the man. If I had been Pat's brother I think I would have taken him behind the woodshed with a baseball bat.

.....I am really sorry that Patricia Neal had such a hard life but except for the death of her daughter, her son's disability and her own stroke she brought most of her problems upon herself with extremely bad judgement and poor choices. Toward the end, after being abandoned by the "monster" she married of her own free will she descended into a whiney harpy that even her own children couldn't tolerate. I am sorry Pat but I think you could have shown more class.