Customer Reviews

Call Me Crazy: A Memoir (Lisa Drew Books)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

Although not the best writing style, the story does flow and this book turned out to be a page-turner. Before reading this book, I had no fondness for Anne Heche. I thought she was a perfectly adequate actress, but I believed her jumping from relationship to relationship (with whoever was the most famous or whoever had the most money) was a bit opportunistic, and maybe I still think that. However, her book explains her actions.

Anne believes that her father molested her - although she does not present any particular concrete memory to back this up. She told her mother that she had herpes on her face, and her mother admitted that when Anne was a baby, she had what was probably herpes on her vaginal area. Apparently her mother didn't catch them from husband, or if she did, she wasn't saying. What upset Anne so much was that her mother would never say she was sorry, or acknowledge that she was in any way responsible for not protecting Anne. What's weird (to me) is that obviously her father was a homosexual who had gay relationships with other adult males (he died of AIDS), but according to Anne's story, he was also a heterosexual pedophile - what's up with that?

Her father was a choir master who moved from church to church and her mother did not work (until much later). Her mother somehow managed to feed the family on the $5.00 a week her husband brought home. It's obvious that many of Anne's memories are not clear, but that's the way it is for many abuse survivors. Not only was Anne sexually abused, her father physically abused all the kids (her brother got blamed for stealing money - her father was the culprit), and the children were not allowed to ask questions and were punished for this. Her mother stood by him because that's what a good wife does, and above all, she was worried about getting into heaven. Although her mother told Anne that one of her little Jewish friends was a monster and going straight to hell, she later dated two married Jewish men herself.

Luckily Anne was discovered by a Proctor and Gamble talent scout while in high school, auditioned for a soap, and got the heck out of that mess. Her life afterwards actually went pretty smoothly - she seemed to get any acting job she wanted, got along well with others, and even had Steve Martin wanting to marry her. Anne was in therapy at a young age, but unfortunately, went a little haywire somewhere in her twenties. Due to her religious upbringing (all her mother cared about was Jesus' opinion, not her kids), and trying to deal with her dysfunctional family, Anne developed an alter ego, Celestia, who was the daughter of God, come to save mankind. Amazing things happened, albeit slightly otherwordly, and Anne filled two books with the writings (in another language) of Celestia. She also did drawings and poems. I wish that she had printed some excerpts of these. I think that along with those, some family pictures would have helped this book out tremendously.

What I'm not clear on, is the day she was going to get on the ship to go to heaven, she took Ecstasy, which she said that "they" instructed her to do. Was her fantasy afterward due to the drug, or would it have happened anyway? Because she certainly seemed to wise up pretty quickly once she was in the hospital.

Overall, I think Anne Heche has done a lot of work through the years on her emotional well-being, and seems to have it together at this point. She definitely has a couple of things straight: We are all children of God, and to love someone else, you must first love yourself. Thanks, Anne, for sharing your story.

While Anne may be a celebrity in her own right, with all the publicity, hype and controversary behind the relationship of Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres, the public has been exposed to most of the nitty-gritty details from the perspective of DeGeneres. Like many of life's revelations, there are usual three sides to every story: the first party's side, the second party's side, and the truth, which usually lies somewhere down the middle. Through the pages of this book, readers will not only read of Anne's relationship with DeGeneres, but will find an entire intriguing life story of a woman whose persona has not before been completely revealed. Readers get the facts straight from the source. Anne's life has been a complex one filled with trials and tribulations from start to present day. This book is not about "Anne the celebrity" but "Anne the person." For her, life has been filled with overwhelming obstacles, tragedy and heartache. Readers fascinated by the world of memoirs and autobiographies will find this is a book well worth reading. As for Anne herself, readers will have to draw their own conclusions, but as the title implies, "Call her Crazy", I would say, "no," call her human.

I'm the webowner of Mental Health Today and I found this book not only to be an enjoyable to read as I could not put it down, but felt that it will greatly assist others who have been sexually abused and hopefully society will begin to understand the effects of sexual abuse through this book.

The book does not mention Anne's particular diagnosis which may have been helpful to the reader, but does provide a clear account of what Anne experienced.

Anne discusses her thoughts and feelings about the sexual abuse she endured while growing up and made a connection between this abuse and the many psychotic episodes she experienced.

I feel this book will be extremely helpful for anyone who experiences some psychosis in their lives and/or for those who have been sexually abused.

I praise Anne highly for providing us with the experiences of her own life as I feel this book will not only be helpful to victims of abuse but for families as well to assist them in understanding what their loved one suffers.

I only hope that more celebrities will come forward with their stories, bringing mental health disorders more into the light.

I highly recommend this book.

At first I thought it was rather pretentious for any 31-year-old to be writing their autobiography, but after having read this book by Anne Heche, it is obvious to see that so much has already happened in her thus-far short life that it is worthy of an entire novel.

Most people only know of Anne Heche as the woman who dated Ellen DeGeneres, and then later broke up with her, went crazy, and then decided that she wasn't gay after all and subsequently married a man. While these are the facts that make the newspaper and tabloid headlines, they only scratch the surface of a very traumatic and eventful life. In this novel, Heche tells us about her life which began with an abusive childhood. Her father was a lazy unambitious tyrant who abused her emotionally, physically, and sexually and later confessed to being a homosexual and died of AIDS. She talks in depth about her ongoing struggles with religion, drugs, mental illness, and romance. She also talks about her rise to success as an actress, as well as the notoriety that comes with her career. I was particularly interested about her description of her delusions. At first she thinks she is God, herself, and then she schizophrenically develops an alter ego named Celestia.

I've seen most of the movies that Anne Heche has been in, but I never really thought much of her until I read this novel. She has certainly endured a lot in her life, and the scars of her past have not yet healed completely, but there's something to admire in her strength and courage. Being a straight male, I was hesitant to read this novel thinking that it was targeted towards women. However, I honestly enjoyed it and learned something from it. I recommend this book for everyone.

I came late to the Anne Heche party. I loved her in Volcano (a schlocky movie) and only recently saw her in Six Days, Seven Nights which I surprisingly liked. I have the hard-cover version of the book which has a different cover, and puts her in a more flattering light.

Trained as a mental health professional, I must say I found the book well written from the perspective of a person recovering from the appalling abuse Anne suffered. She is very candid and frank about the type of abuse she remembers. Things get a lot more murky once she's famous and she basically glosses over Anne-n-Ellen. That's too bad as that's why I bought the book at the bargain bin the bookstore.

I must say she did a lot of kooky, goofy, potentially dangerous and desperate things. I think she missed a lot of major points about her relationship with Ellen and how it related to her relationship to her mother, who is atrocious. However, I will never look at Anne Heche the same way again, and I will always have empathy and support to give to her for her struggle which I'm sure is continuing up until this very day.

I read Anne Heche's book, "Call Me Crazy" because I am the Christian mother of two daughters who were molested by their adopted father. I am researching the effects of incest upon the mother-daughter relationship and Anne's book was one of the few books available to give an inside look at this issue. I was sobered by the power of a father who sexually abused his daughter to inflict pain and division on those closest to him while maintaining a positive image in the community. I was also struck with the apparent blindness we as Christians demonstrate in regard to the evil among us. Anne's language will be offensive to most Christians, but those reading it should try to hear the pain behind the words and never forget her message.

Strangely unsatisfying tell-all. I distinctly felt that the book was more the writer's attempt to heal than a piece of literary work.

Heche shares much of her oddball therapy work, self-spun theories of her case, and dredged-up memories of abuse in her utterly messed-up childhood, but strangely enough reveals little of her SELF. I felt I was pushed into the psychiatrist's own chair, not allowed to be merely a reader or (in the best case of autobiography) a kind of temporary confidante and friend.

I gotta hand it to her, it took some guts to own up to some of this (psychotic episode under influence of Ecstasy, for one), and I am sorry for her suffering as a child. But perhaps SHE should have paid ME to read her unsavory chunk of insanity.

So, I asked myself, what makes Anne tick? This is a story of her troubled childhood and how her Father crossed the line, and how her Mother ignored the signs.

There was a lot of confusion for her growing up and I'm sure this is what ultimately led to her "craziness" This is definitely fascinating to peek into the private life of such a well-known person. So as not to give away too much from her story I believe you do come away with a better understanding of her as a person.

Anne Heche is the finest actress of her generation; a multi-talented chameleon whose performances have ranged from outrageous comedy (Six Days Seven Nights) to heartbreaking tragedy (Return To Paradise). But like so many other great actresses before her, that versatility did not come without a great deal of personal pain and abuse. After 31 years of near 'insanity,' Heche has finally cleared her soul of the childhood traumas that tortured her. From the closeted gay father who raped and beat her repeatedly, to the mother who let it happen and has yet to apologize or face the reality of her psychic damage, Heche's nightmares manifested themselves in a break with reality -- the creation of a second, Jesus-like personality she called Celestia. Fundamentalist Christians are warned to keep away, but the open-minded reader will welcome the revelations offered. A child of abuse who has survived to tell her tale, Heche offers a lucid, well-written autobiography that I read in a single evening. For the empathetic, this is a very tough read -- I fought back tears more than once -- but rest assured the story has a happy ending. I only hope that her new husband and expectant child will continue to enrich her life and give her the freedom and happiness she deserves. Go Annie!

Read this book over the weekend and was surprised to find someone out there in the world crazier than me! Like most people who will buy this book I was mainly interested in the Ellen saga which Anne does get into in pretty decent detail. But- I did feel pulled into Anne's painful childhood and the writing I felt was very good. At the book's end though I just felt sad- sad for this woman and sad that she really feels like her suffering has come to an end. As a child of such abuse- her pain will linger forever and will resurface over and over in different ways throughout her life. Especially now with Anne's pregnancy and impending motherhood. It will never end- no matter how many books she writes.

Anne is very brave for having written such a book and for all the press (mainly negative) she will receive- not to mention the Jay/David jokes that will ensue.

One other part of the book that was a trip for me: Anne's relationship with Fleetwood Mac genius Lindsey Buckingham: I can't help but be fascinated with the fact that Lindsey couldn't bring her to orgasm!

HA!