Customer Reviews

Geri

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There were three reasons to read Geri Jewell's I'M WALKING IT STRAIGHT AS I CAN. First, it is a shockingly candid, self-effacing look at the life of a genuine "first," the first person with a disability who had a continuing role on television. She takes you behind the scenes of the seamy and backbiting world of television, which I know so well. But this is not a "got `cha" book, designed to settle old scores in Hollywood. Ms. Jewell talks about her own family with painful honesty. She talks frankly about her failed twelve-year marriage to a very public man -- about whom a documentary was made -- who is in fact nothing like the man on screen. Ms. Jewell talks about discovering her own sexuality, which was certainly not what everyone wanted it to be.

The second reason to read I'M WALKING IT STRAIGHT AS I CAN is what Ms. Jewell doesn't say. Knowing many of the people and circumstances described in the book, it amazed me that she'd told only enough about a score of painful experiences, both personal and professional, for you to understand the depth and breadth of the events. There was so much more she could have said to settle old scores, to "get" the people who hurt her so badly. But she didn't. I'M WALKING IT STRAIGHT AS I CAN is the template for the perfect memoir.

The third reason for reading I'M WALKING IT STRAIGHT AS I CAN is that Geri Jewell is still walking as straight as she can. Her career as a standup comic continues,there are plays and films in her future. No matter how many times Geri Jewell got knocked down and no matter how hard she was hit, physically and emotionally, she got up, bandaged her wounds, learned from the experience and continued walking as straight as she could. If we take it to heart, Ms. Jewell's book could help us all to learn to do the same.

I found this book to be refreshingly honest, touching, very funny, & written with great candor. It takes a great deal of courage to look at one's self, & be able to share life experiences. An increable read. I could not put it down!
Sincerely
Valorie

It's hard to believe, really, that my friend from before the procedure has put out such a marvellous book with such tantalizing quotes. She dishes on so much -- the unprofessional slug that is Lisa "The Wench" Whelchel, the philandering Charlotte Rae, and so much more. Gary Coleman, don't go there! LOL, that means laughing out loud! It wasn't always cherries jubilee for Geri, this Katzenjammer Kid of the small screen whose halcyon days radiated with a 1000 points of light. No, no, no; Can you believe JohnSununu actually pulled her off stage at an RNC bennie (that's benefit, to those of you out of showbiz) with her own cane. Pluck! Good thing Rich Bond was there to lay the smackdown on Sunny John Subaru Xanadu chitty chitty bang bang we didn't start the fire!