Customer Reviews

How To Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life: Reluctant Confessions of a Big-Butted Star

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

There's all this talk going back and forth about Kirstie Alley right now. Whether she's a positive or negative influence for large women depends on the group or individual. Despite her weight, she is the 'it girl' of the moment. She's also just another woman trying to make it through life the best she can. She just happens to be using her butt to do it instead of her breasts.

"How to Lose your Ass..." is not a how-to book as the name suggests but a diary-biography. Each chapter opens with a few excerpts from Kirstie's diary followed by a vignette. Diary entries begin on December 31st, 2003 and end January 1st 2005. A year and a day. There aren't a lot of entries; about 63 ranging from a few lines to a few paragraphs. There's a mix up with dates on two entries that appear on the book flap and then again inside. This is not a tell-all book, just some exciting and sentimental tidbits, a few juicy parts. Each chapter reads like a complete story.

Kirstie talks about sex with Tim Matheson (and a few other people), how she first learned about scientology, the secret behind the name Kirstie, her life long self esteem issues, and her assassin Corgi. Doing coke, decorating houses, lying to friends, family and to herself, and bringing 'Fat Actress' to fruition are all open to discussion. She talks about her daughter Lillie and son True and their issues with weight, hers and their own; the personal tragedy that led her to gain weight and the revelation and emotional release she witnessed with Dianetics. How she secretly blames John Travolta for everything, the death of her mother, and one of my favourite topics...airplane seats are all mentioned. The last chapter is the best of funny. I can't tell you why or the title because it would ruin it for you. Let's just say it's something everyone can relate to and leave it at that.

Be prepared for some swearing and other vulgar analogies. She doesn't go overboard with them but they are present and may offend the delicate of mind. There's the occasional mention of her first marriage but not a lot about the who, when, what and how of it. There are lots of black and white photos from her childhood, a few of her children and of her beautiful parents. I would have liked more current photos of Kirstie included. Not embarrassing one that certain media like to focus on but something to bring the reader to the present.

With Alley's book you are sure to experience some gentle giggles and some heart felt sighs. Her warm sensibility and mild sarcastic tone are reminiscent to a chat with an old friend. [How to Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life] was an enjoyable look into one of Hollywood's foxiest women. I'd definitely read another book by Alley. There is still much to be learned about this stunning actress.

Things are looking up for Kirstie...successful show, deal with Jenny Craig, and who knew she could write? How to Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life is alternately hysterically funny and deeply touching, occassionaly managing to be both. Though some of her tales are a bit racy, if you're not easily offended it's refreshingly honest from a celebrity and surprisingly enjoyable writing.

I loved her when she was thin and I loved her when she was fat. No matter how you look at Kirstie Alley, you will get the genuine article. No plastic Barbie doll here.

Kirstie writes from her life in such an engaging way, I could really relate. I love the formatting she used. The diary notation at the top to set the stage for what came next. This is a real person! She is funny, poignant and down home. A great read that will leaving you laughing in some parts and shaking your head in agreement all the way through.

(I preordered the book as soon as I read about it in the Good Housekeeping article about Kirstie.)

I had the opportunity during a long flight to read Kirstie Alley's humorous look at herself. I am sure Kirstie did not mean to write a serious book yet it seems many people just don't get it. This book is not meant to receive a Pulitzer Prize. It is a simple and small book about the life and times of a very funny actress. You have to give her an A for honesty and that is much more than other authors such as Bill Clinton's, My Life. Some of her past lovers must cringe when they read it.
It is a fun book, a way to pass several hours on a plane or late night in bed when nothing good is on television. Kirstie is not the greatest writer, so let's not get too critical or throw stones at a lovely lady who has made all of us laugh. Just remember Cheer's and the many times this woman entertained us. Why are we all so critical of each other? Can't we all just get along. As a writer, I know we cannot please everyone so I suggest to dear Kirstie, just read the three stars and above. Jack Vink, Pulitzer Prize Nominee author of Banished to the Ribbons of Concrete

Kirstie Alley's journey through public life has been joyous, celebratory and sometimes rough. Anyone who has opened a series of tabloids to see her own expanding butt featured as the centerfold deserves an air kiss, a hot fudge sundae and an AK-47 loaded for bear.

Alley also deserves respect, however, for her work (very, very funny), her honesty and her willingness to plop her expanded arse down on the sofa next to you and tell it like it is. Yowza! What a relief! What a hoot! Wotta broad!

I was so drawn in by the title I couldn't resist picking this one up. I also am currently enjoying Fat Actress on Showtime.

Kirstie is very blunt and funny. This autobiography is basically just a brief glimpse into different periods of her life and how they've shaped her into who she is.

For those who are offended by bad language and what not, Kirstie is not for you. But, I think she's pretty well known for being outspoken, so this shouldn't be a surprise for anyone, so it's unfortunate that this affects the books ratings.

A good read for even mediocre fans, and certainly anyone looking for motivation in their own life.

Kirstie's book is not a long one but it is hllarious. I was laughing so hard, I had tears in my eyes and books rarely make me laugh.

In this book Kirstie shares little episodes of her life. They range from a bedroom romp with a well known actor from the movie "Animal House" where she makes a mad dash out the window when his fiancee shows up to telling the kids she can't attend a Hollywood event due to a sinus infection when in actuality she doesn't want to see her full bottom displayed in the pages of the tabloids.

Kirsties shares some very personal experiences from things you want to know like info on her family life to things you wish you didn't know like her grabbing a pampers to use when she couldn't make it to the bathroom on time.

She talks about her thoughts on fat, a bit about Scientology and throws in that maybe she and John Travolta shoulda hooked up.

All in all, she doesn't really say alot but what she says in this slim volume makes for a funny read. A good, quick page turner.

This memoir/humor book written by Kirstie Alley takes a humorous and sometimes sad look at what it is like to be a fat woman. In this case, multiplied by the fact that she is in the media.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Kirstie is very good at stating her thoughts without making them sound like huge melodrama. I must admit, though, to wondering what was behind the humour. There is obviously a lot of pain there.

I find it interesting that this is billed as a memoir as really, Kirstie, doesn't say much about her life except to mention her issues with her body.

Although I would have wanted more in-depth description of her life, I still think it took lots of courage to write this and hopefully this has gone a little way in helping Kirstie with her self-image.

Next book should definitely be longer.

Kirstie Alley's How to Lose Your Butt and Regain Your Life is in no way shape or form a diet book. It's not really a story about how Kirstie regained her life, unless you count her thinly-veiled stories of how Scientology changed her life as inspirational. No, it's more a joke book, a humorous piece of nonfiction, a collection of stories from her past complete with photographs. And it's funny. Hilarious, occasionally, and her self-deprecating humor and ability to acknowledge her fall from grace is interesting to read.

Written in the form of a diary followed by a story from the past, Kirstie tells her readers about everything from her numerous failed diet attempts (the Master Cleanse, the grapefruit and boiled egg diet, strange herbal laxatives that once made her poop her pants), the boys who taunted her during her childhood and her hopes that they eventually got what they deserved, and how her children kept her grounded even as she read about her escalating weight in the tabloids.

Her story is every woman's story who has ever struggled with her weight, because for the most part she makes no reference to her years as a famous actress. We hear about her going to auditions and the fact that she might be on set during a particular entry, but as a whole it's more about her life, her feelings, and her struggles. The fact that she can laugh at herself and be so down-to-earth is one of the best parts of this story.

So despite the misnomer that is the title, HTLYARYL is a funny little book that will make you feel a little bit better when your favorite jeans get too tight. After all, at least no one's printing a picture of you in the tabloids claiming you weigh 300 pounds.

I've never flown on a plane, but I think this would be a perfect book to read on one. By the time you've reached your destination, you'd already have read half the book. On the flight back you'd finish the second half, that is if you could wait that long.

I read this book in two days, extremely easy to read and very entertaining.

There were quite a few times, while reading, that I flipped to the first couple pages of the book to see if Ms. Alley had really written this all by herself. It appears she has. I'm impressed.

I definitely reccomend How to Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life. It made me laugh, it made me think and it was just...fun!

I really hope Kirstie writes another book. She obviously is a very talented writer.