Customer Reviews

Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within. (ROUGHCUT)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

When I saw Just Who Will You Be? Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within, I grabbed it and read it on the spot in Barnes and Noble. I still bought the book and a copy for my friend's daughter, who is graduating college in May and is terrified of the prospect of "being in the real world."

Maria Shriver spoke at the high school graduating class of her nephew and the students and parents asked her to write a book based on the speech so they could more clearly remember what she said.

I'm glad she listened.

She discusses how a recent study found that kids today want fame more than anything else. (I read the survey and they overwhelmingly want to be actors or sports figures.) She tells the class that: "fame isn't a goal worthy of your life." Shriver describes why fame shouldn't be a goal, that fame can't give you meaning and purpose.

Instead, Shriver advises to follow your heart, discover who you are, who your authentic me really is.

The poem she read to the class is in the book and is powerful and true. Here is one stanza I really enjoyed:

You can be girly and strong
Have careers and go far
And when you get married
Not lose who you are

The stanza for the boys is equally as good.

Shriver acknowledges that we keep changing, growing and evolving as we age and that this is a good thing. She tells the reader about her experiences with growing and changing and they come straight from her heart and were very inspiring to me.

Ultimately, who you will be is based on getting in touch with your feelings and discovering your authentic self.

Finally, I related to this book because I've been feeling stuck lately. I published my first book a year ago. Ask most authors and they will tell you it's like giving birth and the first year like raising a child. To add to the excitement, the book won awards!

But now, a it's year later and it's like the kid moved out of the house! I've had my moments (ask my husband,) and reading this book has finally inspired me to move on. I will always be an author, but I am also uniquely me and now its time for my next step.

Thank you for inspiring me, Maria!

By the author of the award winning book, Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet.Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet

I saw this book being discussed on the Oprah show and thought it sounded great. I ordered a book for both myself and my sister. We are both successful career women in our early 40's who are seriously questioning who we want to be in the second half of our lives. The book sounded perfect for us. I was quite disappointed. The bulk of the book is the actual speech that Maria wrote for a high school graduation class which includes a light-hearted, 25-page poem that definitlely seems targeted toward children. The Oprah interview was more substantive than the book itself!! I think this might be a good graduation gift for a high-schooler - but I don't think will hold the interest of someone older in life.

I didn't know too much about Maria Shriver before reading this book except for the fact that she is the famous Kennedy-Mrs. Schwarzenegger-First lady of California that you see in the headlines from time to time. Then one day the title of her book "Just Who Will You Be" caught my eye. Umm, why would she be interested in who she is? Doesn't she have all the fame in the world already? So I picked it up and read it; more than one time actually. I am so glad I did! She writes very honestly & directly and it is truly inspiring!


Maria had been living a life of privilege, power and fame gained from her background as a Kennedy, profession as a renowned journalist, and from her marriage to movie-star-turned-governor husband Arnold Schwarzenegger. Being a public figure with a historical legacy, Maria identified herself as a professional- this was all she wanted to be when she grew up and she worked hard to succeed in her work life.

She then became a stay-at-home mom bringing up four kids; however she did not approve of herself for not "working as a professional Maria Shriver". I imagine it was frightening when she quit journalism to become a full-time mother, based on her high profile past that equated self-worth with personal achievement. With a sense of humor, Maria shares with readers the journey of discovering who she is and who she wants to be. She is not at all afraid of admitting she felt lost at times, when she'd been answering her quest with a resume, not what her heart truly desired.


Maria inspired me to be true to myself. It reminds me of an awesome book by Ariel and Shya Kane, Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment that I love very much! Instead of "doing" and trying to figure out how I can fix circumstances that are not my preferences, I can simply just "be" me- and feel no need to define myself by certain roles. I can be gentle and kind to myself and others, be open and let go of some beliefs that may have served me along the way, but just don't work for me anymore. Life can be magical if we allow it to be, and it's up to us! What an awakening! I highly recommend these three authors!

This book truly touched me. It is from Maria's heart. From the outside looking in Maria Shriver has it all. She was born into a wealthy, well connected family, had a successful TV reporting career, is married and has children with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is now the governor of California.

When Maria's husband became governor of California she had to leave her job at NBC news. About this time her nephew asked her to speak at his high school graduation. Maria was feeling very lost at this time. This book takes us through Maria's journey of how she figured out what to say and she found who she was along the way.

I loved that this book was all about "Who do you want to be" not what do you want to do. Maria shares that neither fame nor money will make you happy. Happiness comes from within.

Another book I really enjoyed was Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment by Ariel & Shya Kane. It is a book of short stories about "Being". I highly recommend both of these books.

After seeing Maria Shriver promote the book on Oprah and Today show I was looking forward to it. To give you an idea of it, some of these reviews are longer than the book -- and frankly maybe even more insightful than the book. Most of the book is a motivational speech that she gave at a high school graduation. While some of Ms Shriver's words are inspirational, this whole thing should have "just" been a 4 minute YouTube video.

From some of the things that she touched on, it sounds like she does have a good book in her ready to come out. But this wasn't it. (BTW, I loved the review who said that she read it at the check out. So true. It's about 88 pages triple spaced.) I think that this is a chapter in her next book.

This little book will give an inspirational boost to almost any new high school, or middle school, graduate.

Though its advice might be too lightweight for college grads, and a little too sunny for kids from deprived backgrounds, the book is still a terrific gift for any reader who is open to it. In other words, Shriver makes no attempt to be Maya Angelou, but does have something to say. An example: "The only way you can come to feel worthy, and really good about yourself is to find your own voice, find your own path, follow your own heart and live your own life."

Another benefit: the recipient of this book might actually read it. Just 100 pages, it takes less than 30 minutes to get through, as each page has only five or six sentences and is set with wide margins and lots of white space. It's a very easy read.

The book is divided into three sections. A 20-page introduction is about Shriver herself, as the author recounts her dreams as a young girl. The next 40 pages reprint a speech Shriver recently gave (titled "Just Who Will You Be?") at a high school graduation ceremony. The last third of the book offers more reflective thoughts from Shriver, and includes a nifty list of Ten Things I Pledge to Myself -- including "I pledge to show up in life as myself, not as an imitation of anyone else" and "I pledge to use my voice to connect my dreams to my actions."

Shriver has used this concept before, reprinting another of her high school grad speeches in 2005's And One More Thing Before You Go....

Ragged pages add a timeless touch. Underneath the blue dust jacket is a plain hardback cover in the same blue color.

Want to make your gift more substantial? For middle schoolers I'd pair it up with Oh, the Places You'll Go! (Classic Seuss). For high schoolers I'd add The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou.

At just over 100 pages, I literally finished reading this book while standing in line at the check out. Granted, I started reading in the aisles before heading to check out - still very short. If I hadn't thought of sharing it with my sister, I probably would have put it back and only bought the other books in hand.

Essentially, this is an uplifting book about following your heart and discovering who you are. There's a positive message and some good points. In the end, I liked it, but felt there could have been much more.

There are two ideas in this book that I absolutely love -
First, Shriver suggests that WHO you are - all the little ways, the so-called insignificant ways, you can be of service to the world, like smiling at the bus driver - matters MORE than your job description. And that it is WHO you will be in life that is exciting, what you do being a part of that greater, richer whole of the person you are. This may sound obvious, but frankly its not what I was taught, nor what I experience in the world at large. Like she says, she was Maria Shriver-Anchorwoman, until she was forced to become Maria Shriver, and discovered what a gift that truly was.

Second, she suggests that each day "we are starting out fresh in the world." What a profound point of view! And it is in fact TRUE. There is nothing at all that holds us to our past other than our point of view that it somehow matters. What Shriver suggests is that each new moment is a completely new opportunity - not a linear progression from the past - but a chance to look and see who you are in THIS moment.

Thank you Ms. Shriver for a very lovely book - Two other books that I love and which also discuss being of service and living in the moment, offering astonishing shifts in perspective about life, are Ariel and Shya Kane's Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment and How to Create a Magical Relationship. Check them out!

Honestly, I did not expect Ms. Shriver's book to be more than a light read. I did not consider changing my mind until I passed page ten. My first impressions were about the genuine openness of Ms. Shriver's commentary about herself and the wonderful humor that pops-up unexpectedly. As I read further, I found her comments and descriptions related to her topic to be quite insightful. I believe most people ask similar questions about who they really are; what they want to do with their lives; why they are here on earth; and so many more deeply personal queries. Ms. Shriver's question as to who she really was, and not what she does in this world, will probably resonate with many. I found the speech Ms. Shriver gave to her nephew's high school graduation class to be excellent. I rather suspect no one in that audience was bored or unmoved by her speech--unusual for graduation speakers! I do recommend this little book of ninety-five pages to everyone (men included). However, the primary readership may be limited to women and grandparents. I hope not. This is an excellent book to be shared with daughters, sons, grandchildren, and others outside the family circle. The book's brevity may work to its advantage when given as a gift to young adults with the attention span of a thirty-second commercial. Personally I would not wait until high school graduation to give a copy of this book to a young adult--I think the book should be given at the start of high school, or sooner if you have a smart young adult in your family. Life is hard enough, and this thoughtful little book can provide anyone a logical starting point from which to ponder those profound personal questions we all have. As Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Thank you, Ms. Shriver, for helping to make those personal journeys just a little easier to navigate.

I saw Maria on the Oprah show and immediately added her book to my list to look it over on my next visit to the bookstore. Well, I did just that and found myself sitting down to read it right in the store. I enjoyed it very much...wanted my adult children and recently widowed sister to read it, too, so I bought it. This small little book is based on the speech Maria gave at her nephew's college graduation, but I think the message is very important to anyone from junior high school and up. If you love a teenager or have an active grandmother with a birthday coming up...or anyone in between, BUY THE BOOK! Yes, it's a quick read, but the message is an important one.