Customer Reviews

Keeping Secrets

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Lying separates people is one of the many poignant quotes I remember from this book. Anyone, regardless of age, let me qualify that, anyone in Jr. High or older, can learn something about themselves, friend, partner, neighbour or loved one after completing this book. Somers does a masterful job in systematically outlining her life as a young person. She utilizes Sharon W-Cruz' model of the dysfunctional family very well. Anyone in denial should not read this book. The illusions of chemical dependency are stripped and the facades are challenged. We are not talking about some dozzy fake blond we saw on '3's company'. We are talking about the ghosts that Suzanne allowed to come out of her closet. She has the academic ability to do what former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy who was victimized by his Junior hockey coach (Graham James) has not been able to do...yet. Good for her. People, kids and victims need to read this.

Suzanne Somers' book, Keeping Secrets, is written in a straightforward style that is very easy to relate to and makes the reader feel like hiding in a closet just as Suzanne and her siblings did during their unbearable childhood, suffered at the hand of a rock-bottom alcoholic father. Suzanne is huanted by the sickness of alcoholism and co-dependency well into adulthood. For anyone who is a child of an alcoholic, this book is highly recommended. The triumph of the entire family over alcohol and disfunction is inspiring.

With an intention to skim this book, I became engrossed in what Suzanne Somers had to say about her life before fame and living with a severely alcoholic parent.

She shares vivid details she endured at the hands of her father, low self-esteem, shame, fear, anger, violence, craziness, hostility, chaos and more. As she describes her pain and emotional feelings, she backs up what she says to give the reader some better understanding of her behavior or that of the alcoholic.

One example is when her father ripped her nicest clothes she wore while attending school. With a heavy object, she almost cracked his head open and feared he was dead; she blamed herself and begged that he not die. Asking herself why she reacted with violence over simple clothes, her response was that the clothes were a mask that hid who she really was and a mask to the shameful crazy sick homelife. She helps the reader by explaining thoughts and actions taken.

The story begins when she was a child and it follows Suzanne after she left home to reveal a chaotic financially struggling young woman with a kid, early marriage, affairs, abortion, therapy, and so on. Fortunately, she and Alan Hamel, a Canadian producer, resolved their edgy relationship combining two families and they lived happily ever after, since she is still married to him as of 2007.

Suzanne's mother was not a drinker, but too weak and powerless to intervene. Back in those days it was easier to let drinkers just be drinkers.

But I am baffled how a mother allows a man to be cruel to her children, to destroy their spirit and soul? I'm quite sure the mother's esteem is broken down too. To me, there can not ever be any excuse to torment children.

The final notes Suzanne Somers shares come from a dinner/entertainment act sponsored by the Alcoholics Anonymous, initiated by her sister Maureen, who has recovered. Two brothers followed the path of their father also. Somers feels grateful that her entire family has recovered or is in the process. This book was published in 1988 and her father had been free of alcohol for 10 years.

This is a very well-written book that helps to understand the family dynamics and the troubled alcoholic.... Rizzo

I would like to personally thank Susanne Somers for writing this book that changed my life. Unfortunately I can't do that so I would like to express my gratitude with this review. I read the book "Keeping Secrets" because it is about being a child of an alchoholic which I am. Little did I know that this book would open my eyes to the disease of alchoholism from which I myself suffer and lead me into the rooms of Alchoholics Anonymous which was what saved her family. I have been sober now for 31/2 years since I finished the last page of her book and went to an AA meeting. I have been given a second chance at life. My family has been repaired and I am a new person. My life is so blessed today thanks to the education I recieved in this enlightening auto biography. Thank you so much Susanne!

What a miraculous life Suzanne Somers has led. Before reading "Keeping Secrets", I tended to view her as a shallow and superficial Hollywood blond. This book has given me insight into her painful past, and I now feel a great deal of respect for her. Her story is painful at the beginning; she vividly describes her miserable home life with an alcoholic father. Sommers' narrative contains no trace of self-pity or exaggeration. She tells the unfortunate details of her father's alcholism in a stark, honest fashion. As she grows into adulthood, we see her flounder at first, and then gradually make the incredible journey into self-discovery and healing. At the same time, her career begins to take off. I was so pleased to read about her triumphs and successes - I can't think of a more deserving person. This story is truly inspirational.

Recognizing your own behavior and the behavior of you family members is only one of the ways that you can learn from this TERRIFIC book! I have so much respect for her after reading this!

After years of living with the hurt, disapointment, bitterness and pain of an alcoholic husband, I read Suzanne's book. It was like she was writing the story of my life. The words and actions of her father are the same words and actions that I have lived with.

I am able to understand that what happened to my husband is not his fault, but a disease that he is afflicted with.

I no longer feel the need to get revenge or to fix the problem. I can live with the disease and know that it is up to him to seek help. It is not my problem to fix, but I do the best I can to love him and give any help that I can. If alcoholism is making your life hell, please read this book.

I didn't know what to expect when I first picked up this book. Suzanne did a superb job in how she handled the many delicate issues in this book. She spoke very frankly about many aspects of her life. Not just about her alcoholic family, but about her husband Alan Hamel, her two stepchildren, her son Bruce, and her Three's Company co-stars. Suzanne has been through a lot in her life, and it is inspirational in that she is a survivor, she is a smart businesswoman, caring person, loving mother, and most of all, NOT a shallow Hollywood airhead. If you are a fan of Suzanne or just want to know more about her, this is a good read. I commend her for her honesty!

By the late 1980's Suzanne Somers was known to most Americans as that funny blond on television's "Three's Company". That sitcom propelled Somers into international recognition making her one of the most popular female celebrities of the 1970's.

By the late eighties Somers found herself jobless after negotiations with "Three's Company" broke down and she was labelled as money hungry and greedy for wanting a substantial pay hike. This blacklisted Suzanne in Hollywood. The only work she was able to obtain was on the Las Vegas club circuit.

In 1988 Somers sat down and wrote a book called "Keeping Secrets" about the first chapter of her life up to her sitcom stardom. In that book she discusses growing up the child of an alcoholic, what her and her family endured with the violence and shame often associated with alcohol, and how being exposed to such a terrible childhood had a ripple effect on her adult life.

This book is really for anyone that has had an abusive childhood for Suzanne gives the reader an insight as to how abusive behavior (in this case her dad's problem with the bottle) affects not only the person with the addiction but affects the entire family, and how if not treated properly can and will destroy an entire family.

Somers writes about her adult life, how she became pregnant at a young age, her ultimate loveless marriage, her attempts at making a living raising a child alone, and her eventual love affair with Canadian-born Alan Hamel who helped change her life around.

"Keeping Secrets" was made into a television movie starring Suzanne as herself in the early nineties. The book was followed-up ten years later with "After The Fall" that dealt with the second phase of Suzanne's life and her turbulent time in front of and behind the scenes of "Three's Company" and how being on that series nearly destroyed her.

I'm sure I don't have anything all that new to say about the experience of reading this book...but I'll add my story. Reading this story, even though our experiences were different, the feelings I had as a child of alcoholics, were so vividly expressed in this book. It was affirming and life-changing to read it. Thank you, Ms. Somers for sharing your story so you could help others heal.