71 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Guilty Pleasure Alert, April 14, 2009
This review is from: Mommywood (Hardcover)
90210 actress Tori Spelling won me over with her first memoir, sTORI Telling (it actually prompted me to check out her show So NoTORIious, which I found hilarious), and I was eager to read her followup, Mommywood, especially now that she's got two kids, son Liam and baby Stella. Mommywood is her term for being a mom in Hollywood, and details her experience giving birth to Stella while filming her reality show Tori & Dean, her anxiety about being the mom of a girl, and shares mostly amusing stories and occasional insights.
When Spelling dishes on other celebrities, most of the time, she's hilarious, such as when she got invited to a birthday party for Diddy's twin daughters. She can't figure out why she was invited since they don't really know each other, and hilariously has to look up his kids' gender online, only to mistakenly buy them clothes for one-year-olds, when they're turning two. There, she encounters Gwen Stefani. "We talked about babies and siblings for a few minutes, and then we had nothing else to talk about and said good-bye."
However, sometimes this celebrity namedropping goes awry. An encounter with Luke Perry at her stepson's birthday party is pretty boring. He gives her the cold shoulder presumably because he's mad about something she wrote about him in her first book. That story seems like a stretch and really has no drama or interest. Similarly, her rant against Chelsea Handler is interesting at first (Handler has railed on Spelling on her show, and they share a publisher, Simon Spotlight Entertainment), but goes on too long.
When Spelling truly shares, such as about her dealings with her stepson, Jack, and his mom, she makes this book about something real that stepfamilies do actually deal with, and does so in a sensitive way. She talks about how her relationship with her husband has changed, and that sometimes he misses the "old Tori," one who got drunk and stayed out late and was wilder, sharing that sometimes she does too, but mostly she's happy with their mellower lifestyle.. There's also plenty of funny stories about her son pooping in pools, and about being recognized both in her homey neighborhood and while on vacation.
The other major theme here, much as in sTORI Telling, is her mom, Candy Spelling, who also has a new memoir out now, Candyland. In her first book, she painted a sympathetic portrait of a neglected Daddy's girl whose mother could have given her everything she wanted, but was competitive and withholding. Here, though, Spelling is even more bitter, and the rants about her mother (who doesn't get thanked in the extensive acknowledgments) get draining after a while. Spelling's entire list of things she wishes to teach her daughter reads less like a heartfelt look at parenting a girl than a way to get back at her mom by complaining about all the things she did wrong.
Hilary Liftin did a great job making this a fast, fun read. Spelling proves that she can laugh at herself, and her kids (she jokes that "her gays" - her group of close gay friends - have dibs on when they can take her son Liam to a gay bar, then reveals that he's been to one for the premiere of her reality show). Spelling comes across as likeable, sometimes ridiculous (she leaves a stroller in a parking lot when she can't get it to close), and, for a celebrity memoir, honest. Of course, she acknowledges that being "Tori Spelling" is part of her shtick, her way of making a living, and at times her insistence that she "needs to work" doesn't really ring true, but despite those few quibbles, I recommend Mommywood to anyone who devours the tabloids, whether they do so proudly or sneak them as a guilty pleasure.
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41 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The cover sold me, the writing kept me reading, April 14, 2009
This review is from: Mommywood (Hardcover)
Got this on my kindle as soon as it came out and haven't put it down until now that I've finished it. The shot on the cover is great- very 1950's June Cleaver- okay, but on to the important stuff. It was a great read. I think there are going to be alot of people who bash this book because they don't like Tori but I don't know that much about her(well, didn't before reading this). I found her writing(or her co-writer's) to be relaxed and funny.
She is very honest. I loved how she wrote about seeing her baby on the ultrasound and was wondering if he was going to have an abnormally large nose then how she worried if she was being too superficial or not! Loved how she talked about her sex life after having kids and I can really relate to the morning rituals with the kids in bed and the changes pre to post kids(i.e. no more lounging in bed on weekends until all hours).
I am a mother of two and know it is difficult to be a mom- to be a mom with the press following your every move and being in the public eye with everyone having preconceived notions about you and your family... whew! Especially difficult! Still, I got the sense that the mommies of Mommywood don't have to deal with all the minutia that we regular old moms have to deal with.
I think this is a very interesting glimpse into the world of celebrity moms. I don't think every word Tori(or her co-writer) wrote was meant to be serious- definately some tongue-in-cheek moments. And sorry, the voyeuristic side of me loved reading this.
I think it comes down to this: if you are a fan of Tori Spelling, you will enjoy this glimpse into her personal life. If you aren't, don't byuy the book. If you have no opinion, it is a quick, easy read with some good laughs and touches on the issues that so many of us have: wanting what is best for our kids, no matter what our circumstances. I enjoyed it but I had no bias toward Tori to begin with so take it as you will...
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
HYSTERICAL...AGAIN...She does it AGAIN!, May 17, 2009
This review is from: Mommywood (Hardcover)
Tori...I love her. You will want her to be your FRIEND...lol...she is just so stinkin' funny and down to earth. I read her first book. Then I read her mother's book...and now this one. Her mother is honestly missing something. But Tori, gets it. She makes her shortcomings known and her feud with her mother is obvious...but at least Tori owns her BS and admits her shortcomings. Her mother, clearly has no clue and is always the victim. I adore Tori Spellings and it wasn't that way until I read her books. I hope she will write another...and another. (yep, I'm a mother, by the way.)
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