Some folks, after more than 35 years, are still fuming about "Hanoi Jane" to the extent that a few can't resist writing a lousy review of a book they never read.
They give her dramatic protest more credit than it deserves because Jane Fonda continues to serve as a lightening rod for their hatred.
A little reality check is in order, here. Fonda neither initiated the anti-war movement, nor supervised it, nor stood alone in opposing it. Many millions of others, including hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans and their families, stood with her to help bring the Vietnam War to an end. Duh.
Fortunately, "My Life So Far" is the story of a woman who appears to be considerably more complex and forgiving than her critics.
This biography must certainly have been a difficult one to write. Those of us who have feared we are way over the hill, however, just have to look at Fonda's willingness to undertake a difficult journey toward self-discovery, to find a role model against which to measure our own mature lives.
Okay, Jane Fonda was a rich, well-educated kid whose father was a movie star. Snore. Since time immemorial we have looked to the larger-than-life for a glimpse at the universal qualities and lessons those lives embody. In this distillation from the general, they become emblematic -- little cautionary tales featuring wealth, royalty, beauty and great outfits on a world stage.
I suppose it gives us a little frission of comfort, too, to know that regardless of money, gorgeousness and yadda yadda, some of these people have been visited by the bad fairies more often than we have. Some live to tell the tale. Fonda is one of them.
Jane Fonda had a magical childhood for a few years, but her parents' mental illness ultimately took their toll. Her lovely and enigmatic mother committed suicide as Jane moved into puberty and her father, who suffered from lifelong depression, maintained an emotional distance that proved extremely painful and damaging for his children. Their lives, in fact, were marked by repeated and determined efforts to please the sometimes cold and bitter critic they loved (he essentially was a very good man, Fonda says) and internalized.
In Fonda's telling, her life has since been marked indelibly by an urge sacrifice herself for the approval of the men she loved, one of whom, Tom Hayden, as opposed to Jane herself, was one of the most outspoken theorists behind the early anti-war movement. She both grew and suffered from the consequences of these relationships, in any case, and was less less true to who she was and is than might be considered healthy.
She discusses all of this -- childhood; grief; marriage to three gifted and nearly overwhelming men -- Roger Vadim, Hayden and Ted Turner; sex and love; her children; betrayal; eating disorders; professional success; emotional disfunction, political activities; public and private humiliations; Hollywood galore, and much, much more in a search for the patterns in her life that brought joy and great pain to herself and those around her.
This is the story of a life. You may no like it. You may be hung up on "Jane Fonda Reds," an undeserved persona that nevertheless inspired millions (sorry, folks, I was one of them), ultimately damaged her career and left her woefully misunderstood and even hated by many of her countrymen and former fans.
While Fonda was being publicly skewered, I must point out, Hayden was elected to public office.
Some sensed then and since that Jane Fonda had much more to say than the public was willing to hear. Now she has spoken from her head and heart and I, for one, am grateful.
So thanks, Jane. You were always a cutie, an icon, smart as a whip, sometimes lost, sometimes wrong headed, often apparently dissolved into the lives of the men you loved. But you were also brave as a terrier, soft as down, and tough as nails. Now, finally, you are YOU. I enjoy your company.
Peace, sister. And, um, who does your makeup?
