A Paper Life (Hardcover)

by Tatum O'neal (Author) "THE STORY OF PAPER MOON reflects my childhood, but it also closely parallels my mothers and strangely foreshadows my daughter's..." (more)
Key Phrases: paper moon, New York, Los Angeles, The Bad News Bears (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
At age 10, O'Neal became the youngest Oscar winner in history for her performance in Paper Moon. In this honest, disturbing memoir, O'Neal, now 41, reveals the behind-the-scenes story of her lonely, chaotic life—one dominated by struggles with drugs and damaging relationships. O'Neal portrays her divorced parents (actors Joanna Moore and Ryan O'Neal) as neglectful and abusive, with drug problems of their own. Though O'Neal appeared in such kid-fodder movies as The Bad News Bears and Little Darlings, she says that during the '70s and early '80s she battled depression and attempted suicide. "I found that coke made me feel so much better," she recounts in the straightforward though unoriginal language that characterizes the narrative. Much of the book's second half covers her fraught marriage to volatile tennis champ John McEnroe; these passages alternate between recollections of the pleasure of being in love and having children and the pain of living with McEnroe, whom she depicts as controlling and demeaning. Ten years and three children later, O'Neal and McEnroe divorced. She resumed using drugs, fought child custody battles and watched her mother die of cancer. Although O'Neal speeds through the details, she addresses her addictions: "I wanted to take my own life but... instead... I started doing drugs 24/7. I couldn't stop." She also zips through her recovery, abruptly claiming "rebirth" in the final chapter. Writing this memoir seems to have been cathartic for O'Neal. Perhaps reading it will provide inspiration to other abuse victims and addicts.
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Review
"A Paper Life, her slash-and-burn family album about…oh, go read it. You know you want to." -- Janet Maslin, New York Times

"Forget ‘Mommie Dearest;’...it looks as if Tatum O’Neal’s A PAPER LIFE...might be the new classic. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Forget ‘Mommie Dearest’;...it looks as if Tatum O’Neal’s A PAPER LIFE, out Tuesday, might be the new classic. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"I know memoirs are always described as ‘explosive,’ but this one really is." -- Liz Smith

"If an Academy Award were handed out for the most scorching family drama, it could certainly go to Tatum O’Neal..." -- USA Today

"In her bombshell autobiography...Tatum O’Neal...names names...while telling, for the first time, an eye-popping story..." -- People

"In her red-hot tome, O’Neal dishes on the...Hollywood of the 1970s - in all its raunchiness." -- Daily News

"In this honest, disturbing memoir, O’Neal...reveals the behind-the-scenes story of her lonely, chaotic life... -- Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperEntertainment (October 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060540974
• ISBN-13: 978-0060540975
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #265,888 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating read, November 9, 2004

By	Margaux Paschke (New York) - See all my reviews

This book made for page turning reading. After learning about the childhood of Tatum O'Neil, I had to literally pause to absorb what I had just read. That this woman is alive today and functioning (by any definition) is a miracle. Overall, a fascinating read despite some of the uneven recounting of Tatum O'Neil's life story. Despite the neglect and abuse at her mother's hand, Tatum has forgiven her mother and the love she feels comes shining through each page that remembers her mother's later years in life. Even her ex-husband (although this portion of the book felt like it was written in reaction to John MacEnroe's book) was dealt with objectively. However, her father - Ryan O'Neal - is a whole other story! The anger she still feels toward her father is almost tangible. You need to read this book to find out if it is warranted....... Made me stop and think just how important parenting really is to any child. I don't even want to think about what life was like for her brothers Griffin and Redmond. The only gripe I had was the jump in timeline from childhood to marriage. I would have liked to hear more about the Ryan/Farrah factor in her life.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is heartbreaking., October 12, 2004

By	ma2one - See all my reviews

Tatum is a brave honest woman who lived to tell the experiences that happen from the effect of seriously neglectful parents incapable of caring for her and her brothers. She need not feel ashamed of how the adults in her life during her childhood failed her. Adults in her life let her down when she was a child and she has no blame to bare in their failure. They are to blame she was not attended to in a loving kind manner and did not meet her growing emotional needs and just enjoy her wonderfulness of being a growing little girl.

She need not feel ashamed she is finally dealing with the legacy of her dysfunctional upbringing. The shame belongs with her father for never trying to make himself a better father for his kids so he could care for his children. Ryan it's never too late to say your sorry!! Loving someone means you NEED to say you are sorry.

Tatum is now dealing with her own children the way no one ever cared for her (I hope this is healing for her) she seems like a kind, sweet, loving, thoughtful attentive mother finally working on stopping the cycle of her unfortunate family legacy.

She deserves admiration for telling her truth and for living through her heart-breaking childhood and addiciton.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad story, fast read, January 17, 2005

By	Jerry P. Danzig (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is one of the liveliest star autobiographies I have read since the late John Phillips' "Papa John." Phew, who knew that the spunky little girl who became the youngest Oscar winner ever was living a childhood from Hell, saddled with a hopelessly, helplessly alcoholic mother and a father, the actor Ryan O'Neal, who emerges here as one of the most abusive parents in Hollywood, a monster right up there with Joan Crawford and Bing Crosby. If it wasn't bad enough that she had a selfish, self-absorbed, verbally and physically abusive father with a serious anger management problem, then, as Freud could have foretold, she chose the same kind of selfish, self-absorbed hothead to marry -- John McEnroe. What a loser this guy is, former "number one tennis player in the world" or not! Also portrayed in a bad light is Farrah Fawcett, who enabled Ryan O'Neal in their relationship for many years and apparently failed to intervene when he would rage and beat up his children in front of her. She must have a terribly low self-esteem also to have tolerated this abusive goon for so long! Now I hear that Farrah is about to have a reality TV series on a cable channel, the highlight of which is scheduled to be her marriage to Ryan! I hope readers of this book will have the decency to give this series and these two pathetic excuses for human beings a wide, wide berth, just as viewers turned away in droves from McEnroe's recent talk show. Bleahhh... It's time we demand some accountability for their actions from our celebrities, as well as our lying politicians and steroid-abusing athletes. At any rate, it's a wonder that Tatum survived her upbringing, apparently due to the positive influence of a twelve-step program. If her unfortunate brother Griffin and half-brother Redmond survive to tell their tales, those books will undoubtedly make for compelling reads as well. Once again this book proves that all that glisters is far from gold, and that the fair faces of Hollywood can hide some hideous demons inside.