Streisand: A Biography

In order to be fair I read this book twice. I adore Babs--I live my life to be like hers; I want my resonance to sympathize with her resonance. I want people to spend time with me and to think that they have really been in the company of Babs. Or at least AS IF they had been in her company--I want to leave a similar impression. I really really really do. I approached this book in much the same way. I wanted to think that this book was in Babs' library. Instead, if anything, Edwards' treatment locates this book not in her library but perhaps in her pantry--right between that canned vegatable that the previous owners left behind and the cantalope pie tin. Edwards' doesn't get Babs' main rhetorical mechanism--of putting the world on the defensive to protect her from her own defensiveness. Edward's BUYS INTO Babs' mechanisms rather than calling them out. In a sense, Edwards argues for the grandeur of the Emperor's new clothes. I give it 5 stars because, as the other reviews attest, her fans want to be duped. Hence, I celebrate 5-star stupidity.

I read Edwards' rendition of Streisand on a full stomach--indeed, had I eaten one more bite, I would have choked in a way that would have repulsed the most sea-tested sailor. Perhaps it was this context--a context at once full and barren--that allowed me to plunge into Streisand's persona with such plodding, cautious, phobic zeal. Would this book answer the main question: is Babs a hapless victim; is she an innocent child; or is she an immature hapless brat whose very own defensiveness results entirely in her tireless attempts to put others on the defensive in her presence? Once you are certain the world revolves around you, to put others on the defensive is your only resort when an unnamed discomfort disturbs your fragile psyche--when for a passing moment the reality that you are not as great as you think you are dares manifest itself; and you, with just slightly greater impetus, dare not see it for what it is really is: a truth that threatens the (necessary) house of cards that you --and your adoring lemmings--call reality. Edwards' treatment here sidesteps these questions by becoming a literary lemming. Her introduction and her conclusion are like two pies on a ledge of a house: screaming the warning "don't jump around or the pies may tip over and fall!" Edwards is a fan. That is why this book is so excellent. She loves Babs. I do. You do. Babs does. Andre does. Our president does. Buy the book and share it with your OWN Babs. Cross the line. To make a connection. A Streisand Connection.

Barabra Streisand. She is one of the most fantastic ladies ever to walk this earth. This Biography is Fantastic. I love it.

Barbra Streisand is my rolemodel,icon,idol,inspiration,and hope. She has made it possible for me to believe in my dreams.And this wonderful book documents a phenomenons life. One day if my goal is accomplished I will be able to have said I've been graced with her presence!An absolute pleasure to read!