Booklist Review, September 15, 2006

<< Back

Cast as Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist, Ellen Burstyn cinematically confronted the devil. Born Edna Rae Gilloolly, she confronted demons of her own, from her demeaning mother to her psychotic and sadistic husband. Now as one of the most acclaimed and respected actors of her generation, the ebullient Burstyn reflects on her life and 40-plus-year career, nimbly tracing the paths she followed, risks she took, mistakes she made, and lessons she learned to assess the price she paid for hard-earned wisdom. Armed with little more than a burning ambition to refute her narrow MidWest Catholic upbringing, Burstyn resolutely struck out on her own at age 18. Landing in Manhattan, she became a devoted acolyte of Lee Stasberg’s “Method” school of acting, a technique that served her well. Foundering in a violently unstable marriage and still bearing the psychic scars of a damaging childhood, Burstyn applied the same painstaking deliberation to her quest for spiritual guidance that took her from the heights of the Himalayas to the depths of New York City’s homeless shelters. Vitally candid and unassuming, Burstyn’s intuitive memoir is a balanced mix of insider theatrical anecdotes and inspired philosophical revelations, a guileless apologia for one woman’s design to authenticate her experiences professional and personal.

—Carol Haggas