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 Lessons in Becoming Myself :: 1594489297
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In this powerful story of a woman's search for a deeper understanding of herself, Ellen Burstyn explores the unexpected paths her life has taken in this unflinchingly honest, moving, and inspirational memoir.
Ellen Burstyn has always defied expectations. Born in Detroit during the Depression, she left home at eighteen, leaving behind a complicated relationship with her mother, and moved to Dallas to become a model. Eventually, Burstyn ended up in New York City, where she performed in a variety of roles on Broadway and on television in the late 1950s and early 1960s before turning to film. Over the course of her career she delivered brilliant performances in The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore-for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress-Resurrection, and Requiem for a Dream.
But this book is much more than a recitation of Burstyn's acting triumphs. It's a frank and unsparing account of her search for personal and professional authenticity and the consequences of that struggle. Burstyn's efforts as an actor to uncover the enduring truths in each of her roles, which she learned from Lee Strasberg at the renowned Actors Studio, inform her life offstage as well. In Lessons in Becoming Myself, Burstyn describes her personal missteps and how confronting them encouraged her to find a different life path. Raised a Catholic, Burstyn has spent her life exploring a wide range of spiritual experience-from the Himalayas to Cambodia, from Mont Blanc to New York City-that goes deeper than labels.
Lessons in Becoming Myself is the extraordinary story of the quest for the examined life. By turns thoughtful and funny, insightful and lighthearted, it is a brilliant accomplishment by one of the finest observers of human nature.Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
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Author: Guest
I was so excited to see this book from Ellen Burstyn having been a huge fan of her as an actress, and did not expect what I read. The title is perfect as it chronicles her search for her true identity and purpose in this life. She acknowledges her own faults but uses them as a springboard to the next level of understanding herself. It is the journey of a woman truly committed to the fulfillment of the search being the search itself and "seeing" things in their truest form - not only in her acting but in all phases of her life.
She has weathered the storm and journeyed deep within to reveal herself culminating in what she obviously treasures as one of her deepest moments as an artist - the scene she shared with her "son" in "Requium for a Dream".
This book is about protecting one's sacred self and allowing that true version to keep going deeper and reemerging a little bit better, truer, more aware.
I had the feeling of being transformed after having read it, and felt the need to commit to myself in the same way. Read this book! It will change your life.
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Author: Guest
Ellen Burstyn spent her youth in hell, but through the power of love and genius, she triumphed, becoming a complete person and one of the greatest actresses of our time.
This book is as exciting to read as Ellen is to watch. It's got extraordinary honesty, more than I've ever encountered in any biography, it's got depth, it's got warmth, and ultimately, it offers, if you care to find them, lessons in how to live better lives ourselves.
Scientists say the same pattern can be found in all great music. Those same scientists are applying that theory now to literature. What they are analyzing is the pure pulse of the soul, and if they turned their attention to Ellen Burstyn they would see the living manifestation of art's perfect music. It's in her acting and now it's in her writing. Read this book.
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Author: Guest
Ellen's mother was neither emotionally distant nor simply "challenging" - Ellen was a punching bag for her mother and when she was big enough it stopped because they ( her mother and stepfather) realized she would fight back. Once she was old enough she split the scene physically but this reader was surprised that Ellen continued to have a relationship with her mother until her mother's death at a ripe old age- the good DO die young.( Ellen was physically beaten and tortured by the rage of both her mother and step father for years- this is not an exageration)-. As far as the genetic father - truly creepy , but he's a minor player except when ellen tries to salvage some worth from this relationship.
Bottom line- virtually all healers of this "stripe" ( Ellen) have had backgrounds requiring that they understand the depths of cruelty and jealousy of their own power and overcome and forgive and forgive and forgive. How frightening to be all alone in the world with no support- and threatened daily- aware of the immense talent and bright future up ahead- barely able to breathe and believe it could come true...I was thrilled for Ellen when she leaves home on a bus, penniless but rich in dreams- gleeful to be out of that prison called parental home.Ellen is an open target for men who just want to steal her beauty, but eventually people like Strasberg give her morsels of the truth- she has power- it's called TALENT and jealousy of this was the motive behind her mother's attempts to belittle her- to destroy her.
I enjoyed reading about Ellen's conceptual contribution to the story line and content of her most prominent roles- unlike some readers I suspect that Ellen had an even greater impact on most of the works than she can even decipher from hindsight. It wasn't until recently ( Thank you madonna for one) that women in the arts were given the credit and MONEY ( ie true value) that they deserved. Ellen learns as she moves along but much too late - the statute of limitations has run out. I have just finished the book and it has left me reeling ; the archetypal impact of this story being told - at this time- is very wondrous. Ellen seems to have only a minor grasp of the impact of the heroine's journey she has lived out and revealed to us with no varnish.There are hints at it of course, the word divine feminine kept coming up- and this stuck in my mind- but that's another road completely. Groundbreaking and in some ways non linear- this memoir is very very rich.
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Author: Guest
Veteran actress Ellen Burstyn practices Sufism, an Islamic-based set of beliefs that makes extensive use of parable, allegory, and metaphor in seeking the truth and knowledge of oneself. That is pertinent because much of this approach infuses her illuminating autobiography. Rather than go through a straightforward laundry list of her considerable accomplishments and awards, Burstyn looks back at her life as a quest for the authenticity she continues to seek now. It's an admirable tact although long-winded at times given her innate need to explain how isolated events in her life serve a greater whole.
She certainly has a lot of life to cover beginning with her Depression-era childhood in Detroit with an emotionally distant mother. Burstyn took up modeling in Dallas and then acting on Broadway and television series primarily through the 1960's, at the same time studying at the Actors' Studio with Lee Strasberg. She was one of the cheesecake showgirls on "The Jackie Gleason Show", and I will always remember her as the quiet nun smitten with Lee Majors in "The Big Valley". It wasn't until she closed in on forty that she started getting the ripe roles that have become her trademark ever since - the still-flirtatious mother watching her comely daughter repeat her mistakes in Peter Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show" (1971); the actress battling satan for her daughter's soul in William Friedkin's box office hit, "The Exorcist" (1973); and her high watermark and Oscar win, the aspiring lounge singer stuck in a Phoenix diner as a waitress in Martin Scorsese's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974).
Burstyn has maintained her standing with a variety of strong performances in the past three decades as evidenced by her traumatizing turn as diet pill-popping Sara Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" (2000). Such brilliance, we learn, came as she went through a series of personal setbacks, such as an illegal abortion at 18, several failed relationships, and a mentally unstable husband who became obsessive after their divorce. Burstyn, however, convinces us of her undaunted spirit as she traveled worldwide in a search for spiritual fulfillment. It's an intriguing journey, sometimes verbose but ultimately inspiring as the 73-year old actress teaches us that we should never stop searching for a higher level of self-awareness.
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Author: Guest
I have been a fan of Ellen Burstyn's since I first saw her in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as a child. I was drawn to the sense of realism she instilled into the character of Alice and soon checked out her other performances in such films as The Exorcist and The Last Picture Show, which proved to me that Alice wasn't a fluke. She is one of the true talents of her generation. Needless to say, I couldn't wait to read her memoirs. What a life she has led! What is most amazing about this memoir is her honesty. She does not shirk the more unpleasant details of her life but faces them head on. I suppose it is this honesty that informs her craft as well. This memoir ultimately has made me admire her all the more.
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