I'm Over All That: And Other Confessions

by Shirley MacLaine Narrated by Shirley MacLaine

Overview

The New York Times bestseller-now in paperback. Award-winning actress Shirley MacLaine pens the most funny, accessible, and timely book of her career, detailing all the things she's over...and a few she's not.

At a certain time in life, we all come to realize what is truly important to us and what just doesn't matter. For Shirley MacLaine, that time is now. In this wise, witty, and fearless collection of small observations and big-picture questions, she shares with readers all those things that she is over dealing with in life, in love, at home, and in the larger world...as well as the things she will*never*get over, no matter how long she lives.

Among the things that Shirley is over: people who repeat themselves; conservatives*and*liberals; ill-mannered young people; the poison of celebrity; being polite to boring people; and getting older in Hollywood.

As frank and personal as Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck-which, incidentally, Shirley doesn't since she knows the secrets of good lighting-I'm Over All That is MacLaine at her acerbic and irreverent best.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In this breezy new volume, the 76-year-old actress catalogues some of what she can no longer tolerate. MacLaine (Sage-ing While Age-ing) is not concerned with what she should not do, for instance, and has a distaste for the hassles of airport travel and government. "I am over everything that involves politics. What happens to me spiritually is far more important to me now." She has stopped being polite to boring people, and she's over fame for fame's sake. "Fame is a false god. Talent and hard work are not." Flipping the switch, MacLaine also documents many of the things she cannot get over. She still likes good journalists, appreciates her own personal history, and notes performers with whom she has worked in decades past, recalling experiences with Alfred Hitchcock, Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon, Jack Nicholson, and others. These stories of Hollywood's past are among the most engaging. When the topic turns inevitably to metaphysics and religion, previous lives and reincarnation, the book's appeal narrows. Those who like MacLaine no matter what she believes in will find nothing wrong; less fascinated fans won't be so easily won over. (Apr. 5)

From the Publisher

The most revealing book of her career.” —Parade

“One-of-a-kind wit.” —Vanity Fair

MAY 2011 - AudioFile

Hollywood legend Shirley MacLaine offers her unapologetic ideas on 50 topical issues that she is, at this point in this life, either “over” or “not over.” The diverse subjects include the rudeness of today’s young people, the pros and cons of fame and celebrity, her belief in UFOs, and her past as well as future lives. While the content and flow of her memoir are often disjointed in time and space, it is nonetheless appealing and provocative. As with many other actor narrators, MacLaine has a compelling ease and skill in relating strongly opinionated, sometimes strange, material in an entertaining and absorbing way. Her delivery is characterized by slow, deliberate pacing and appropriate pauses. Overall, MacLaine’s unemotional and quiet style is winning and helps to bring out her sardonic humor. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

A stale, disjointed collection of observations from a Hollywood legend.

With her latest release, Academy Award–winning actress MacLaine (Sage-ing While Age-ing, 2007, etc.) won't remind readers why she's been so successful entertaining others.What begins as a memoir laid out in brief, anecdotal chapters on all that the author is "over" and "not over" rapidly descends into a jumbled mash-up of her personal beliefs on everything under the sun. Ranging from politics ("Terrorism is just a convenient excuse for those in power to gently instruct us to go quietly into that good night") to good lighting ("You want the camera high and the key light low"), MacLaine jumps from subject to subject with such a rapid-fire pace that readersbarely have a chance to keep up with her. The author is well-known for her humor, which makes an occasional appearance in this volume—"I am appalled at the number of people who are famous for doing absolutely nothing but being seen at parties"—and she provides brief moments of insight: "The studios don't like to take risks anymore...They seem to be reflecting the fear experienced everywhere...these days." But the author's strengths are offset by sections in which the author displays a lack of humility: "Those of us in show business sometimes call people who are not in show business 'civilians' because they don't understand what is takes to be loved by being 'really' real...[we lead] civilians to water but never let them drink."

A book in midlife crisis.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170974405
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	04/05/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Overture

All life, even the cruelest drama and most absurd comedy, is a form of show business, a kind of performance, and I have been lucky enough to have created the moving picture show of my own life. I have starred in it, produced it, written it, directed it—even financed and distributed it. What’s even better is that I get to rerun it now and then, to see things I might have missed back then. In this third act of my life, much has become clearer. So much is over, and I am over so much.

I have learned to ease up on worry, scheming for films or roles, planning for better surroundings, and feeling anger at all our leaders who operate politically rather than humanely. Yes, I am over all that. I’m over listening to advertisements, the latest fashions (I never was much for that), events I should attend in order to be seen, red carpet madness. I’m getting more and more free from the expectations of the external world. In fact, the one worry I can’t seem to give up and get over is a lingering fear that being a reclusive, happy, older woman may not be entirely healthy. But who says so? I’m not interested in parties, new outfits (only comfortable ones), being socially acceptable, and whether I’ll be on anyone’s so-called A-list. My goodness, what a way to live!

I’m not over going to the movies, seeing live theater, hearing symphonies, eating a good dinner (I’m learning to dine out alone), attending a worthy charity event (for half an hour), visiting a sick friend, or taking treats and toys to the animal shelter.

I am over what other people think (I got over that a long time ago), and trying to persuade them to come around to my point of view about anything.

One thing will always be a constant with me. I have a guiding sense of curiosity. I will never get over asking Why. This questioning has been with me all my life. It is my sustenance, my inspiration, my joy, and my intellectual food and color. I will never be over my search for the Big Truths. And I’m not the only one. Most people I’ve met around the world believe we are not alone in the universe but will not talk about this openly because they’re terrified of being humiliated publicly for their beliefs. Some scientists, academics, and movers and shakers I’ve met were even reluctant to discuss it privately because of how they might be perceived. (Just another reason I revere the brilliant and fearless Stephen Hawking!)

Everywhere I’ve traveled in the world I’ve found that people are looking for something to fill the loneliness inside them; they are after what I think of as “The Big Truth.” It doesn’t matter how wealthy or well situated they are; after surface talking, joking, eating, Hollywood gossip, and cultural politeness, the conversation always turns to why are we here, what is the point of life, is God real, are we alone in the universe? That’s because, like me, most people have realized that money isn’t the answer to their emptiness. In fact, it sometimes contributes to it because the management of money (or the fear of not having enough) distracts them from any real examination of what is really bothering them.

So I’ve concluded that for us to get to the Bigger Truths, there is much for us to get over. I’ve had a good time exploring what I’ve finally gotten over and what I will never get over . . . from the ridiculous to the Big Sublime.

I’m glad I am in the third act of my life. I have loved my ride and am now appreciating relinquishing the reins and looking back. Sometimes I feel an unbearable ecstasy of loneliness for some of my past, wishing now that I had been so much more present then. Sometimes I feel it all happened to someone else, and I long to get the “me” of it all back. How could I have done so much, been so many places, known so many people—and now it is all past, gone, memories of colorful stories like little movies attached to the celluloid of my brain tissue. Every now and then the little movies turn themselves on, wanting to be rerun. What didn’t I see then? What deeper meaning did I miss? Where are those actors and actresses and politicians from my past now? They are still with me, in all the things they taught me, the memories of the times we shared. Fascinating and talented people, mind-expanding conversations, and curiosity about the future—those are things I will never get over.

On with the show!

© 2011 Shirley Maclaine

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