This is a remarkably special audiobook listening experience—difficult, challenging, not entirely coherent, but nonetheless moving. Internationally known beauty, philanthropist, social activist, and skilled actor Sharon Stone narrates her own courageous memoir, which she wrote after her recovery from a massive stroke. Her brain injury seems apparent throughout her narration. It’s sometimes distracting, sometimes not. Her pauses at the ends of sentences, paragraphs, and chapters can seem unduly lengthy, and there are some struggles with enunciation. However, this extremely candid work reveals the tremendous strength and resilience that she has exhibited since her stressful childhood. Stone simply does not accept failure, and her fierce determination is evident throughout her performance. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
The Beauty of Living Twice
Narrated by Sharon Stone
Sharon StoneUnabridged — 7 hours, 24 minutes
The Beauty of Living Twice
Narrated by Sharon Stone
Sharon StoneUnabridged — 7 hours, 24 minutes
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Overview
A memoir by a renowned actress that reads like your typical Hollywood tale. Stone found obstacles at every turn especially as she was an outspoken critic of the male-dominated culture in the film industry. It's about her childhood trauma, health challenges and recovery. But in the end, it's also a book that brings her family into focus and the importance of staying true to yourself.
Sharon Stone, one of the most renowned actresses in the world, suffered a massive stroke that cost her not only her health, but her career, family, fortune, and global fame. In The Beauty of Living Twice, Stone chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life and writes about her slow road back to wholeness and health. In a business that doesn't accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, Stone found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to make a difference in the lives of men, women, and children around the globe.
Over the course of these intimate pages, as candid as a personal conversation, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments, and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a career in an industry that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children, and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family's reconciliation and love.
Stone made headlines not just for her beauty and her talent, but for her candor and her refusal to “play nice,” and it's those same qualities that make this memoir so powerful. The Beauty of Living Twice is a book for the wounded and a book for the survivors; it's a celebration of women's strength and resilience, a reckoning, and a call to activism. It is proof that it's never too late to raise your voice and speak out.
Editorial Reviews
04/12/2021
Though the title refers to Stone's near-death from a stroke in 2001, the actor has arguably lived many lives, as her bold memoir recounts. Stone revisits her small-town Pennsylvania youth, where strict "kitchen-sink Irish" parents and incidents of abuse failed to crush her spirit or her subsequent roles as ambitious student, celebrity, sex symbol, philanthropist, and adoptive single mother. Stone was determined to get the most out of her improbable circumstances, campaigning hard for the film roles she wanted, grieving many losses (including three miscarriages), and searching out avenues for spiritual connection. Suffused with wry humor, Stone's storytelling alternates between literary descriptions and intimate colloquialisms ("Well, that was just the Cracker Jack best!"). Though there are plenty of celebrity cameos, the memoir is neither tell-all nor fluff; without veering into self-pity, Stone's clear about the difficulties of being a woman who became famous for baring it all on screen, but didn't want to sleep with her coworkers: "People criticize me and say that men are intimidated by me. That just makes me want to cry. I was often alone on a set with hundreds of men," she writes. "And now I am the intimidating one?" The mix of moxie and vulnerability conveys a life well lived, and well examined. (Mar.)
One of Vogue's Best Books of the Year • One of O Magazine’s 20 Best Books to Pick Up • One of Fortune’s 11 New Books to Read • One of CNN’s 20 Most Anticipated New Books to Read • One of Town & Country’s 42 Must-Read Books of Spring • One of Marie Claire’s 25 Best Memoirs to Pre-Order
“A candid, heartfelt, poignant memoir, written with grace and humor.”
—Harlan Coben, bestselling author of The Boy From the Woods
“In this courageous, daring and tender-hearted memoir, Sharon Stone interrogates her own trauma and a myriad of losses and discovers the gift of clear seeing. The Beauty of Living Twice is so much more than a celebrity tell-all. It is an act of reckoning, contrition, and above all, love.”
—Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance
“Elegantly written with her wicked sense of humor on full display, the memoir is catnip for fans who have never managed to crack the exterior of the elusive star.”
—Vogue
“Stone is uncommonly candid about life, fame, and trauma.”
—The New Yorker
“The Beauty of Living Twice is far from the glitzy account of Hollywood that readers might expect. Instead, it shows a woman who’s spent the majority of her years in the public eye seizing the opportunity to tell her story entirely on her own terms.”
—TIME Magazine
“While [The Beauty of Living Twice] contains some startling personal revelations, equally affecting is Stone’s warmth and grace, qualities that, by the end, feel quite miraculous. . . . Writing with zeal and urgency, Stone argues for a stronger legal system, for rape kits on police shelves to be processed, for better training for teachers and pediatricians. Above all, she offers a hopeful glimpse of life beyond trauma. . . . The Beauty of Living Twice promises the possibility of improvement or redemption, of compassion and understanding, of living honestly.”
—Charles Arrowsmith, The Washington Post
“Stone is a strong portraitist of the instant in time, and aware that stardom, like identity, is mostly a phenomenon of the memory. . . . The gossipy moments in this book are juicy. Her occasional lapses into divahood are frankly more entertaining to read than the more virtuous edit of the same event would have been. . . . The Beauty of Living Twice is a book about Sharon Stone’s life, which makes it a book about how women take on multiple personas when they become very famous, then struggle to keep them in order.”
—Jo Livingstone, The New Republic
“[The Beauty of Living Twice] charts not only the highs and lows of her career on screen but also her struggles, including medical problems that nearly killed her, in her personal life. Stone being Stone, it's all delivered with a wit and honestly that brings the book beyond your average movie-star memoir.”
—Town & Country
“The past few years have seen a string of revelatory celebrity memoirs that aren’t just promotional tools but genuine, no-holds-barred autobiographies offering nuanced looks at people we might have thought we knew . . . This year, Sharon Stone shares her story: The actress recounts how she rebuilt her life in the wake of a massive stroke and pursued a slow road back to wholeness and health.”
—Fortune
“Fans of Stone will eat up the actress’ new autobiography, which chronicles not only her famous roles but also a traumatic childhood; a stroke in 2001 that, she writes, cost her both her career and savings; and her humanitarian efforts to strengthen the lives of women and children around the world.”
—CNN
“In her candid memoir, Sharon Stone discusses how she rebuilt her life after a stroke that forever altered life as she knew it.”
—Marie Claire
“Brave, contemplative and inspiring. . . . Stone's tough and touching memoir reveals the traumas, setbacks and gritty determination to survive and thrive that have previously been hidden beneath a beautiful façade.”
—Kevin Howell, Shelf Awareness
“Stone delivers a bighearted, wonderfully rambling story full of wisdom and humor.”
—Amy Scribner, BookPage
“Delivering a barrage of self-reflective anecdotes, [Stone] is consistently candid, alternatingly tender and feisty, and always witty. . . . Fans will blissfully revel in the intimate if restlessly delivered details in this perceptive memoir.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Bold. . . . Suffused with wry humor, Stone's storytelling alternates between literary descriptions and intimate colloquialisms. . . . The mix of moxie and vulnerability conveys a life well lived, and well examined.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[Stone’s] writing is conversational and engaging, especially as she tells the powerful stories that demonstrate resilience and grit in many facets of her life, from her childhood to her acting career and beyond. . . . A welcome memoir of finding your way when life doesn't go according to plan. Stone's vulnerability and rediscovery will resonate with many readers.”
—Library Journal
04/01/2021
In this sincere memoir, Stone begins by recounting the emotional and physical toll of a medical experience two decades ago, when she had a stroke that continues to impact her daily life. Her candid writing brings readers into her life before and after her stroke. In the aftermath, she tries to become familiar with her body's new limitations, and is grateful for the support of close family and friends. She relates stories of personal hardship, particularly regarding friendship and failure, balanced with lighthearted and humorous anecdotes of starting over. Her writing is conversational and engaging, especially as she tells the powerful stories that demonstrate resilience and grit in many facets of her life, from her childhood to her acting career and beyond. She warmly embraces and explains the aspects of her spirituality—especially her path toward Buddhism—that have guided her through life and provided comfort when she needed it the most. At times, the narrative seems to meander, but Stone never loses sight of the things that keep her centered—faith and support from loved ones. VERDICT A welcome memoir of finding your way when life doesn't go according to plan. Stone's vulnerability and rediscovery will resonate with many readers.—Amanda Ray, Iowa City P.L.
This is a remarkably special audiobook listening experience—difficult, challenging, not entirely coherent, but nonetheless moving. Internationally known beauty, philanthropist, social activist, and skilled actor Sharon Stone narrates her own courageous memoir, which she wrote after her recovery from a massive stroke. Her brain injury seems apparent throughout her narration. It’s sometimes distracting, sometimes not. Her pauses at the ends of sentences, paragraphs, and chapters can seem unduly lengthy, and there are some struggles with enunciation. However, this extremely candid work reveals the tremendous strength and resilience that she has exhibited since her stressful childhood. Stone simply does not accept failure, and her fierce determination is evident throughout her performance. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
2021-03-21
The celebrated actor reflects on a life of success, activism, and cleansing self-discovery.
Stone (b. 1958) begins in the hospital in 2001, when a severe brain injury nearly ended her life. She then backtracks to her youth growing up with three siblings in the “snowbelt” of northwestern Pennsylvania. She excelled at school but distanced herself from an aloof, damaged mother, a woman who never had a chance “to imagine a life where she could be whatever she chose.” As a teenager, Stone waited tables while entering local beauty pageants, which led to Manhattan modeling jobs and a move to Hollywood in the early 1980s. The author breaks down her iconic roles in Basic Instinct and Casino. Regarding the controversial interrogation scene in the former, she writes, “there have been many points of view…but since I’m the one with the vagina in question, let me say: the other points of view are bullshit.” While sharing a host of madcap episodes throughout an eventful life, she also proudly describes her impressive “life of service,” her Buddhist faith, and the adoptions of three sons. She also contributes juicier stories about co-hosting the 2008 Cannes Film Festival with Madonna and the controversy that erupted following a stray comment to reporters. Stone then moves on to her “second life,” when she endured “the loss of all things we call dear,” including her father, marriage, health, and financial security. Though the memoir is unevenly, frenetically narrated, that will only deter readers unfamiliar with Stone’s persona. Delivering a barrage of self-reflective anecdotes, she is consistently candid, alternatingly tender and feisty, and always witty. In conclusion, Stone offers thoughts on wisdom, modesty, and vulnerability as well as some startling admissions about “being sexually abused throughout my life.” Encouragingly, Stone has reconciled with her mother. “Today,” she writes, “my mother and I are at the beginning of our relationship.”
Fans will blissfully revel in the intimate if restlessly delivered details in this perceptive memoir.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940177313641 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 03/30/2021 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 1,067,230 |
Read an Excerpt
Death Becomes Me
I opened my eyes, and there he was standing over me, just inches from my face. A stranger looking at me with so much kindness that I was sure I was going to die. He was stroking my head, my hair; God, he was handsome. I wished he were someone who loved me instead of someone whose next words were “You’re bleeding into your brain.”
He stood there gently touching my head and I just lay there knowing that no one in the room loved me. Knowing it in my guts—not needing my bleeding brain to be aware of the ridiculous slap-down of my now-immobilized life. It was late September 2001. I was in the ER at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. I asked Dr. Handsome, “Will I lose my ability to speak?” He said it’s possible. I wanted a phone. I needed to call my mom and my sister. They needed to hear this from me while I could still tell them myself. The doctor squeezed my hand in his. I realized he was doing his darndest to fill in with that special kind of love that comes when someone pursues the vocation that they were meant to, if only for moments like this. I learned a lot from him.
I called my sister, Kelly, first. She was as she always is: the most magnificent person I know. She is kinder to others than she is to herself, naïve in her gentleness. Then I called my mom, a more difficult conversation for me, since I didn’t know if she liked me very much. Here I was, dying and insecure all at the same time. She was gardening outside in her yard on top of a mountain in Pennsylvania. She fell apart.
It’s important to consider that Dot falls apart over radio commercials, so I waited, because, well, I knew she would pull it together. Despite the distance between us, she and my dad arrived in under twenty-four hours. She ran into the hospital still in her shorts, covered in gardening mud, dirt under her nails and fear on her face. Years of uncertainty and miscommunication between us fell away in a look. As I lay there knowing that I could die at any second, she stroked my face with her dusty hand and I suddenly felt that my mother loved me. Bit by bit.
My father stood beside her like a bull looking to charge.
I called my best friend of more than twenty years, Mimi, and said what we always said when the news was exceptionally good or bad: “You’d better sit down.” I could hear her sharp inhale. I said, “I might die and you are the only one I can tell the truth to because somebody needs to take care of everyone and it’s not going to be me. I’m bleeding into my brain. They don’t know why.”
She said, “Oh, shit.”
I said, “There is a very good-looking doctor here, and sadly I might not be able to flirt with him.”
She was trying not to cry as she whispered, “Oh, honey, I’m on the next plane.” As I knew she would be.
Then came the silence again. Echoing off the emergency room tiles and hitting my newly broken heart. I remember feeling something between scared and fascinated that no one was running around yelling, “STAT STAT!” like they do on TV. There was a stunning lack of urgency and movement. The doctor—yeah, that one—told me an ambulance was coming to transport me to another hospital, Moffitt-Long, which was renowned for neurological issues, and that they would take special care of me.
God, that really made me feel bad. There are just times when getting special care can be such a downer. This is not like floor seats at a Laker game or getting the table by the window at your favorite restaurant. Privileges. Fame. Shit.
It was then that I suddenly felt everything moving strangely, as if the film of my life were moving through a camera backward. Fast. I started to experience a feeling of falling, and then as though something were overtaking me, body and soul, followed by this tremendous, luminous, uplifting whiteout pulling me right out of my body and into a familiar brilliant other body of . . . knowing?
The light was so luminous. It was so . . . mystical. I wanted to know it. I wanted to immerse myself. Their faces were not just familiar. They were transcendent. Some of them had not been gone for long. I had cared for some of them until the end of this life. They were my closest friends, Caroline, Tony Duquette, Manuel. I had missed them so much. I felt so cold in the room I was coming from. They were so warm, so happy, so welcoming. Without their saying a word, I understood everything they were telling me about why we are safe, why we should not be afraid: because we are surrounded by love. That in fact we are love.
Suddenly I felt like I had been kicked in the middle of my chest by a mule, the impact was so harsh, and, astoundingly, I was awake and back in the emergency room. I had made a choice. I took the kind of gasp you take when you are underwater far too long. I sat up; the light was blinding. All I could see was Dr. Handsome, standing back, observing me.
I had to pee so badly, but as I turned to get off the gurney, I was so high up, like an Alice in a Wonderland of white and stainless steel.
“What do you need?” the doctor said.
“Bathroom.”
“There.”
I slipped far, farther down onto the cool tiles, and felt like I floated to the toilet and peed for a long time, wandering back to where the doctor lifted me up like the feather I had become.
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