Rate this book

Wczoraj, Dziś, Jutro. Moje życie (2000)

by Sophia Loren(Favorite Author)

3.44 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

review 1: Life and times of one of the famous international actress A sweet and charming book about Sophia Loren's life, from her origins of her illegitimate parentage, growing up, her career, marriage, family and more. I picked this up after thumbing through it at the bookstore. I couldn't help but love the last photo of hers, which is actually a drawing by one of her grandchildren of herself. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for these things, but it seemed like it was a book worth reading if that is the last photo in the selection. From what I've read elsewhere, there's no new material, but not having read any of her other books, this was mostly new to me. I knew a little bit of her background, of her tough childhood with a sperm donor (from her description he really wasn't a father or ... moreparent in any sense of the word) who popped in and out of her life on occasion and the oncoming war. Then we see bits and pieces of her career, from a few fateful meetings, early movies and more. Of course, there's bits of gossip (not as juicy as I had hoped), such as her romance with Cary Grant. It's always entertaining to think about what might have been, and I wonder if she would just been another romance (despite his proclamations) or if they might have had a more enduring partnership. Clearly, though, the love of her life is husband, Carlo Ponti. She describes meetings with him, their relationship and family, plus the drama of the fact that apparently Ponti's divorce was not final when he and Loren got married. Overall it was okay read. I enjoyed the sections of her personal life, bits and pieces of her times with other actors and actresses and movies, but for the most part I wasn't enthralled with the book. It may be that I am not as familiar with filmography, but I felt the book could be occasionally very uneven and not very interesting. Still, this would probably be of interest to anyone who is more familiar with her career or has a specific interest in the people she mentions (Cary Grant for instance). Otherwise I'd recommend borrowing it from the library.
review 2: Interesting, fascinating in parts, but . . . as another reviewer has noted, of all the personal relationships in Sophia's life, the one that she (in a sense) gives the shortest shrift to is the 50+ year relationship with her husband, Carlo Ponti. Or does she? She herself notes that he was a father figure (an older man replacing her own deadbeat dad in her life) and a mentor (her de facto manager -- Svengali, even -- during the rise of her career), and this appears to have created a distancing of emotions when it comes to writing about their love. There's a lot of talk about how he helped her to learn her craft and become a success, and very little about the two of them as a couple, away from the set. Her lack of specificity may, in its own way, speak volumes.That said, there are still a wealth of pleasures, and some enjoyable insight, in regards to how the people and events (both joyous and tragic) in Sophia's life helped her to grow and develop, and -- to enjoy her life.One more quibble: The chapter about her Seventeen Day stint in a women's prison, while no doubt traumatic -- especially given her proclaimed innocence on the charges against her -- borders on, and perhaps crosses the line into maudlin self-pity.Still, RECOMMENDED. less

Download links for: Wczoraj, dziś, jutro. Moje życie

Advertising