Rosie: Rosie O'Donnell's Biography

• The year 1996 belonged to Rosie O'Donnell. With three films in release, Beautiful Girls, Harriet the Spy, and A Very Brady Sequel, as well as the overwhelming success of her syndicated daytime talk show, the brassy stand-up comic seemed to be everywhere, aided by a publicity machine that just wouldn't quit.

  Rosie: Rosie O'Donnell's Biography, by entertainment journalist James Robert Parish, seems designed to take advantage of the 35-year-old star's rapid rise to fame. It offers a quick biographical fix for the millions of loyal fans who tune into her show each day, eager for the latest episode in her comic riffs with Donny Osmond, Tom Cruise, and the folks at Listerine among others.

  A&E's Biography Reviewed by Dorothy Rompalske 1997
  
  
• Rating 8/10: "Her fans will buy and enjoy this book... In this unauthorized bio, seasoned Hollywood journalist and author James Robert Parish (The Liza Minelli Story, etc.) has reserched O'Donnell's climb to fame drawing on print and TV interviews, critical reviews and press releases, as well as interviews with her colleagues. O'Donnell's comic career, feature films and Broadway show are well detailed here and her story is an inspiring one. Until O'Donnell writes her autobiography this bio may be the most thorough we'll get."
  Publisher's Weekly [excerpt], March 17, 1997
  
  
• "Those who feel the need to read a book about O'Donnell should really wait until she writes her own [Time-Warner owns both Entertainment Weekly and Rosie's publisher, Warner Books]. But since O'Donnell's autobiography is on hold at Warner, readers who simply cannot delay can thumb through Parish's unsophisticated and completely unrevelatory bio. The comedian's early life -- marked by her mother's death and her father's emotional withdrawal -- along with her rise to talk TV's savior are recapped with an earnestness that will please but leave longtime followers wanting more."
  EntertainmentWeekly, April 25, 1997
  
  
• Well, believe it or not, I finished it about 4:00 this morning -- that 5:40 alarm really bit the big one this morning. But I am here and have been mulling over what I read. Here are just a few observations. Keep in mind that I'm going on an hour and a half of sleep.
  1. For we diehards, there aren't really any shocking bits of information. We know entirely too much about that woman! The two things that I found surprising were the amount of time spent on Rosie's alleged drinking problem (She doesn't appear to be an alcoholic -- She likes her Sam Adams -- but she apparently did more than her fair share of serious recreational abuse when she was touring on the circuit and even after she began filming movies.) and her, in all likelihood, sexual relationship with Sophie B. Hawkins. That was a new one to me. Then again, I'm the one who didn't realize that Michelle Blakely and Rosie's live in "gal-pal" from the tabloids were the same person.
  2. I found the stuff about her father and her childhood pretty depressing. While having lacked a father for a short time as a child, I never lacked for a strong, loving male in my life and seeing how desperately she needed one was truly sad.
  3. Parish's handling of the Lesbian issue was very tasteful, IMHO. He listing the facts concerning her love life and her relationships and interspersed these with his own observations. Never accusatory, merely observatory. And, he never used the "L" word. He did talk about Michelle quite a bit (don't forget the picture he included). He even talked about Rosie mentioning Michelle on the show and the Ellen DeGeneres appearance and the "Lebanese" thing.
  4. In short, I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up or, as Rosie would say, "It was very moving; I was so touched by it."
  Erin Marie Noll
  Librarian at a large midwestern public library
  March 19, 1997