My Name is Barbra (2023) by Barbra Streisand

 Audiobook Review

My Name is Barbra (2023)

by Barbra Streisand 

  It is hard to do justice to the 48 hour long Audiobook of Barbra Streisand's autobiography. It is important for a prospective listener to know that the narrator is none other than Barbra Streisand herself AND that many of her recordings are used when they are mentioned in the reading.  The listener learns many, many things about Streisand and I'm sure that is the case whether you are an ardent fan or someone who only knows her as a pop-culture reference point (me).   Begin with her troubled relationship with her only surviving parent (her Dad died when she was a young child), her Mom.   Streisand and her Mom do not have a great relationship which is a frequent theme early in the book and continues to be a surprisingly robust sense of ire all the way through to the end.  Streisand delves heavily into her emotional relationship with Virginia Clinton, Bill Clinton's Mom, in the same chapter she is lambasting her own Mother for skipping her big Las Vegas anniversary show, Streisand is in her late 50's in this chapter.

   Next is her status as an actress, not a singer and later as an actress/director/producer, not a singer.  It's hard to overstate Streisand's lack of interest in her singing career despite it being her voice that leads her to nearly immediate fame as a teenager.  Streisand is not a song writer, nor an arranger of music, so most of the stuff about her singing are details about her relationships with different writers, arrangers and producers. As a result, those looking for some insight about music career might leave disappointed.  On the other hand, those interested in hearing about every damn details about every film she has ever made- get excited!