curiouslykatt's Reviews (1.12k)

Babs likes to gab. 

Clocking in at over 48 hours this is the longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to and even with increased speed it still took me a week to finish, so library users, skip the line copies or short rentals may not be your friend here. 

Now I’m not a Barbra fan. I don’t think I’ve ever watched any of her movies, except Meet The Parents, and as far as her music goes I won’t be picking her for karaoke.

This is going to be an absolute win for people who have a shrine to Barbra hidden in their closet. The people that know her movies word for word and have all her albums. What Barbra shares in these 48 hours is her life, along with the inside scoop of why movies and music were done the way they were. She truly spares no detail. 

With that being said, there’s a lot of information packed into this, was it all necessary? IMHO, no but again I saw that as an outsider of the cult of Babs. There is also some repetition, unsure if it was loose editing or more in line thinking readers 30 hours deep forgot about things mentioned in the first 10 hours. 

Overall, I still got a lot out of this memoir and Barbra is really, really, REALLY funny. It’s the self deprecating humour for me. There’s stories in here that had me laughing out loud. There’s also some preachy ramblings that seem oddly tossed into this, but hell, Babs is in her 80s, frankly she can do whatever the hell she wants.

This book was a delightful, funny, huggable book. You can’t help but root for the main characters, cheer them on, want to hug them through their struggles, roll your eyes and shake some sense into them when they’re being foolish. 

Jean does such a good job with the supporting cast of characters too, Jacob’s grandmother was an absolute riot, and I know a Rachel’s mom type in real life. All of this made this story really relatable. A lot of this story hit really close to home too with Jacob returning to his Jewish roots and traditions, much like my own home did this year. My husband is Jewish but has never been big on holidays or traditions but this year felt different. 

If you’re looking for a sweet funny romantic read (very PG hallmark), this is the one to pick up. I wouldn’t call it necessarily a romance, because the story focuses on other elements more than the relationship between Rachel & Jacob. With the audiobook you get the additional fun of a quite a bit of Yiddish tossed in. 

Read this one for Jewish joy and a hankering for latkes with apple sauce. 

“There’s something really special about Hanukah when you stop and pay attention to it.“

“The truth is, they’re all so much better off now that their parents have been murdered.”

Nothing brings a dysfunctional family together as much as the untimely death of the vindictive horrible patriarch and his complicit accomplice of a wife. We are introduced to the Merton family at Easter dinner. Family dinners can be stressful to begin with but are made worse when you want to spear someone’s hand with your fork before dessert. Fred Merton (father) drops some bombshells at dinner that leave his three adult children, stunned, angry and feeling robbed. All before they even have pie. Shortly thereafter Fred gets his just dessert and ends up murdered along side his wife. 

But who did it? 

The lifelong nanny / help? 

The son who made some grievous financial mistakes and is on the brink of ruin?

The eldest daughter who has kept the facade of a well run, happy enough family? 

The youngest daughter who is the epitome of the baby of the family? 

All of them? None of them? 

“Catherine, silently panicking thinks “this fucking family”. “

I loved how twisty and turny this book, every new layer of dismay in this family had me guessing and changing my mind. I will say I wish the book ended one chapter earlier and excluded the epilogue. There’s a chapter that was so strong for me and it would have been a great story had it ended on that point. Overall

I’m really happy with the book and would recommend it to any reader who enjoys wealthy folks behaving badly and dysfunctional families. 

“What a bunch of liars we all are.“