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 enlarge | Author: Barbara Walters
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $12.50
You Save: $17.45 (58%)
New (60) Used (34) Collectible (14) from $7.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  224 reviews
Sales Rank: 804
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 624
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 2.2
ISBN: 030726646X
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.92
EAN: 9780307266460
ASIN: 030726646X
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 An Honest and Authentic Memoir May 17, 2008
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
Joanne Scaglione, Author:Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret Workbook
Well written,I really enjoyed Barbara's honesty as she put herself out there- telling all. I have always admired Barbara but never really got a feel for who she is from her TV performances where generally she is rather guarded about who she talks about and what her opinions are. This book paints a picture of a vulnerable person who is real.Fascinating stories and juicy tales will hold your interst. For me it did. Thank you.
 Utterly boring May 17, 2008
17 out of 33 found this review helpful
It's a pity that Ms. Walters, an octogenarian, had to write such a fiasco. Each chapters get more boring as you proceeed reading. It show that her ego is bigger than the universe to have the audacity to write such an embarrasing book at such an old age.
A little shocked about Babs May 16, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
About a tenth of the way through this book, when she was in her early 30's, I lost count of the number of men she had slept with. Then this picked up again when she was in her 40's. I think it was crass of her to include this in the book. Also, I don't understand what these famous and not so famous saw in her.
The book is extremely well written and that's why I gave it 4 stars but I'm half way through and starting to get bored. She's repetitive in how great and special she is, how she's so friendly still with all her lovers and even their spouses, how she resented her sister and regrets it and how she supported her family. She doesn't sound like such a great mother either although she seems to be convincing herself.
Frankly, I don't care about her and never did. The most interesting parts of the book are her interviews with the famous and that's what's keeping me reading.
Walters is a Trailblazer for Women in the Media May 15, 2008
4 out of 12 found this review helpful
Mary Greenwood, author ofHow to Mediate Like a Pro: 42 Rules for Mediating Disputes
Barbar Walters is a trail blazer for women in the media. Audition is a fascinating ride from the 40's to the present showing women's role in journalism. On the early days of the Today Show there was the Today Girl, the one "girl" allowed to do special segments on the Today Show. Walters was never a Today Girl, but when there were three women doing women's segments, one was considered too caustic and the other too elegant, so Walters got to do live advertisements for sponsors such as Alpo Dogfood, where she would feed hungry dogs on the air. When it was her turn, they stopped using the Today Girl moniker. OF course, she was the first to co-anchor the nightly news which she did with Harry Reasoner in the 70's.
She was the first to interview many famous politicians, celebrities, and entertainers. The inside cover lists all her interviews from A-King Abdullah to Z-Catherine Zeta Jones. It is in very small print and there are thousands of names. Castro, the Shah of Iran, Truman Capote, the Dalai Lama, Hugo Chavez, Moshe Dyan, a joint interview with Anwar Sadat and Meachem Begin, and all the presidents and their wives. In the 90's instead of retiring, she started a new Women's Daytime program called the View. She also did 20/20 for over twenty years.
In addition to all the firsts, we learn a lot about Walter' early days in Boston, New York and Miami Beach. We learn about the ups and down of her father's career, who was the impressario of the Latin Quarter in New York but had many business failures and successes. Barbara knew from an early age that she would probably need to support her family, including her "mentally retarded" (the term used then) sister and therefore, Barbara was always worried about money so she could help her parents and sister financially.
We learn about the rr's in Barbar's speech and how that is a result of being brought up in Boston. We learn that she went to a speech therapist and even tried to speak with words without r's and then how she decided to just speak naturally. We find out that Gilda Radner's skits on Saturday Night Live initially hurt her feelings, but that one night when she saw Gilda, she had her do her impression especially for her.
We learn about her fertility treatments; her adoption of her daughter, Jackie; her daughter's rebellious teenage years, her husbands and divorces, her love affairs, and her endless travel all over the globe to get the story.
I am an Art Deco Tour Guide in Miami Beach and was particularly interested in the days in the 40's when Barbara was a girl and her father ran the Lou Walters Miami Beach Latin Quarter on Palm Island where Al Capone lived just down the street. People like Milton Berle, Sophie Tucker, and Jimmy Durante entertained there and people like Jack Kennedy and Howard Hughes went to the show. The Walters also bought the pistachio house next door to the club. Apparently both were previously owned by Bill Dwyer, a notorious bootlegger and the owner of Tropical Park Race Track. Mr Dwyer thought he had some claim on the house and arrived with his henchman to live there. Mr. Walters took a gamble and and allowed Mr. Dwyer to live in the same house with his family. Mr. Dwyer took a shine to Barbara, who was in elementary school, and took her to the track. She was too young to go in, but Mr. Dwyer parked so she could see the horses. Barbara would give him a few bucks to bet and "miraculously" she always won. Barbara said these were some of the happiest times for the Walters family.
The book is long, but I appreciated the fact that she wrote a complete memoir in one volume. I loved this book. First I loved it because Walters was a trail-blazer for women. I have seen her pave the way for other women in so many ways and I am not sure she has gotten all the credit she deserves. Secondly, it has been an interesting life from her days when she lived down the street from Al Capone in Miami Beach to the famous people she has interviewed. With all the fascinating people mentioned, I did not get the feeling that she was name-dropping. She was writing as a journalist and giving us some background on some heady times. I recommend this to all women, especially younger women, who may not appreciate the trials and tribulations of the women who have gone before them. I recommend to anyone who is interested in show business from the early days of Milton Berle and Martha Raye to the Academy Award Winners of today. I would also recommend to anyone who wants to read a good book.
Quite a Life May 15, 2008
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
Walters, Barbara. "Audition: A Memoir", Alfred Knopf, 2008.
Quite a Life
Amos Lassen
I have always loved Barbara Walters but I must admit that I really did not want to read her book because of all the hype. Nevertheless, when my copy came I sat down with it and found myself enjoying every word. It's over 600 pages long so there was no way I would get through it in one sitting; I do have a life and I had to prepare for my summer school classes.
Walters has lived quite a life both personally and professionally and she comes across as a compassionate woman and an inspiration. She exudes class and humanity. She can interview people like no one else can and has done so. Her list ranges from Monica Lewinsky to Elizabeth Taylor to presidents, world leaders, disgraced public figures and just anyone else that has affected our lives.
Her childhood was fascinating. Her father ran the nightclubs known as the Latin Quarter so she grew up around celebrities. She went where women had not been before and became a co-host of a major American news show and when she went onto 20/20 with Hugh Downs her star rose and she became one of the most famous women in the world.
Much has been said about her "adulterous" affair with the American senator but the book is so much more than that. Barbara Walters is an ambitious and tenacious women and even though she says that her life has been one large audition, there is no question that she "got the job".
If anything really characterizes the book, I think it is Walters' style and class. Sure Barbara Walters had an affair with a married man and sure, she has guilt feelings about not always being there for her sister but all of us must remember and consider how life would be without someone like Barbara Walters. She takes the opportunity in her book to let us into her life and even though she has not done everything the way some of his might have wanted, Barbara Walters, to me, at least, remains a major figure in our lives. She is an extraordinary woman and has led an extraordinary life.
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