Send Yourself Roses:Thoughts on my Life, Live and Leading Roles
by Kathleen Turner & Gloria Feldt
2007
Springboard
4.0/5.0

Courageous and witty, Kathlern Turners' memoir follows her acting career from her film debut in 'Body Heat' to her stage role as Martha in ' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'.

Sharing her childhood, living in many countries around the world and her great sense of loss after her father's sudden death. Her marriage and separation from Jay, and stories of her daughter. Rachel, are so heart felt, and honest. She also shares Kathleen's diagnosis and treatment of Rhumatoid Arthritis, something that changed her life, but not her spirit. She is a spokeswoman for RI, now.

Some of the best parts of this memoir, to me, were when Kathleen shared how playing certain roles has shaped how so many people see her, as if the role was her actual life, not a part she played. And how her sultry voice has been so recognizable and pivotal in her career.

I have always admired her as a woman, and enjoyed her wild spirit, humor and her guts. Her film roles are always engaging, and I hope she will share another memoir, soon. ( )

As celebrity memoirs go, this one wasn't my favorite. It feels pretty obvious that it was ghost-written from interviews. But Turner's life and observations are often inspirational--especially for women of a certain age--and she obviously has a good voice for reading the book aloud. ( )

Any female in the 35-60 age range needs to read this book! Kathleen Turner opens up her life, her feelings, her family and her career for all to see. It is the more personal stories that strike a cord with all women "of a certain age". Her struggles with guilt over the death of her father after they had an argument; the amazing will power to overcome severe rheumatoid arthritis; and so many other things just resonate with me and I'm sure will with other women who grew up as "baby boomer" females.

Excellent read. ( )

it helps to be acquainted with ms. turner's work in films and on the stage, so as to be aware of the large cast of characters and anecdotes surrounding her; this explains and illuminates parts of her journey and adds some humility to what i assumed was a fairly egocentric and one-sided view of things. another pleasing thing: she and her writer made this funny -- ( )

I enjoyed this book but agree with others that the writing was a little rough in parts and that Kathleen thinks quite a lot of herself (perhaps I would too if I was Kathleen Turner!). I had no idea that she struggled with rheumatoid arthritis and alcoholism and learned a lot about the author as a person, good and bad. I loved the parts of the book that discussed her co-stars and experiences working on the sets of movies. Kathleen uses an extremely conversational style - referring to the reader as "babe" and "honey" - which may be offputting to some. I grew up watching her movies so, as a whole, found this an entertaining read. ( )