I purchased this book for about $1.75 at our local Salvation Army. It's a pretty quick, high energy read just like you would expect from Carol Burnett. I can't say she had a wonderful life, but that she did live life wonderfully...full of spunk and personality. Published in 1985, she was 52 years old when she wrote her memoir. It spans the first 27 years of her life when she had finally landed a steady role on The Garry Moore Show.

I found it interesting to see how God divinely worked things out in her life inspite of her upbringing by her grandmother, who provided any ounce of stability at all, and her two alcoholic parents who ran off to Hollywood to find fame and fortune. The stories of her childhood were absolutely adorable and will have you laughing. You will admire her courage and struggles in finally making it as an actress in New York. There was never a dull moment. I really enjoyed this read and could hardly put the book down. I read it in two days. I could have read it in one, but I did have to eat and shower and say hello to my husband periodically. ( )

#unreadshelfproject2019. A very eye-opening book about Carol’s childhood in a poorer Hollywood neighborhood. So interesting reading about her young years and how she rose above it. I have always loved her, and this book makes her even more special. ( )

This is a very interesting book detailing Carol Burnett's memories from growing up in Texas and Hollywood and her path to success. It is written as an open letter to her three daughters, Carrie, Jody, and Erin ( )

Carol Burnett’s television show was a huge hit from 1967 through 1978. And like millions of Americans, I watched it regularly, enjoying the inspired insanity of the skits, laughing until I cried at the classic spoofs of “Gone With the Wind”, “Star Trek”, “As the World Turns”, and other satire-worthy targets.

But there was one regular feature of the show’s later run, that I was never comfortable with – the “Mama’s Family” routines. The underlying spirit of the segments always seemed to me to be mean-spirited. There was generally an argument, hurtful words were hurled, and Carol Burnett’s character ended up humiliated and in tears. I never understood where that rage was coming from.

Burnett doesn’t admit it, but she reveals the roots of that anger in her 1986 memoir “One More Time”. Written as a letter to her then young adult children, the book relates Burnett’s childhood and the early years of her career.

Reared by her grandmother because her mother’s and father’s alcoholism prevented them from being effective parents, Burnett spent most of her childhood in a one-room apartment, scraping by on welfare and rejecting the occasional advances of the mother she felt had abandoned her. Burnett’s mother and grandmother spent 30 years tearing at each other, often both in alcohol-fueled rages. The echoes of that horribly destructive relationship, which none of them could resolve or escape, play out painfully in the “Mama’s Family” vignettes.

Astonishingly, Burnett neither casts blame on her dysfunctional family nor takes on a pity-poor-me tone when recalling the events. They happened; she acknowledges them; she moves on.

There are happy memories here, too. Burnett recalls hanging out with neighborhood kids, finding herself in musical comedy, and receiving an amazing gift which allowed her to relocate to New York, where her career ultimately took off.

This is not a kiss-and-tell book, or a behind the scenes exposé of the often cutthroat business of television. It’s just an entertaining read that throws some light on one woman’s path to adulthood, and reflects her desire to light the path for her daughters.
( )

Carol Burnett has written a touching and powerful biography of a determined and miraculous spirit who insisted on life and joy, regardless of life around her......and she found it......Enjoy!