The Beauty of Living Twice
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3.9 • 121 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Sharon Stone tells her own story: a journey of healing, love, and purpose. • “Not your typical Hollywood autobiography. Brutally honest, restless and questing.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
Sharon Stone, one of the most renowned actresses in the world, suffered a massive stroke that cost her not only her health, but her career, family, fortune, and global fame. In The Beauty of Living Twice, Stone chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life and writes about her slow road back to wholeness and health. In a business that doesn’t accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, Stone found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to make a difference in the lives of men, women, and children around the globe.
Over the course of these intimate pages, as candid as a personal conversation, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments, and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a career in an industry that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children, and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family’s reconciliation and love.
Stone made headlines not just for her beauty and her talent, but for her candor and her refusal to “play nice,” and it’s those same qualities that make this memoir so powerful. The Beauty of Living Twice is a book for the wounded and a book for the survivors; it’s a celebration of women’s strength and resilience, a reckoning, and a call to activism. It is proof that it’s never too late to raise your voice and speak out.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Sharon Stone has seen some things. In fact, she’s lucky to be alive at all. Her revealing autobiography starts by going into deep detail about the 2001 brain hemorrhages that she only survived after many hours of surgery. The actress is similarly upfront about the other traumas in her life, including her troubled small-town Rust Belt childhood, multiple miscarriages and broken relationships, and a double mastectomy. Even Stone’s Hollywood success was riddled with hardship. She claims the controversial flashing scene in her breakthrough film, Basic Instinct, was filmed without her knowledge, and the tabloid press had a field day with her decision to wear a chain store men’s shirt to the Oscars in protest of gender double standards. Ultimately, The Beauty of Living Twice is a story of personal triumph and spiritual fulfillment told with plainspoken honesty. (How honest? She points out that she can’t talk about her second husband because she signed an NDA.) We’ve always admired Stone’s seeming fearlessness, but learning about the challenges she’s overcome makes her that much more inspiring.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Though the title refers to Stone's near-death from a stroke in 2001, the actor has arguably lived many lives, as her bold memoir recounts. Stone revisits her small-town Pennsylvania youth, where strict "kitchen-sink Irish" parents and incidents of abuse failed to crush her spirit or her subsequent roles as ambitious student, celebrity, sex symbol, philanthropist, and adoptive single mother. Stone was determined to get the most out of her improbable circumstances, campaigning hard for the film roles she wanted, grieving many losses (including three miscarriages), and searching out avenues for spiritual connection. Suffused with wry humor, Stone's storytelling alternates between literary descriptions and intimate colloquialisms ("Well, that was just the Cracker Jack best!"). Though there are plenty of celebrity cameos, the memoir is neither tell-all nor fluff; without veering into self-pity, Stone's clear about the difficulties of being a woman who became famous for baring it all on screen, but didn't want to sleep with her coworkers: "People criticize me and say that men are intimidated by me. That just makes me want to cry. I was often alone on a set with hundreds of men," she writes. "And now I am the intimidating one?" The mix of moxie and vulnerability conveys a life well lived, and well examined.
Customer Reviews
Very Touching at Times
I preordered the book as one of my favorite movies is “The Quick and the Dead.” The book was hard to follow at times but very interesting. Once I got used to the way the story jumped around I found it very touching and motivational. Sharon went through so many problems, both medical and emotional, and yet came out of them doing so much good for so many different types of people. I really admire her!
Just don't
Ugh, this book was so hard to get through......so boring. The woman is a mess
Strange prose and construction of story
I am quite sure this book could have been amazing, but sadly it’s not. It’s poorly written, reads like an unedited manuscript and the innumerable back and forth made me dizzy. Love Sharon, though. Gutsy woman.