In 2001, Sharon Stone suffered a massive stroke that almost killed her. In The Beauty of Living Twice, she writes about her efforts to rebuild her life and health and her desire to make a difference in the lives of others.
First off, let me say that this book was not what I thought it would be about. I thought it would include stories and tidbits about the movies and television shows that Sharon Stone starred in. I thought it would tell me more about her personal life. Instead, we get maybe a chapter about her acting life and there is a mention of how she started out as a model. Stone barely talks about either of her marriages or her children, only to say that an NDA prevents her from speaking about the custody battle of her first adopted son. She doesn’t really talk about her life as a mother or about her other children.
Additionally, I thought that this book was just all over the place. It’s not told in chronological order and sometimes it seemed like Stone was just writing whatever came into her mind at the moment. There are a lot of things that seem to get a haphazard mention and are glossed over, including the fact that Stone was awarded the Peace Summit Award. I would have loved to read more about that and her work that led to her receiving this award.
Stone does touch a little bit on her activism and charity work. Personally, I thought that was the most interesting part of the book as it really showed her personality and caring nature. Again, I would have liked to have read more about that. It showed a side of Stone that I was not aware of. I feel like she is only known for that scene in Basic Instinct when there are so many other great things she has done.
There was one part in the book that made me laugh and it was when Stone was describing a scene where she was sitting at her kitchen table with her longtime house painter. And I just thought, “Who paints their house so much that they have a longtime housepainter?”. It just made me laugh.
If you’re looking to get an inside scoop on Basic Instinct or Casino, you won’t find it in this book.
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I appreciate candid book reviews like this. It’s so nice to read this and think “I’d give it a shot because I know what I’m getting myself into”. Overall, I’m happy you still like her even though you’d love to know more about her. ❤️
xo Alli | On the Trip Side
Thanks!
Just out of curiosity I looked at Sharon Stone’s filmography (it’s fun doing that on Rotten Tomatoes, I find it an easy, convenient way of finding good stuff I’ve missed over the years and sometimes it’s fun to follow a theme for awhile and watch stuff with certain actors or actresses…..I did it with Benedict Cumberbatch, recently) and I was surprised she appeared in an episode of Roseanne. Wasn’t expecting that! She might regret that choice since Roseanne the real person has turned out to be such a butthead. I always thought of S.S as a fairly fine actor and she is in some good projects but she sure has a lot of duds. It makes me wonder how much she had to deal with Hollywood typecasting.
I think she is a really great actor and Hollywood didn’t know what to do with her. I also didn’t realize how much charity work she did.