I read this book in two days. It's not great literature, but it's more engaging than some of the more ambitious books I've read lately. Ms. Parker comes across as a likeable Everygirl (even as she gets older, she seems very girlish throughout most of the book) who happens to have two very strange, self-centered parents. Ms. Parker's mother is Shirley MacLaine, and, as the subtitle implies, Parker has spent most of her life without her. Parker grew up in Japan, indifferently raised by her mysterious businessman father and his sullen mistress. Her parents refused to send her to college (her father regularly called her "idiot" and forbade her to read), so she led a vagabond life after boarding school, only gaining her fathers' attention when he had someone he wanted her to marry for the sake of his shady business dealings. Shirley MacLaine likewise is depicted as an uncaring, ungenerous parent, and not nearly as smart or as skilled at recognizing "acting" as she thinks she is.

In the acknowledgements, Ms. Parker thanked her therapist. I'm glad for her sake that she has a good one. ( )

I told my dad that I was reading this book and he said that even by 70's standards Shirley MacLaine was a real crack pot. I was expecting juicy stories and the result was meh. Part of the problem may have been that the author actually spent little time with her mom, she was basically raised in Japan by her father who seems to have made lying a full time vocation. MacLaine's greatest transgression against her daughter seems to have been being a little too tight fisted with the money. That and MacLaine supposedly sabotaged Parker's acting career. Undoubtedly Sachi Parker has led an interesting life and to her credit she was never too proud to clean or waitress for money or even scoop a steaming pile of turd off of an unsuspecting sleeping airline passenger when need be. There were times when I really liked her and then there were others when I wanted to tell her to quit whining about the money. I am sure that she had an unconventional upbringing but the Tiger Mother makes Parker's parents look like kittens. The best story in the whole book was how Steve Parker, Sachi's father conned MacLaine into giving him $60,000 a month for life even though they were no longer living together. It involves clones and goes a long way to explaining MacLaine fascination with space aliens. Shirley and her daughter no longer speak so the money has dried up which lends to the feeling that this a money grab by Parker. I can't imagine why else she wrote it. It certainly won't go towards building a bridge between mother and daughter. PS. I enjoyed MacLaines recent turn as Cora's mother on Downtown Abbey. I loved watching her trade barbs with Maggie Smith. The lady has still got it. You get the feeling that if she could have gotten Sachi a role on the show all would be forgiven. ( )