Customer Reviews
Great read 
2008-07-16
I really enjoyed Barbara's book. Learning about her life, struggles and successes was fascinating. She doesn't skip the difficult parts and really dives in to show us what has made her and brought her to where she is today. This will make you really appreciate Barbara Walters.
Don't Be Intimidated by the Book's Length 2008-07-15
I finally finished "Audition". It took me a long time not because it's difficult to read - it's definitely not - I just read it in small increments. I really enjoyed the book. Although quite long (500+ pages) I didn't find it had any slow sections, which i find often happens in long books, particularly memoirs.
I've always liked Walters well enough, and this book may have made me like her a bit less. Although her professional accomplishments are spectacular, no question, I found her - at least the way she presents herself in this book - to be rather shallow. For example, I am bothered that she goes out of her way to not reveal her age (she'll be 79 in September) when anyone can do what I did and Google it! Hell, if I were 79 and looked the way she looks and was still working in my chosen profession I'd holler it from the roof tops!
The story of her professional trajectory is fascinating because of the barriers she broke down without really meaning to - she just did it. She talks about a lot of the interviews she had with a plethora of fascinating people, and I found myself remembering them. When put all together the way they're presented in the book, you realize she really has interviewed practically anyone who was anyone in the last 40 years! A clear representation of that is the inside of the front and back covers where the names of all the people she's interviewed are listed alphabetically - very cool.
Not only did she interview important people, in some cases, she actually played small parts in the actual history, serving as a go-between or delivering messages. Again, very cool. Also, in addition to describing the interviews, getting the interviews, etc. she also provides a brief historical overview, enough so that we can understand why the interview was significant and what the ramifications were.
Despite her exposure to the world however, she came across to me as somewhat naive and rather old-fashioned in some aspects. She is after all a woman of her generation and although I'm not in any way saying she's a racist, at points she views and reacts to racial issues as a person of her generation would, and it's a little jarring - at least to me. And although she's obviously clever, she doesn't strike as particularly intelligent.
There's also the matter of her affairs with married men (yes there was more than one) that personally disappoints me. However, she is very honest about her difficulties raising her daughter, her inability to maintain a marriage, and her inability to deal in a healthy manner with her family's issues.
I definitely recommend the book and encourage everyone to not be intimidated by the length of the book - again it is very easy to read and will bring back a lot of memories - as Walters has been witness to a lot of history.
By the way, I don't care what she says - I still think she slept with Fidel Castro!
Barbara Walters - Audition: A Memoir 
2008-07-14
Very interesting story. Barbara is a very strong person who doesn't take the easy way out. She works for what she wants. Would have liked a few more pics.
TV Star Hurts Her Journalistc Reputation By Giving Too Much Information About Her Unethical and Immoral Life 2008-07-14
This well-written, incredibly detailed autobiography of the biggest female pioneer in television news ends up being a sad read because of the many self-damaging stories that Barbara Walters tells. "Too much information" should have been the title of the book, because Walters thinks it's important to tell us that she slept with her first boss out of college and lost her virginity, then feared she was pregnant after having an affair with a Frenchman and struggled with whether she should illegally abort the baby (it ended up she wasn't pregnant), she married men she wasn't in love with, she slept with men she was in love with, she almost married a famous homosexual, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
She even talks about having three miscarriages with her second husband, but then says she's grateful for the miscarriages because she fears that any baby of hers may have had the "hereditary" mental retardation condition of Walters' older sister! Wow--it's hard to believe a well-educated woman would print such a shameful admission.
She also gave a speech minutes after learning of her precious sister's death--then lied to her elderly mother by claiming her sister was still alive.
The woman has besmirched her own memory by now making us question anything she has ever done in the journalistic field. As a journalist, she is suppposed to tell the truth, expose the truth and promote the truth. But in this confessional she admits to often lying about major things (she lied about her kid's age to get the child on a plane and has even recently lied for Star Jones on the View), using her power to keep news of her dad's suicide attempt out of the papers, use a notorious friend to get her dad's criminal charges dropped, and, worst of all, WON'T EVEN TELL US THE YEAR OF HER BIRTH!
So the woman who insists on digging into the personal details of other public figure's lives and then expose them to all of America has worked hard to cover up and lie about her own life. This book is now supposed to somehow set everything straight, but instead it makes her seem like a much smaller person. Those who read the book will never be able to take Walters seriously again, since she lies and cheats and sleeps around so often that you have to question her credibility.
When the media do question her credibility she reacts hysterically. She complains throughout the book when the media raise legitimate criticisms about her work or choices. Maybe it's time she starts listening to them.
She also seems to have lived a VERY well-off life, even though she likes to emphasize the lean years. She still has not gotten her driver's license--and why should she since she had a personal driver picking her up ever since she was a child? She seem out of touch with much of the rest of the world, admitting to not knowing some very middle-class things (like never having heard of Fresca when President Johnson offered her one in 1968. Didn't she even watch TV commercials on her own show or go grocery shopping for herself??? The answer is probably not!
She constantly talks about feeling guilty but in every case it's her own fault--usually she has lied or hurt someone or chosen work over family. She seems oblivious to her own negatives, thought, and doesn't seem to understand the harm she has done. The reader will feel sorry for her adopted daughter because it is so obvious in the book that Walters paid more attention to her intervewees and lovers than her child.
Walters comes across as a terrible mother, terrible wife, insecure journalist, terrible person. So why is she admired in any way?
The book is well researched (by someone else) and Walters probably had help writing it, since it is very well written and edited. The are odd gaps--such as the fact that she can't remember what classes she took in college or can't remember the name of the place where she got her first job out of college--but she is getting old. We don't know exactly how old, but you could probably guess somewhere around 78 or 79 today, based on the other details she gives.
She also claims her being the first female co-host of the Today show is "not noted in history books." Ah...sorry, Barbara, but it's noted in EVERY book about TV history. She then writes, "It was not in my natures to be courageous, to be the first..." Ah, her false modesty is showing. Her life was all about trying to be the first.
At 580 pages the book is way too long. There are entire chapters on her famous interviews that are just rehashes of things Walters has said already over the years and not a lot of new insight. So half of the book is her personal story and the other half less interesting stories about her interviews.
It's a great book filled with fascinating stories--it's one that needed to be written and has a lot of important details about the history of television. But she also does a lot of whinig and complaining, putting herself down. This is not the Barbara on the TV screen, the self-confident woman who would fight to get the best interviews. This book portrays the insecure, introverted Barbara. Even the title "Audition" is a bit of a fakery--she claims she has always had to audition and continues to do so, yet the facts prove that she stumbled into many jobs without any audition and that she can have pretty much anything she wants today. So the question is--which is the true Barbara Walters? It's hard to know because this book just raises so many questions about her lack of character that you won't know what to believe when you're done reading it.
Her AUDITION Isn't Over..... 2008-07-14
I suppose I bought Walters' book because we are of the same generation, and I knew it would be full of stories about people I've encountered many times in the news. I wasn't disappointed...I found it to be very entertaining and readable. It's to her credit that she revealed so much of her personal life at this time; how ironic, though, that with all the fame and fortune she's achieved, she's still, at heart, a little Jewish girl who is crying out to be accepted. This makes her very real and very human. I'm still a fan.
A fascinating memoir 2008-07-22
Once I started reading this book, it was hard to put down. I found it fascinating to read about a woman who has had a front-row seat at many important historical events and who has known many history-makers either personally or professionally.
Her story begins with her early life, growing up as the daughter of Lou Walters, the show business producer, her mother Dena, whom Barbara thinks was married to the wrong person, and her older sister Jackie, who was mentally retarded and whom Barbara says had the biggest impact on her life. Her childhood was a roller-coaster ride, with several moves and the ups and downs of her father's financial successes and failures.
This early life seemed to have left her with fear of financial failure and a burning desire to succeed at her chosen career. She describes long hours and less than ideal conditions and co-workers, but somehow she managed to shine brightly in her chosen career in television. She had to contend with a male-dominated field and her rise from a writer on the Today show to an anchor spot was unprecedented in television history.
She is not shy about sharing opinions of the many people who have passed through her life. She found Hillary Clinton more interesting than Bill. She loved working with Hugh Downs, but had problems with Harry Reasoner. She loved interviewing Bette Midler, but had a hard time with Warren Beatty. All of this and much more is contained in the book.
Her success did not come without a price, most of it in the areas of her personal and family life. At an early age, she became the sole support of her mother, father, and sister. She bravely took on this responsibility, but as her fame grew, she didn't seem to spend much time with her family. She states that she really regrets the fact that she was not with her mother when she died. She left her daughter for long periods of time with 2 live-in babysitters and seemed surprised later when she found out that her daughter missed her. She admits to being bad at marriage, and her three failed attempts bear that out. Sometimes she seems to take her role as a journalist a little too seriously, but then she disarms the reader by being brutally honest about some of her failures. This is her life as Barbara sees it, but it is a fascinating life and is well worth the time to read it.
Barbara Wa -Wa 2008-07-21
I have always been curious about her and this book certainly examines her life and her accomplishments as well as her failings and weaknesses . SHe is also as expected is a great reader and a great human being . I admire her braveness and drive . A must for all women movement advocates . ALthough she does not dwell on women it does cover a very couragous woman nonetheless.
Too much politics 
2008-07-21
I enjoyed Auditions; however, I was bored hearing about all the political interviewees and would have enjoyed hearing more about the celebrity interviewees. I purchased the CDs because I don't have time to sit and read a book and there could have been more CDs to cover what was in the book and not on CD.
Torn... 2008-07-18
I'm really torn about this book. I wanted to enjoy it. I've always looked up to and been fascinated by Barbara Walters. However, she herself has changed that view. First of all, I expected the book to be a little better written. Her sentence structure wasn't always the best. Anyway, I didn't know that Ms. Walters had had a sister that was mentally challenged. I definitely didn't know that Ms. Walters basically ran away from her family responsibilities with her parents and sister after she was an adult. There are many times in this book where Ms. Walters says I know I should feel guilty about whatever but I really just want to be free from them. Ms. Walters wasn't around for any of their deaths and even lied to her mother about her sister's passing.
With my occupation, it's hard for me to read about Barbara Walters making a decision to adopt a child and then leaving her all the time. She hires two ladies after her divorce as babysitters to her daughter, Jackie and then leaves Jackie while she goes off chasing stories. She didn't even make a police report when Jackie disappears for a month or more and is found in Kansas. I just found this so irresponsible and that's not the picture that I had of her. I think if a biographer had written this book unauthorized it might have been easier for me to take but Barbara herself wrote this book.
Now the good parts. She definitely wrote a book warts and all. I loved the fact that I could relive my life with this book. I remember so many of her interviews or the events she describes. It was fascinating to learn a lot of the behind the scenes of the programs and interviews. I loved her talking about her times at the Today show. Definitely liked the chapter about The View. Overall, I think it is a fascinating information book about a pioneer in the world of female news reporting, but just realize that Barbara Walters has some flaws and she lets them all hang out.
Best Memoir Ever 2008-07-16
I was riveted by Barbara Walter's memoir, Audition. It was a fascinating read and frankly, a great reminder of the history through which I have lived. When I was younger, I missed some of those historic interviews due to youthful disinterest. As an older woman, I am now a political junkie and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Walter's interviews in the first part of her career. I appreciated the fact that she didn't clutter the book with the actor celebrity interviews with which our current society seems so obssessed. This was also a great reminder of all that Barbara Walters did to break the barriers for women in the news/entertainment industry. I would suggest this book to younger women as a history lesson since some of them seem to take so much for granted. As Barbara Walters focused and worked her way up the hierarchy of the communications world, she also changed it for everyone following her, female and male.
