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    In Pieces
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    In Pieces
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    In Pieces
    Ebook423 pages7 hours

    In Pieces

    By Sally Field

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A Sunday Times Book of the Year

    ‘A memoir as soulful, wryly witty, and lyrical as it is candid and courageous’ – Booklist, starred review
    ‘Impressive, candid and vivid’ The Times 
    ‘Beautifully written’  Sunday Times

    Sally Field is one of the most celebrated, beloved and enduring actors of our time, and now she tells her story for the first time in this intimate and haunting literary memoir. In her own words, she writes about a challenging and lonely childhood, the craft that helped her find her voice, and a powerful emotional legacy that shaped her journey as a daughter and a mother.
     
    Sally Field has an infectious charm that has captivated audiences for more than five decades, beginning with her first television role at the age of 17. From Gidget’s sweet-faced ‘girl next door’ to the dazzling complexity of Sybil to the Academy Award-winning ferocity and depth of her role in Norma Rae and Mary Todd Lincoln, Field has stunned audiences time and time again with her artistic range and emotional acuity. Yet there is one character who always remained hidden: the shy and anxious little girl within.
     
    With raw honesty and the fresh, pitch-perfect prose of a natural-born writer, and with all the humility and authenticity her fans have come to expect, Field brings readers behind the scenes for not only the highs and lows of her star-studded early career in Hollywood, but deep into the truth of her lifelong relationships including, most importantly, her complicated love for her own mother.
     
    Powerful and unforgettable, In Pieces is an inspiring and important account of life as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateSep 18, 2018
    ISBN9781471175770
    Unavailable
    In Pieces
    Author

    Sally Field

    Sally Field is a two-time Academy Award and three-time Emmy Award-winning actor who has portrayed dozens of iconic roles on both the large and small screens. In 2012 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2015 she was honoured by President Obama with the National Medal of Arts. She has served on the Board of Directors of Vital Voices since 2002 and also served on the Board of The Sundance Institute from 1994 to 2010. She has three sons and five grandchildren.

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    Reviews for In Pieces

    4/5

    164 ratings16 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Learned a lot about one of my favorite actresses and enjoyed the accompanying pictures immensely. She's a better actress than writer, but I am very glad I got to read her story in her own words. Too many biographical celebrity books are hastily cobbled together by third parties after the subjects are deceased--I appreciate that Ms Field courageously shared her joys and difficult family experiences with us on her own terms while she is still very much with us.
    • 4/5
      This is a hard hitting book. Field's life seems to be mostly a downer and certainly as someone sexually abused as a child I would find that to affect you for the rest of your life. Yet at some point it seems you have to move on. I think Field did move on and certainly became a success but let this baggage stay with her all her life. I wish there had been more on some of the films and co-stars she worked with such as Murphy's Romance (James Garner), Steel Magnolias (Dolly Parton, Julia Roberts, Olympia Dukakis, and Shirley MacLaine), and Mrs. Doubtfire (Robin Williams). And didn't she have any good times with Burt Reynolds? I also wish there had been more photos.
    • 5/5
      In Pieces by Sally Field 2018 Grand Central 4.5 / 5.0 Nothing about the life of Sally Field is simple. Her relationships - esp. with her mother- were all complicated. Very pure and straight-forward, sharing the ups and downs of her life, she has literally lived a life in pieces. Pieces, that once fit together, give you a more complete picture. Like a jigsaw whose picture is not totally revealed until the last piece is placed. Then it is amazing.Sallys honesty and candor, her willingness to share the difficult and contentious pieces of her life, with such truth and courage. This is a surprising and compelling life story, I never knew her life was so complicated.. She shares it all with humor and I really feel like I know who she is, not just what she has done. This was hard to put down and loved her honesty and willingness to share all the pieces of her complicated life.Recommended. Amazing.
    • 2/5
      Field's memoir was at times interesting but, overall, lacked substance. After listening to the audio version for 8 hours, I had to let this one go. It simply did not hold my interest.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I think I grew up alongside Sally Field, watching Gidget, the Flying Nun, Sybil, Normae Rae. I liked her honesty and observations since I remember what I felt about her when I was watching her work. In my mind, she sells herself short, I think she is brilliant. She is the author of her biography which gives it a forthright tone. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      Thoughts I feel anyone who opens their lives to public scrutiny in a memoir deserves 5/5. Who am I to judge the content of it. I learned much about Ms. Field and I can say that she accomplished quite a lot in spite of the detriments placed before her, some self inflicted others a matter of fate. Her acting career is central to the book as are her sons, mother and the assorted male figures scattered through out. Burt Reynolds, wow, though not surprising.
    • 4/5
      I do not read many celebrity memoirs, but this one called to me. I have been enchanted with Sally Field, since the 1970s, (I was too young for “Gidget” and barely remember “The Flying Nun”) and it has been great to see her evolve as an actor and continue to do challenging work, right through her 60s.The bulk of this book, focuses on her childhood and her development into a young woman, struggling to raise a family and hone her acting craft. She had a difficult relationship with her mother and suffered child abuse from her step-father, so the book goes pretty dark at times. It is also very well-written, proving Field, a natural storyteller. The last 3rd of the memoir, deals with her Hollywood career, from Smokey & the Bandit to her stunning role as Mary Todd Lincoln in “Lincoln”. A totally engaging read and yes, Burt Reynolds comes off as a friggin' jerk. Field narrates the audio version, and unsurprisingly does a stellar job. I highly recommend that format.
    • 4/5
      Sally Field's "In Pieces" is not a run-of-the-mill celebrity memoir. The two-time Academy Award winning actress does cover expected territory, discussing how she got her first break in show business, took less than scintillating parts in order to become known, and as so many actors do, struggled with feelings of insecurity. However, she goes far deeper in this candid and wrenching book, furnishing disturbing details about her dysfunctional childhood, distressing adolescence, and troubled adulthood. We learn that Sally's mother, Margaret, had two marriages that ended in divorce and often relied on alcohol to help her cope; Field had an overbearing, abusive, and sometimes sadistic stepfather, Jock Mahoney; and Sally made one poor choice after another in romantic partners. Although Field eventually had three sons (two with her first husband, Steve), she reluctantly left the kids in the care of her mother while she worked. There was a great deal of unfinished business between Sally and Baa (the nickname she uses for her mom) that the two skirted around, but avoided discussing for many years. Field sadly reveals, "There was always something thorny between us."

      Readers who admire Field for her impressive body of work may be shocked at how different her private life was from her public image. Sally Field appeared to be wholesome, cheerful, and upbeat when she appeared on such shows as Gidget and the Flying Nun. In reality, Field was unhappy, frightened, and filled with guilt, self-loathing, and rage. She speaks out about her tumultuous personal experiences: as a child she was an anxious little girl with few friends ("I wanted to hide from everyone"), her family was frequently short of money, she changed boyfriends and/or husbands again and again, and had to repeatedly earn respect from skeptics who thought she could not handle challenging roles. Acting and therapy eventually helped her to integrate the different parts of her personality into a cohesive whole. However, she waited a long time to get the psychological help that she desperately needed.

      Field is a fine descriptive writer, who expresses herself lucidly and eloquently. She uses flashbacks well, relieves the book's somber tone with occasional flashes of dark humor, and speaks to us intimately, as if we were sitting across from her in our living room. Of particular interest is Sally's work in the Actor's Studio with Lee Strasberg, from whom she learned a great deal about the fundamentals of her craft. Strasberg told his acolytes, "You are your own instrument of expression and you have to keep it finely tuned." Field has complimentary words for Martin Ritt (who directed her in Norma Rae), and expresses her joy at portraying Mary Todd opposite Daniel Day Lewis in "Lincoln." Ms. Field is modest about her many fine performances in films and on television. Be warned that "In Pieces" is not easy to read. Field's emotions are so raw that it is difficult for us to bear witness to her angst. This talented individual carried far too much baggage on her long and difficult road to maturity, self-esteem, acceptance, and fulfillment.
    • 4/5
      Wow! Brutally honest . . . "Intimate and haunting". Can't help wondering why she published this memoir. I was fascinated reading about her life, so different from what the public assumed. I was disappointed towards the end as she really had no answers or insights for the choices she made in life. And it ended oddly, as though the book was about her mother's life and not her own. It was very clear that her identity was and always will be entwined with her mother and I thought was a little sad.
    • 4/5
      I have always liked Sally Field and enjoyed listening to her life story!
    • 3/5
      I'll just say that the book helps me understand her famous response to winning an Oscar..." You love me, you really love me"
    • 2/5
      I was so disappointed with this book. I think I was expecting too much. I grew up adoring Sally Field from Gidget to The Flying Nun and on to her more serious roles in Norma Rae and as Mary Lincoln. Maybe it would have been better to read the print version, because I felt like the audio was hard to follow. It felt like the story jumped around a lot and then circled back and went over the same things. I found it strange that she went into such detail on certain memories (which did not seem realistic) and on other bigger events would say "I don't remember how that happened". Towards the end of the book she did say that she had many journals that she referred to which made me think that would have helped her. I thought it was neat that she was reading her book, but when I listened to it I found her expression overdone in many parts. Perhaps the way to go is the print and not the audio.
    • 2/5
      I only read this because it was a book club read. I wasn't interested in Field at all, and I'm even less so after reading the book. She is not a gifted writer. I did enjoy reading some of the behind-the-scenes incidents that come with acting, and I got a feel for how ordinary day-to-day life can be, even for the famous.
    • 3/5
      I grew up watching The Flying Nun and I have admired some of her acting since then, particularly the title role in Norma Rae. After listening to this book (which Sally narrated) I have admiration for how she managed to climb to the top of her field. I have a few misgivings about the book which meant I didn't rate it as high as I would if I was just rating Sally herself.Sally's parents divorced when she was quite young and her mother, also an actress, then married a stunt man and actor. Sally didn't see much of her father but she saw decidedly too much of her stepfather. Almost from the beginning her stepfather made sexual advances to her and this continued for almost all of her time living in the same house. Sally managed to get an acting role (as the star of the TV pilot of Gidget) when she was still a teenager and then she was cast in The Flying Nun. Financial independence meant she finally got away from her stepfather but she then married her highschool sweetheart and had two children. That marriage fell apart due to her husband never finding a career that could contribute to the household. When Sally met Burt Reynolds during the filming of Smoky and the Bandit there was sexual attraction but again Reynolds seemed to view Sally more as his mother or housekeeper than a girlfriend. Eventually that relationship ended (one of the problems I had with the book was that one day Reynolds seemed to be consuming all her time and then he was history); Sally married again and had another child but that marriage also ended in divorce. Throughout her life Sally relied on her mother to help her raise her children but she never told her about the sexual abuse until her mother was dying. Sally continually says in the book how much she loved and admired her mother but it seems to me she must have also resented that her mother did not protect her from this sexual predator.There are lots of details from Sally's career; it was especially interesting to hear how hard she worked to improve herself as an actor by taking classes with the Lee Strasberg Institute.
    • 3/5
      I read this only because it was a book club pick. I do enjoy almost all memoirs; and this did have a good narrative arc, watching Field's acting career progress in "seriousness". But I never would have picked this book on my own, mainly because, I really just don't care about actors. I don't find acting interesting as an art, and I don't find actors intrinsically interesting as people. And I had a hard time nailing down who exactly Sally Field was. Funny true story - when we were considering doing this book, someone in book club said that Sally Field was "so good in 'All in the Family.'" After some puzzlement, we all protested, "That was Sally Struthers!" Then someone added, "Yes, Sally Field was Coal Miner's Daughter." Then we all protested, "No, that was Sissy Spacek!" And I'm really embarrassed that I went home chuckling at this, and then read the book the whole time waiting for her to get to her big break playing Major Houlihan in the movie version of M*A*S*H. That, of course was, Sally Kellerman!But seriously, I think I've at least got straight now who Sally Field is and was. She was Gidget, then the Flying Nun. She enjoyed being Gidget but hated every moment of the Flying Nun, and longed to be seen as a serious actor. The book climaxes effectively with her winning the Academy Award for 'Norma Rae'.Of course, there's abuse along the way. Field's childhood was dominated by sexual abuse by her slimy stepfather while her drunk mother looked the other way. I'm glad she seems to have achieved some degree of closure on those issues by book's end.
    • 5/5
      Fall is a big season for publishers, one in which books with high hopes for success hit the shelves. Two books that fit that category are by a well-respected author of fiction, essays and nonfiction, and a debut author whose name is well-known to anyone who has followed television and movies for the last 40 years.The debut author is actress Sally Field, who took seven years to write her memoir In Pieces. Field grew up in a decidedly female household with her mother, grandmother and great-aunts, all strong women. She tells some of their fascinating stories, explaining how they got to be where they were. It will inspire the reader to talk to their own mothers and grandmothers about their life experiences.The biggest influence on Field’s life was her beautiful mother, an actress who had a modest film career. Field had a complicated relationship with her mother growing up, made more so when her mother married an actor/stuntman, Jock Mahoney. Mahoney sexually abused Sally at a young age, and that relationship resonated with her for the rest of her life.As Mahoney’s Hollywood fortunes waned, Sally’s interest in acting earned her a starring role in the 1960s sitcom “Gidget.” It was a good first experience, but her second television show, “The Flying Nun,” was a deeply unhappy one.She didn’t want to do it, but Jock convinced her that she may never work again and she needed to take the job. After a few desperately unfulfilling years there, she was introduced to the Actors Studio, where she came alive. She studied and worked hard to become a serious actress.Field details the highs and lows in her personal and professional life, from her marriage at a young age and subsequent divorce to raising her three sons and working to get the kind of serious roles she wanted.From her breakout role as a severely mentally ill woman in “Sybil” to her Academy Award-winning performance in “Norma Rae” to her very complicated relationship with actor Burt Reynolds, Field lays it all on the line in an honest portrait of her life.Although her mother had a drinking problem as Sally grew up, it was her mother she turned to when she needed someone to care for her sons when she worked. And her mother was there for her and her sons at every turn.She ends the book trying to understand her mother, what drove her and why they had such a complicated relationship. In Pieces is an indelible portrait of a woman we all thought we knew.

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