By Myself

1978, 1980 Ballantine edition
Lauren Bacall
By Myself
Original price $2.75, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback
B-

I wanted to give this book a B, but I had a couple issues with it.  One, Bacall seems too forgiving of Bogie, who put her through a lot of pain, particularly before they married.  Yes, he was deeply unhappy but she excuses his drinking and cheating (with her, on his third wife) too easily.  The other problem I have is that she rushes through the two decades after Bogart's death, and in fact the book seems to only go up to about 1974.  She updated this autobiography in 2006, but apparently added only 80 pages to cover the additional almost thirty years.  If she wants to be thought of as more than Bogie's widow, then why doesn't she discuss her movies more?  (She seems to care more about her stage roles.)  She spends very little time on her difficult marriage with Jason Robards, and towards the end she mentions an affair with a married Brit in just a couple sentences.  So the book is uneven. 

Similarly, she tells of her admiration for Adlai Stevenson, then makes no mention of his 1956 campaign.  (In fairness, she was then consumed by Bogart's last illness, but you'd think she'd at least say something.)  She says she admired JFK, but we only learn this in the section on RFK's assassination.

On the plus side, she does share her feelings and insecurities, and it's interesting to read of the various friends she had, famous and not.  (Sinatra, whom she almost married, comes across as more complex and more flawed than he does in Rosalind Russell's autobiography.)  Her closeness to her mother, uncles, and children is clear, although I felt that her older son's complaint that they didn't get enough of her attention is not entirely unjustified.

The book is 500 pages, so it may sound strange that I think it could've been improved by fleshing out the second half.  She's a good writer, but I get the sense that she just doesn't like to think about the years after she lost her beloved first husband, particularly after she lost her mother as well.  It's not easy for her to be by herself.