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List Price: $26.00 | | Publisher: Free Press
Salesrank: 3736
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| Our Price: $11.20 |
| Used Price: $7.84 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
Valerie Bertinelli, then: bubbly sitcom star and America's Sweetheart turned tabloid headline and rock star wife. Now: actress, single working mother of teenage rock star, and weight-loss inspiration to millions.
We all knew and loved Valerie Bertinelli years ago when she played girl-next-door cutie Barbara Cooper in the hit TV show One Day at a Time, and then starred in numerous TV movies. From wholesome primetime in America's living rooms, Valerie moved to late nights with the hardest-partying band of the decadent eighties when she became, at twenty, wife to rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Losing It is Valerie's frank account of her life backstage and in the spotlight. Here are the ups and downs of teen stardom, of her complicated marriage to a brilliant, tormented musical genius, and of her very public struggle with her weight.
Surprising, uplifting, and empowering, Losing It takes you behind the scenes of Valerie's acting career and marriage, recalling the comforts, friendships, and problems of her television family, her close relationships with her parents and brothers, the stress and worries of being the wife of a rock star, and the joys of motherhood. Like many women, Valerie often remembers the state of her life by the food she ate and the numbers on her scale. So despite her celebrity, Valerie's voice is so down-to-earth, honest, and appealing that you'll feel as if you're talking with a girlfriend over coffee. Funny and candid, Valerie recounts her attempts to maintain a healthy self-image while dealing with social pressures to look and act a certain way, and to overcome career insecurities and relationship problems, all of which will be familiar to the hundreds of thousands of women who struggle every day with these same issues.
From marital turmoil to the joys of a new career, from being named among Penthouse's ten sexiest women in the world to overhearing whispers about her weight gain in the grocery store, this is Valerie's inspiring journey as she finds new love, raises a terrific kid, and motivates other women as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
Description of Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time:
A Note to Amazon Readers (and a Q&A) from Valerie Bertinelli
Dear Amazon Customer, Glad to see you here and hopefully purchasing my book. I've heard if you buy multiple copies it's a better experience--a better one for me! But seriously, I'm usually on Amazon, too. I've been buying books through the site for ten years. I enjoy reading the reviews. I get a good sense of the book, and I like to hear what other people have to say. Like in a traditional bookstore, I can look at the cover, peek inside the book, and check out the bestseller lists. Valerie - Do you have a favorite character from a book? I love Scout and Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird.
- If you can be any character from a book, who would you like to be? I would like to be Scarlett and I would let Rhett know how much I love him.
- How do you decide what next book you want to read? If it’s for my book group, whoever hosts the next gathering picks the book, so it’s picked for me seven out of eight times. But on my own, I read reviews and ask people whose taste I like what they’re reading.
- Where’s your favorite place to read? Either lying in bed or on the sofa next to the fireplace.
- What is your favorite genre? I don’t really have one.
Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time Reviews:
OMG VAL! 
2008-09-04 - The sex. The drugs. The rock n roll. And that was even before she met Eddie Van Halen.
The shock value not the writing--which has a breezy, high school girl's diary quality--is the reason to read this book.
She claims to be an emotional eater -- by the end you understand what she had to be so emotional about.
For the longest time VB was on the side of the angels. Presented by the media as America's Sweetheart; the good girl who would tame the bad boy; the suffering wife who tried and failed; kind but unhappy fat woman -- these are the monikers she could have continued to milk for sympathy. Instead she put it all out there without a trace of vindictiveness. This alone keeps her on the side of angels.
Geography Lesson 
2008-08-30 - Valerie, You lived in "Clarkston", Michigan--not Pine Knob, Michigan. Pine Knob is a ski resort in the winter and a concert venue in the summer. There were other references in your book which clearly indicate you and your editors did not do their research.
For the most part, I agree with reviewers that said she's so insecure. I also didn't appreciate the democrat slant and comments. Too many celebrities, especially women, expect all or most women to be democrats. It ain't so. You surround yourself with so many sycophants and not enough real people to realize that. There are plenty of right-wingers on the coasts too.
Each time I thought she really was a grounded person, something would lurk around the corner proving otherwise. While she never talks money and how much she made while acting or even their household expenses, it would have been nice to read about to enable the reader to put things into perspective. I wasn't left with the impression that they were spend-thrifts (with the exception of drugs) but again, perspective would have been an added bonus.
Lightweight and Uninspiring 
2008-08-16 - Like everyone else who seems to have posted a review here, I was interested in reading this because Valerie Bertinelli is about my age and I liked her as Barbara Cooper on "One Day At A Time".
Anyway, I was expecting a lot more depth and insight in this book. It jumps around a lot and we rarely get any thoughtful, mature introspection. Another reviewer said that it was like a school girl's diary, and that perfectly describes it. There are loads of experiences summed up in half a paragraph, without the background, the impacts, and so on.
Throughout the book Valerie constantly says that she can't stand criticism, but I wish her editors had pushed a bit and tried to get her to focus on a few events and give us more - especially on her weight loss, since that was the point of the whole book. She should also have been encouraged to give us less of her politics. A trite bio by a television actress is hardly the appropriate platform for politics.
She's likeable as always, but might want to lay off the politics
2008-08-04 - I'm only a few years younger than Valerie and grew up watching "One Day" and emulating her hairstyles as a kid. I've always found her likable and entertaining and frankly, to be a little envied (before I knew better) when she married Eddie Van Halen, which was the talk of my high school at the time.
Her book, while not exactly cerebral, is an interesting read, and actually confirmed what I surmised from watching her interviews over the years: She is a good person with a natural sweetness but is much more edgy and a spitfire than one would believe from watching any of her work. It certainly makes her more interesting.
I do have to say, though, that she might have been better off had she kept her politics out of the book. I'll say up-front that I am somewhat of a conservative and therefore my exegesis is slanted right, but I cringed when she states she hasn't "forgiven" her dad for his conservative views and is encouraging him to become a Democrat, yet she voted for Clinton because she liked his wife. This sort of superficial, knee-jerk, bumper sticker politics is typical of Hollywood and frankly, sounds dumb. She is obviously trying to sound politically aware but comes across childish and naive. She owes Mr. Bertinelli an apology for the public condescension and frankly, more respect,as she could certainly learn a few things from him.
I was surprised at the number of grammatical errors, many of which were obvious. What was the proofreader thinking?!
All in all, though, the books is fairly engaging and she is very frank and honest about her own role in the events played out across its pages. She appears to have brought up a good kid and made a real effort to make a difficult marriage work, so I have to give her props for that, her silly political musings notwithstanding.
And let's face it...she still has great hair.
A Wild And Interesting Life!
2008-08-03 - Valerie Bertinelli has led a very full life and she is still young! The book describes her climbing the ranks of television and how food has played a very large part in all of that. She was very candid about her struggles in her younger years with food and also how she was not as innocent as people believed as her character on "One Day At A Time"
Where I got a little lost and where I felt she was not being as candid is when she describes her relationship with Eddie Van Halen. Everyone knows he is no poster boy for Husband or Father of The Year, but I felt she placed all the blame of their marriage on his infidelity and drug and alcohol use and did not take any of the blame on herself. She did fess up to her infidelity as well, but I felt at parts she painted herself to be the saint of the marriage, when she had her faults as well.
I did enjoy this book, but I just took some of the parts that pertained to her part in their marriage with a grain of salt since she did a lot of finger pointing, but did not look in the mirror that closely.
But if you want a Hollywood tale of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, you will definitely enjoy this book.
