That's Another Story: The Autobiography
by Julie Walters
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List Price: ££18.99
Our Price: ££9.30
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780297852063
ISBN: 029785206X
Label: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2008-10-02
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Release Date: 2008-10-02
Studio: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, funny and just a bit rude
Comment: Julie Walters emerges from this book as two different, but complementary personalities. One is the fun loving girl next door with a gift for seeing the funny side of life: the other is the award winning actress.
As a youngster, she was the class clown, covering the social awkwardness of the working-class grammar-school girl with a shield of sharply observed humour. As an adult, she still seems to need the protection of a physical or social mask. This is a woman who feels an emotional need to wear make-up and takes a girlish delight in humour of the seaside-postcard variety.
It's not surprising, then, that one of this book's recurring motifs is the Greek mask - the ultimate symbol of the actor's trade. And it's a trade that she loves. Julie Walters is passionate, confident and eloquent about acting and, above all, about live theatre.
The book starts with an uneven account of Julie's childhood and teenage years in a mish-mash of odd memories loosely themed around the family home in Smethwick. The tone changes and becomes more readable and enjoyable once Julie joins the adult world and starts to pursue her theatrical dreams. It's entertaining, insightful without being navel-gazing, often funny and sometimes just a bit rude.
Most fans of Julie Walters should enjoy this, although her earthiness may be slightly over the top for some (possibly, older) readers. Those of us who only know her through film and television will certainly benefit from finding out about the theatrical roots of this remarkable talent.
Rating:
Age 0-16 (first 100 pages): 2 stars
Age 17+ : 4 stars
Overall rating : 3-4 stars
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Real Story
Comment: At the back of this book is a list of all the television and film work that Walters has done in her long and highly successful career. It makes for fascinating reading and takes several pages. This does not include her equally enthralling theatre work.
When you realise quite how much she has done in her career you also realise that a book like this is never going to cram it all in. This is the sadness for me. I felt that the first half of the book was a rich and leisurely journey through Walter's early years. Her childhood and her training ground as a young actress.
Then as the work rolls in and the credits mount up it all gallops on apace in a rushed manner and this I was a little disappointed in. She never loses the great quality of being personal and inclusive in her writing. You almost feel that she is having you round for tea and a gossip, but you do feel towards the end that she might be looking at her watch, wanting you to hurry up so she can get on with things.
I am hoping this means there is another volume in the pipe line. I wanted to know more about her married life, although I understand her reluctance to thrust her daughter and husband into the limelight. I wanted to know more about her work on Calendar Girls, given its stellar cast, it's true story and the fact that it was a very woman centric film.
So basically, good as far as it goes, but more please.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A slow beginning leads to a captivating, engaging finish
Comment: I do enjoy a good autobiography, and I much prefer autobiography to biography. Julie is undoubtedly a legendary British actress who deserves all the praise and accolades that have been heaped upon her during her career. I'd been hoping for an autobiography and was delighted to learn it was published.
Initially I found it rather a heavy read, perhaps rather slow to get started. I felt that Julie was finding her feet in a new (for her) medium of expression. Any such shackles were soon discarded and the book became very readable, indeed there were times when I found it very hard to put down, but I wanted to make the book last rather than finish it in a couple of days!
Having now finished it I feel as though I'm a close personal friend, but surely that's the sign of a well-executed autobiography in that it fully engages the reader by its conclusion?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Comment: This is an excellent read, both entertaining and amusing. Julie is a great actress and her personality leaps off the pages. I found myself laughing out loud at her funny stories!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Totally absorbing, wonderful
Comment: I was enthralled from the very first page.
Julie Walters is not only a brilliant actress, she is also an incredibly vibrant, interesting and honest writer. This autobiography is not just about Julie Walters, the actress, but is also a fantastic observation of growing up in the fifties and sixties.
The characters in Julie's life - her mother, her grandmother, her neighbours, friends - are vividly drawn, and even the most difficult people are portrayed through the eyes of genuine love and understanding. She portrays the richness, joy and sadness of her family life with an honesty that left me breathless. She is also open and honest about herself and her experiences, which makes this wonderful book even more of an honour to read.
She has such a great way of describing things and engaging the reader that I frequently laughed out loud and burst into tears - sometimes simultaneously!
If I sound a bit over the top about this book - I'm not. I've read a lot of autobiographies and this is the best I have ever read, bar none.
Having read this book I now understand what makes Julie Walters such an outstanding actress. She observes without judgement and seeks to understand always the 'whys' of what people do and say. Reading this book taught me something about myself - no mean feat in an autobiography!
I loved her joy and enthusiasm for all the experiences that being an actress brings, and she paints it all so vividly within the pages of this book. She seems utterly unpretentious and I would love to meet her!
In fact, having read this book, I feel I already have......
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