Only Streisand could write a doorstopper this fabulously fun

ONE thing led to another," writes Barbra Streisand, recalling what she refers to elegantly as her first love affair. "I'm not going to go into details."

- Guy Pewsey

In her much-anticipated first memoir, released after a packed few years of celebrity tell-alls, it seems a stark statement of intent. It says "if you're looking for gossip, go elsewhere. I'm an artist." Indeed, in this doorstop of a book there are only a few moments where one imagines the legend of theatre, film and music hesitating to share something that might position her as anything other than an in-control icon-in-the-making. The sheer ambition of this intricately woven memoir, though, makes it a fascinating read.

All the hits are covered. A mercifully concise tour through her childhood (too many memoirs linger on the dull, stardust-free pre-fame years) bleeds quickly into the promising stage roles of Streisand's early career, before her stratospheric ascent to fame via films like Funny Girl and Hello Dolly. From there, it's a ride through a hit recording career and more success in front of and behind the camera in The Way We Were, Yentl and A Star Is Born.

The memories are peppered with excerpts from gushing reviews. Lots of them. Pages of them, in fact. Streisand loves to quote other people talking about how talented she is, how beautiful she is, how elegant she is. That she was the best thing in otherwise mediocre work. But only those with no knowledge of her early performances will feel their eyes roll.