"Goldie Hawn - a lotus grows in the mud" is the kind of autobiography that I could write if only my life had been a little more exciting. For one thing, Goldie doesn't go on and on about her failed marriages or her experience with drugs. She admits she's been there, done that, but doesn't dwell on the problems. Although her father and mother had their problems, she emphasizes their strong points and what they have given her, not what they couldn't give her.
One thing you realize immediately with this book is that Goldie is definitely not your stereotypical dumb blonde. She also wasn't the class clown and didn't think of herself as funny or comic material. She comes off about as genuine as you'd like a friend to be. She wanted to be a dancer and then a serious actress. Turns out that she had talents in those areas as well as a comic, a director, a producer, and now a spokesman for serious causes such as Operation Smile, the organization which repairs facial deformities of young children who cannot afford such operations. Sixty years old this year, she is on the cover of the most recent AARP Magazine talking about her first tatoo (a tiny heart on her foot) and stumping for Hollywood to grow up and make more movies for grownups.
I especially appreciated that Goldie's story was only partially linear. She didn't stick to a strict time line in telling her story and would also intersperse the more historical sections with pictures and "postcards", little glimpses into her relationships and feelings that didn't fit neatly into her serial tale.
Toward the end she wanders off into new age spirituality and other metaphysical experiences that make me uncomfortable but again she doesn't preach that everyone should try to reach spirituality that way, simply that she has connected with a higher consciousness by doing so. The book was funny in so many places, sad and heartbreaking in others, but enjoyable throughout.
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