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  • My Life So Far

  • Written by: Jane Fonda
  • Narrated by: Jane Fonda
  • Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (77 ratings)

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My Life So Far

Written by: Jane Fonda
Narrated by: Jane Fonda
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Publisher's Summary

She is one of the most recognizable women of our time. America knows Jane Fonda as an actress and an activist, a feminist and a wife, a workout guru and a role model. Now, in this extraordinary memoir, Fonda reveals that she is so much more. From her youth among Hollywood's elite and her early film career to the challenges and triumphs of her life today, Jane Fonda reveals intimate details and universal truths that she hopes "can provide a lens through which others can see their lives and how they can live them a little differently."

Fonda divides her "life so far" into three "acts", writing about her childhood, first films, and marriage to Roger Vadim in Act One. At once a picture emerges: a child born to the acting legend Henry Fonda and the glamorous society princess Frances Seymour. But these early years are also marked by profound sadness: her mother's mental illness and suicide when Jane is 12 years old, her father's emotional distance, and her personal struggle to find her way in the world as a young woman.

By her second act, Fonda lays the foundation for her activism, even as her career takes flight. She highlights her struggle to live consciously and authentically while remaining in the public eye as she recounts her marriages to Tom Hayden and Ted Turner, and examines her controversial and defining involvement with the Vietnam War. As her film career grows, Fonda learns to incorporate her roles into a larger vision of what matters most in her life, and in the process she wins two Academy Awards, for Klute and for Coming Home.

In Fonda's third act, she is prepared to do the work of a lifetime, to begin living consciously in a way that might inspire others who can learn from her experiences.

Surprising, candid, and wonderfully written, Jane Fonda's My Life So Far is filled with universal insights into the personal struggles of women living full and engaged lives.

©2005 Jane Fonda (P)2005 Books on Tape

What the critics say

  • 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Narration by the Author
  • 2005 Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award, Biography/Memoir

"Intriguing, instructive, inspirational personal exploration is enriched by a flawless, captivating author performance. It's her life in her voice - and she delivers." (AudioFile)

"Fonda's remembrances...nicely sum up more than 50 years of American history, seen through the eyes of one well-traveled woman." (Publishers Weekly)

"Whether you love her or hate her, all but her most venomous critics would have to conclude she has lived a fascinating life. As celebrity books go, this is a good one." (Houston Chronicle)

What listeners say about My Life So Far

Average Customer Ratings
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love it but it needs an audio edit

I loved this book, Jane is such a captivating storyteller and narrator. You are drawn into her life and feel like you are standing beside her through all of it.

It really needs another edit to remove the many times there is a 5-15 second repeat of the audio. There are about a dozen spots in the book where this happens and is distracting.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Read by author my favorite readers

An uplifting journey recounted in a positive way by a true story teller. Thank you.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Life lessons

So many good lessons in this book. Thank you Jane, you have empowered me to look back on my life and heal.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!

What an astounding life. Jane Fonda had to overcome an awful lot to get to where she is now. I listened to the unabridged version for 20 hours (and in her own voice–what a treat!) and I now have a much clearer image of the strength of this woman.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great read

I just loved this book. She is so honest and memorable. I just love her.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved her book!

I truly enjoyed this book! Especially that Jane read it herself. What a story!! It kept me captivated all the way through. I listened to it on my walks and would get excited to go walking.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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WOW!!! Love, Life and Redemption.

What an awe inspiring book and well narrated by Jane Fonda. She sure has given me lots to consider for when I write my own story. Ms. Fonda is very relatable with her very open and complex life. Thank you.

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Revealing

Very interesting and deeply revealing. She had me looking at myself and my own thoughts of where I am and what am I going to do about the rest of my life. Bravo Jane!

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Mesmerizing! Listened twice!

Every author who is reading her own story needs to listen to Jane read her own story. It is a masterclass in reading her own story with the perfect blend of energy, soulfulness, candor and talent (her impressions are spot on and entertaining). And what a woman! What a story! What a life! What lessons she has still to teach us about being a woman, daughter, wife, mother and human! Loved loved loved it!!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Inspiring, but as an example of how not to be

(starting with the excellence) she is the best self-read performance I have listened to (on par with Gina Davis' excellent reading)

(Less pleasant)
It is sometimes difficult to listen to someone complaining about problems that are internally generated.

She had so much going for her, so much incredible opportunity, she had some amazing people as contemporaries. Unfortunately, she engages instead in much self-pity.

Instead of being grateful she wasted a great deal of time re-experiencing and re-examining the things she would have preferred be different.

It is sad. If she had been in front of me I would have said: "all those people whose opinion you value more than you value yourself, do they come to ask you for your approval before they allow themselves to be happy? Then why do you need their approval to be well within yourself?

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