| 9781451635065 |
| (trade |
| pbk. |
| : |
| alk. |
| paper) |
| 1451635060 |
| 9781451635058 |
| (hardcover |
| 1451635052 |
Available:*
Library | Material Type | Call Number | Shelf Location | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Penrose Library | Book | 792.028092 J72G | Biography | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
The New York Times bestseller--a harrowing and hysterical memoir by the two-time Emmy Award-winning actress from the hit television show 3rd Rock from the Sun.
"It felt like I was speeding on the Autobahn toward hell, trapped inside a DeLorean with no brakes. And even if I could somehow stop, I'd still be screwed, because there's no way I'd ever be able to figure out how to open those insane, cocaine-designed doors."
Actress Kristen Johnston has written her first book, a surprisingly raw and triumphant memoir that is outrageous, moving, sweet, tragic, and heartbreakingly honest. Guts is a true achievement--a memoir that manages to be as frank and revealing as Augusten Burroughs, yet as hilarious and witty as David Sedaris. Johnston takes us on a journey so truthful and relatable, so remarkably fresh, it promises to stay with you for a long, long time.
Author Notes
Kristen Johnston is a two-time Emmy Award-winning actress whose career spans theater, film, and television. She is a teacher at NYU's Atlantic Acting School and, now, a New York Times bestselling author. Currently she stars in TV Land's hit series The Exes. She founded and is the executive director of SLAM, a board dedicated to creating a desperately needed sober high school in New York City. To blog with Kristen or learn more about SLAM, visit www.gutsthebook.com. She lives in New York City with her dog, Pinky. Twitter? @kjothesmartass
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A stage actress whose most famous role was as Sally Solomon in TV's 3rd Rock from the Sun, Johnston offers a brash, loud, expletive-peppered, unapologetic account of her manic drug-and-alcohol-infused career. Hailing from a wealthy suburb of Milwaukee, Wis., and growing to be six feet tall by the time she was 12, Johnston felt like a "freak" at her Catholic grade school, learning early on that being funny was the way to deflect nasty criticism by other kids. She took naturally to the stage, studying theater at NYU under the benevolent influence of a certain gay stage actor she refers to only as "David" (many of the details are pretty sketchy, as Johnston skates from one subject to the next). Fame suddenly struck with 3rd Rock, starring John Lithgow, along with heavy painkillers and alcohol abuse, and yo-yoing weight gain; in 2006, while doing a play in London, acute peritonitis caused extended hospitalization, surgery, and deep self-examination. In her sarcastic, self-deprecating manner ("I'm a lying, pill-popping lush" is a typical self-appraisal), Johnston re-creates her desperate hospital episode and subsequent rehab in Arizona. Coming clean, she says in her unsubtle, genuine memoir, hasn't lifted her sense of being a freak, but it has liberated her from a lot of shame and self-destruction. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
The title of Johnston's bracingly honest memoir refers both to her courage and (perhaps to some squeamish readers' chagrin) to her actual intestines. A two-time Emmy-winning actress best known for her role as leggy alien Sally Solomon on NBC's long-running sitcom Third Rock from the Sun, Johnston, for many years, managed to hide her addiction to every substance imaginable. A pill-popping lush, she remained in deep denial about her dependence until, while in London doing a play, her stomach quite literally exploded. Even after a dashing British surgeon questioned her about drug and alcohol use, Johnston refused to fess up. She finally hit bottom on New Year's Eve 2006, violently ill and utterly alone. Johnson's memoir is funny, fierce, and often graphic. (She describes, in stomach-churning detail, the bilious green goo that was extracted from her gut.) From her school days as a self-proclaimed freak who used humor to gain acceptance, to the dossier of dangerous behaviors that nearly brought about her demise, Johnston lays bare the truth in this hilarious and harrowing no-holds-barred account.--Block, Allison Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Johnston, best known for her role as Sally on the 1990s TV show 3rd Rock from the Sun, hasn't written just another celebrity memoir about drug and alcohol addiction. This is a horror story, and the title tells it all. Johnston recounts growing up the object of bullying because of her height and awkwardness, but the real story is of the two months she spent hospitalized in London for a medical emergency best described by one of her doctors: "Not one of us had ever come across anything as shocking as the condition your intestines were in, at least in someone alive. Truly, it was as if a bomb had gone off." As Johnston describes it, "My intestines ripped open." But since she candidly blames this condition on her drug use, her memoir is hardly a pity party. Johnston's dry, self-deprecating, and brutal sense of humor shines through, though some readers may find that her wise-cracking grows tedious. VERDICT In this memoir, Johnston strives to draw awareness to the importance of being proud of one's sobriety. For celebrity watchers and anyone struggling to overcome the shame of addiction.-Rosellen Brewer, Sno-Isle Libs., Marysville, WA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Guts one I SEE NOTHING, I HEAR NOTHING Excerpted from Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster by Kristen Johnston All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.Table of Contents
| Foreword | p. xv |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| 1 I See Nothing, I Hear Nothing | p. 13 |
| 2 The Freak Has Landed | p. 31 |
| 3 Anyone but Me | p. 59 |
| 4 Ye Olde Elvis Catnap | p. 81 |
| 5 The English Patient | p. 105 |
| 6 Dying Is Easy, Living Is Hard | p. 117 |
| 7 Blink | p. 135 |
| 8 I Think We're Alone Now | p. 145 |
| 9 The Suffolk Strangler | p. 169 |
| 10 The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come | p. 187 |
| 11 Papillon | p. 207 |
| 12 Pretty Ugly | p. 219 |
| 13 Welcome to the Planet of the Apes | p. 239 |
| Epilogue | p. 251 |
| Thanks ... | p. 267 |
| Photo Descriptions | p. 274 |
