Friday, March 18, 2011

A Full House of Growing Pains: a Hollywood mother's journey...

by Barbara Cameron with Lissa Halls Johnson,
Bridge-Logos, 2006

Penned a couple of years before son Kirk's autobiography, this tells the story of Barbara Cameron, mother, wife, and entrepreneur.

Growing up in a loving but rather strict environment, Barb had self-esteem issues from a young age. She met her future husband when she was eighteen and married him within about a year. Several years older, Robert had a university education and a career as a teacher. He also had loads of confidence. It wasn't long before Barb's low self-regard plummeted even further.

Four children came along in quick succession and Barb was busy with all the duties of motherhood. When Kirk was nine years old, he and his siblings auditioned for one of the best Hollywood agents. The three youngest went on to have success in commercials and/or television at one time or another, and from the outside everything looked rosy. But eventually, terribly unhappy in her marriage, Barb surprised everyone by leaving her husband and beginning a new life on her own. Her story is largely about the events that led up to that decision and about what happened afterward.

Although Barb's book was written before his, I actually found it quite helpful to read Kirk's book first. Without having read Kirk's, I'm not sure I would have had the same interest in his mother.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in women's biography or books about women of faith.

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