This year’s memoirs have kept ravenous consumers of celebrity culture well fed.
Prince Harry plumbed his royal life in “Spare,” and Britney Spears told her own story for the first time in years with “The Woman in Me.” There have been autobiographies from Elliot Page, Patrick Stewart, Henry Winkler, Kerry Washington, Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton.
Now, Barbra Streisand joins their ranks with “My Name Is Barbra,” a memoir released on Tuesday. At almost 1,000 pages, “it’s not a book you inhale,” the Times critic at large, Wesley Morris, writes. “The bigness of it makes literal the career it contains,” he adds. “Streisand is poring over, pouring out, her life.”
Her childhood, in a Brooklyn housing project, was emotionally fraught. Her father died when she was just over a year old; her mother was emotionally unavailable, and her stepfather was distant. She left home at 16, driven to create a life in the arts. After performing in a talent show at a Greenwich Village gay bar, her success snowballed, leading to her big break: a celebrated turn on Broadway, as Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl.” (Read a Times review of the show from 1964.)
There are, of course, juicy highlights from the book: Her relationship with Marlon Brando, laden with sexual tension; her admiration for the former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau (whom she watched dive naked into an icy lake); her account of why she had her dead dog cloned. But what gives the story its heart is Streisand’s perseverance.
In recalling her career, Streisand calls out bad behavior — comments by the media about her physical appearance; bullying by her “Funny Girl” co-star Sydney Chaplin; the director of “A Star is Born” taking credit for production choices she had made.
“That’s the sort of blood that gives this book its power,” Wesley writes. “It’s that Barbra Streisand endured a parade of harsh workplaces yet never stopped trying to make the best work.”
NEWS
Israel-Hamas War
Power, water and medicine are running low in Gaza’s main hospital, Al-Shifa, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City is “no longer operational,” the Palestinian Red Crescent says.
An estimated 300,000 people marched through London in a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to urge the government to do more to rescue the hostages captured by Hamas.
During the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, Hamas assailants sought out bomb shelters where Israelis were taking refuge.
Politics
Speaker Mike Johnson pitched House Republicans on a plan to avoid a government shutdown next week.
Donald Trump asked the judge in his federal election case to allow the trial to be televised.
Trump plans to deport millions of people each year if he wins the next election, as part of a significant expansion of the hard-line immigration policies of his first term.
International
Icelandic authorities evacuated a town of about 4,000 after earthquakes that could herald a volcanic eruption.
Ukraine has shifted the naval conflict with Russia without having warships of its own. The Times spoke with Ukraine’s navy commander about its tactics.
“The opportunities are unlimited”: As birthrates fall in richer nations, Africa is experiencing a baby boom.
Other Big Stories
An ammunition plant in Missouri, built to supply the military, has pumped billions of rounds into the commercial market. Its ammunition is tied to at least a dozen mass shootings.
Pope Francis fired a bishop in Texas, Joseph Strickland, who had accused him of undermining the Catholic faith.
A pond in Hawaii turned bubble-gum pink. Experts say it’s an indicator of environmental stress.
The weight-loss drug Wegovy could cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes among overweight or obese people with heart disease, according to a new study.
FROM OPINION
Senator Joe Manchin’s moderate views make him the perfect third-party candidate to challenge Trump and President Biden, Ross Douthat writes.
Biden should demand that Israel restrain settler violence in the West Bank, which has worsened since it began its war on Hamas, Serge Schmemann writes.
Here are columns by Nicholas Kristof on Biden and Israel and Paul Krugman on the U.S. economy.
The Sunday question: Should Biden be worried about his re-election chances?
A Times/Siena poll shows that a majority of swing states favor Trump over Biden. If Democrats don’t break with the president, “Biden’s party will sleepwalk with him for 12 months toward defeat,” The Washington Post’s George Will writes. But while the polls look bad for Biden overall, voters do trust his defense of democracy and abortion, offering “some hope and a road map” to victory, Dean Obeidallah writes for CNN.
MORNING READS
“This is our music also”: Black folk singers are reclaiming the genre.
Welcome to Hochatown: A tiny town in Oklahoma was created almost entirely because of Airbnb.
Vows: Zeke Smith of “Survivor” and Nico Santos of “Superstore” describe themselves as “cartoon characters that live with one another.”
Lives Lived: David Ferry was a poet and translator whose direct and emotionally resonant work won him broad praise and honors late in his career. He died at 99.
TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE
I spoke with the legendary (and prickly) literary agent Andrew Wylie, whose clients include some of literature’s brightest luminaries, about changes in the publishing industry.
Are there ever instances in your work where advocating for the writer is at cross purposes with things that might lead to their books being more widely read? An example might be, I don’t know, the writer wants a particular cover or title, but the publisher says other ones would be better for sales.
No disrespect intended for my brilliant colleagues in the business, but usually what happens is the publisher puts forward a ghastly and inappropriate cover design. Then you say: “Thank you, that’s ghastly and inappropriate. Could you either hire someone with a brain or attempt to redesign?”
What’s an example of when a publisher or someone else in the business disagreed with you and they turned out to be right?
I don’t think that’s ever happened.
Is there anything, in a longer-term, strategic way, that you find yourself puzzling over in the way that maybe 15 years ago you were thinking about authors’ digital rights?
Not really. The battles have remained quite the same for a number of years. It’s all about the exaggerated favor that accrues to the distribution piece. You don’t have to kowtow to Amazon. And yet, “Well, how do we not?”
What’s the answer to that?
It’s like your dinner party: You want everyone to come? Or do you want to have fewer but better people?
But publishers do want everyone to come, right?
Yeah. They’re greedy. The best-seller list is an example of success and achieving the broadest possible readership. But who’s reading you? A bunch of people with three heads and no schooling. You want to spend the day with these people? Not me, thank you.
Read more of the interview here.
More from the magazine
The race is on to put hotels in space and homes on the moon. Here’s what living in space would be like.
What goes on inside the U.S. Space Force?
Why some people decide to send their remains into orbit.
BOOKS
By the Book: The Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux has no guilty reading pleasures. “I admit without shame,” she tells The Times.
Our editors’ picks: “Joanna Russ: Novels & Stories,” a collection of works by a science fiction pioneer, and eight other books.
Times best sellers: “Dirty Thirty,” the 30th book in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, debuts at No. 1 on the hardcover fiction list.
THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …
Drizzle brown butter onto mashed potatoes, inspired by our comments section.
Add these nonalcoholic wines to your Thanksgiving table.
Replace slippers with cushy grip socks.
THE WEEK AHEAD
What to Watch For
Today is Diwali, the South Asian festival of lights.
Biden and Xi Jinping of China are expected to meet on Wednesday in California.
Winners of the National Book Awards will be named Wednesday.
The deadline to avert a government shutdown is Friday.
What to Cook This Week
Emily Weinstein has been on a chickpea kick recently. In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, she suggests using them in a coconut curry with pumpkin and lime (a reader favorite). Some other recipe ideas: ginger-scallion steamed fish and crispy mustard chicken.
NOW TIME TO PLAY
Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was lifelong.
And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections.
Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.
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