It's Not Necessarily Not the Truth

January 26, 2009
Pressly’s book was written to inform her unborn son “who I was before you, so you can appreciate the woman I’ve become because of you.” In folksy, clichéd writing (“sometimes you find that what looks to be a curse is actually a bona fide blessing”), Pressly shares anecdotes about her family and girlhood friends in her small North Carolina town. Once Pressly (who stars in the TV sitcom My Name Is Earl
) leaves for Southern California to pursue modeling, she also loses the narrative thread to the story that is perhaps the most interesting—that of her troubled relationship with her mother. Eventually, Pressly moves in with her best friend’s family and later begins a romance with a gang member. The details of her career as model and actress are devoid of any insights into those fields, and once she lands a manager, that part of her story grinds to a halt (there’s little about her TV role that earned her an Emmy). While her son, Dezi, will surely appreciate her book someday, others will find little of real substance.

March 1, 2009
Actors autobiographiesusually trace their evolution as professional performers, recording all the dues paid before that first big break and re-creating the rush of success. Pressly has another goal. Written while pregnant with her first child, son Dezi James, her memoir offers an enriching account of her lifeintendedfor her son to readthat traces her evolution as a person, with stories both glorious and haunting about her family and its times in the small southern town of Kinston, North Carolina. But thats not all. Pressly never held any illusions that her daydreams of being a model and movie star were achievable if she remained in tiny Kinston. Early success as a teen model powered her decision to leave behind the safe shade of a beloved neighborhood magnolia tree and move to Hollywood, where she ended up negotiating the gang-patrolled hallways of Costa Mesa High School outside of Los Angeles. What shines through in these personal reflections is Presslys unexpected gift for narration and her unaffected, determined heart.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)