Picked this up at my local library.. all I really knew about Frances Farmer was little tidbits I'd heard here and there and of course, the Movie with Jessica Lange.. I debated between 3 and 4 stars. I'll start with all the positives. I found the first half , 2/3 of the book pretty engrossing , and it held my interest. The last part of it started to fizzle a bit for me. as she recounted endless drunk episode after endless drunk episode, arrest, DUI etc. She states in the book that she did not have a lobotomy, and that she had been in and out of institutions for about 10 yrs.  (another review refuted this) She was out and in 3 times I believe..for long stretches of time, ea. time. She was subjected to hydroshock, insulin shock but not electric shock. I don' tknow how true the asylum accounts are, but I found them at times both riveting and terrifying. The hallway Rape scene will stay with me a long time.. I actually hope she was lying about that.. she was angry, violatile, often drunk, she had a couple of failed marriages, an affair that ended badly and multiple abortions. In the end, she found some peace with a wonderful friend /and her family. She loved animals  and took great comfort and solace in caring for them.  She died, too young, from cancer. RIP Frances.
Picked this up at my local library.. all I really knew about Frances Farmer was little tidbits I'd heard here and there and of course, the Movie with Jessica Lange.. I debated between 3 and 4 stars. I'll start with all the positives. I found the first half , 2/3 of the book pretty engrossing , and it held my interest. The last part of it started to fizzle a bit for me. as she recounted endless drunk episode after endless drunk episode, arrest, DUI etc. She states in the book that she did not have a lobotomy, and that she had been in and out of institutions for about 10 yrs. (another review refuted this) She was out and in 3 times I believe.. for long stretches of time, ea. time. She was subjected to hydroshock, insulin shock but not electric shock. I don' tknow how true the asylum accounts are, but I found them at times both riveting and terrifying. The hallway Rape scene will stay with me a long time.. I actually hope she was lying about that.. she was angry, violatile, often drunk, she had a couple of failed marriages, an affair that ended badly and multiple abortions. In the end, she found some peace with a wonderful friend /and her family. She loved animals  and took great comfort and solace in caring for them. She died, too young, from cancer. RIP Frances.