REVIEW for Might As Well Laugh About it Now - Marie Osmond

A huge thank you goes out to Craig and everybody at Penguin.com for making sure I got a copy of this book!!!! I really appreciate it!!!!

TITLE: Might as Well Laugh About it Now

AUTHOR: Marie Osmond

GENRE: Memoir

RATING: 4 Stars

In full disclosure mode, I have to say that I have been a fan of Marie Omsond since I was 12. That certainly does not make me unique, but I wanted to put it out there. I will start off by saying that I was thrilled to find out that Marie had finally written a 'memoir'. While this is her second book, her first one dealt mainly with Postpartum Depression and was aimed at this audience more than at a main audience.

I really enjoyed reading Might as Well Laugh.... Marie has a great way of telling a story and her humour is obvious throughout the book. I found myself laughing at some many of the stories and I have to say that Marie shared some fun, touching and never heard stories before which was a treat for any Osmond fan. She also included one black and white picture at the beginning of each chapter (most of which I had never seen printed anywhere before) so this was a double treat. Marie was also honest about some of the more difficult things she has endured throughout her life - there is even a picture of her house while on fire - which she then used as a Christmas Card!

Also, some great little tidbits about how she feels about her brothers, her she felt just before doing Dancing with the Stars and quite alot is said about how much she loves and misses her parents. The storyline is well written and it kept me interested. I finished this book in 1 day.

Now, for the things that I did not like so much. First of all the cover - It just did not grab me at all. Marie's head is cut off at the top and there is so much writing on the cover that it is distracting from the photo.

I have a theory about anyone writing a memoir. If they are writing a memoir, I am assuming that they are willing to "tell it like it is". I mean, it is their choice to actually write a memoir about their lives. What I found extremely frustrating about this book is that Marie would start telling us something touching and personal and then, poof! after a few sentences - all of a sudden she sees the "positive" side of the situation and ends up saying a variation of "its going to be okay and I see the way now". I found this sooooo annoying. Not, that she sees the bright side of the situation, but more that she always gives me the impression that she will tell us something, but only a tiny little bit, she gives us a few sentences then that's it.

I ALWAYS get the feeling when listening to Marie or reading this book that there is so much more going on inside of her - but she is so busy showing us that she is fine, that her world is fine that she comes across a little fake. Two obvious examples in this book are about her house fire and her separation from her husband.

Again, Marie if you make the choice of writing a memoir, then you need to be a little more forthcoming with the information.

The other thing that bothered me about this book, and I have to say that I felt the same when I read Donny's book, is the almost over the top adoration she has for her parents. Marie and Donny both kept repeating the same things in their books...."our parents were strict, but..."

Everytime I read about the Osmond parents, I get a creepy feeling in the back of my neck!!!!! Obviously, I did not know them, but I have to say, some of the stuff written in both books was kind of scary to me. Yet, Marie must have stated at least 10 times how much she loved her parents and that they were "the best". I kept thinking "Marie, I think you protest too much!!!"

Still, I rated this book a 4, because it is very well written, Marie gets her point across well - whatever happens to you, keep smiling. I like Marie's humour and it was obvious that this book was written with love for all her fans.