|
Creating Myself: How I Learned That Beauty Comes in All Shapes, Sizes, and Packages, Including Me | 
 enlarge | Author: Mia Tyler
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $9.75
You Save: $15.25 (61%)
New (40) Used (14) from $8.78
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 63038
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1416558608
Dewey Decimal Number: 746.92092
EAN: 9781416558606
ASIN: 1416558608
Publication Date: August 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
On the surface, Mia Tyler led a seemingly perfect life. She was a world-renowned plus-size model and the daughter of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and seventies It girl Cyrinda Foxe. But growing up under the shadow of celebrity wasn't as glamorous as it's cracked up to be. From a poverty-stricken childhood in New Hampshire to running with troubled rich kids on Manhattan's Upper East Side, she has an incredible story to tell.In Creating Myself, Mia shares scintillating details about her rock-and-roll family, as well as battling her own personal demons: dumping her mother's cocaine vial down the toilet at just eight years old, running around backstage at her father's concerts (including the one where she first met her sister, Liv), and attempting to distract herself from her pain through drug addiction and self-mutilation. Yet this memoir is ultimately a tale of redemption. Mia learns that in order to truly grow up, she must forgive both herself and those who hurt her, give up the quest for perfection, and acknowledge that she is still a work in progress. Creating Myself is raw and inspirational, the tale of a hell-and-back journey from the depths of depression and addiction to triumphant self-discovery.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Too Much, Too Soon November 8, 2008
lewis jackman (Sleepy Lagoon)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Have to agree with previous reviewer who astutely points out that title/premise of the book is completely misleading. As presented here, Tyler may have had many problems--but, at least by her own admission, body image issues were not among them.
And as unfortunate as her other challenges were (being the child of fast lane druggie music scenesters could not have been helped things), her "it's all behind me" attitude, while admirable, seems a mite premature, considering the repetitive nature of her previous substance abuse troubles. . . and the fact that she's not yet 30.
Still, an interesting read for Aerosmith/Cyrinda Foxe/Seventies pop culture fans, most of whom will come away glad that they were raised far from the glam rock limelight.
 She's Still Very Young October 27, 2008
TawnTawn (Texas)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I commend Ms. Tallarico for writing her memoirs. I'm sure it wasn't easy. But what I noted was her extreme impatience and lack of compassion for her mother, whom she lived with...but acceptance and gratefulness for her father, Steven Tyler. She criticizes her mother for not "getting it together" after her father dumps them off the boonies for several years, supposedly due to lack of funds...then finally divorces her when he wants to marry someone else. Mia asked repeatedly to go live with her father...but nope, that wasn't a good idea. However he remarries and has two more children...and it's okay for them (and his new wife!) to live with him. Mia never mentions whether she felt the injustice of this, but she mentions the injustice of plenty of other things that happened when she was child. Despite her mother's pleading to her husband, there wasn't much money in the household, or maybe it was spent for drugs...there was something very out of character there for her mom, this glamour girl who thrived on attention, to stay stuck in the woods for years without much contact with anyone. Why would she put up with that? Mia doesn't delve her mom's psyche, though it would have been interesting.
Once she's divorced her mom gets it together enough to move back to New York, then Mia begins to run wild. Drugs, alcohol depression, cutting herself...her dad helps out from a distance or sends someone else to do it, and Mia seems impressed by this. She acknowledges she would have liked her dad around more while growing up - but he had an excuse, he was on drugs, touring, or in rehab...like a lot of children with divorced parents, the one who isn't there is sort of up on a pedestal. She gives the impression that it would have been so much better to live with her dad on a day-to-day basis than the hell that was living with her mom...I don't know. As she keeps saying, "be careful what you wish for."
The memoir seems spotty in her younger years. I also find it a bit difficult to believe that every day she rode her bike into town to get the bus for school, climbing out her window because there was so much snow she couldn't get out the front door. She mentions her mom taking her to school and stopping at Burger King on the way. They're going through the drive-thru and her mom says don't roll down the window, I'm going to open the door. Her mom says if you roll down the window, it's so cold that it will break...well, if her mom is in the driver's seat, you would think Mia would be in the passenger seat (she doesn't mention otherwise) so her mom would be the one to order...nope, Mia has decided she wants to order and rolls down the window (hers, you would think, or else she would have had to reach across her mom's lap and the steering wheel), and it breaks. So how was she planning to order breakfast out of the opposite window? Her mom also picks her up at school in a decrepit $200.00 station wagon, which embarrasses Mia. Anyway, I didn't know what to believe - riding her bike to the bus every day, or that her mom drove her to school. She's vague. Mia also said that her mother had flowers in her hair at her wedding. But in the photo section, a picture of Cyrinda and Steven getting married shows: no flowers in her hair.
Once married to Dave Buckner (no photo of him!)and living in California, she thinks she might be pregnant (they have not used bc for six months). However, she cannot get an appointment with a female doctor at Kaiser for four months. The alternative is to see a "clinician" which she doesn't want to do. She knows no doctor. Mia has tons of friends, but doesn't call on anyone for advice. INSTEAD, she flies to NY to see her sister Liv, who gets her in to see her gynecologist. Her pregnancy test is negative. She could have easily bought one of those herself in CA. She flew across the country to take a pregnancy test. Back in CA, she starts to bleed, calls a doctor (male) referred to her by the NY doctor, who tells her she probably had a miscarriage.
Mia created a myspace page, and is inundated with mail from women who have or used to have low self-esteem. She wants to help other people, with her story, which is good. However, as much as she has been through, that she shouldn't have had to go through, she's still a little naive when it comes to relationships. Substance abuse tends to delay maturity. And despite the title regarding beauty and sizes, I didn't see any mention of her hating her body or obsessing over food. So that's a little misleading for those who may want to read her journey through that jungle.
 Creating Myself-must read for all young women October 19, 2008
Shannon Anicas (Tallmadge, OH)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Creating Myself: How I Learned That Beauty Comes in All Shapes, Sizes, and Packages, Including Me- By Mia Tyler. This is an amazing book that takes you on a journey of self discovery, real hurt and real people living life. This isn't a "tell all book" about her dad or life as a rock stars daughter, it is about how we as humans make mistakes, learn from them and if we are lucky enough we grow from them. Mia is a great story teller and a great role model. You can feel her pain and her triumphs. Great book all around.
 "Creating MY Review" A great one. September 6, 2008
Suzanne Cannata (Franklin Square, NY United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I want to start by saying that I did enjoy the book. I am a fan of Steven Tyler so I decided to buy the book, and I have read about Mia in her moms book, however into the book I realized there are alot of similarites in my life and Mia and those kept me reading until the sun came up.
My only problem with the book and its the reason i didnt give it 5 stars is because she seems to have no problem exposing her mom for the terrible parent that she feels she was, however she never even goes into why when she calls her father and asked him to live with him he said no. Why after the rehab could she not live with him? Where was he at any time? Why does she say that he did not like Dave as soon as he met him however he wanted her to marry this loser at his concert? Where is the parenting there? she seems to be a daddys girl, and I dont fault her for it, so am I, however this book is riddeled with horrid details of bad parenting on her mothers behalf, but pretty silent when it came to Steven Tyler. I understand he had a rock band, but she is his child, and if the Rock Band was more important than his daughters life and saftey why is this not an issue with her as much as it was her mother? Im sorry Mia, I have also been where your mom was, being divorced when you didnt want to be and being paralyzed from it, im fortunate not to have a child, but I cant imagine that I would be a good parent right now.
I love a book that makes you feel, and this book made me feel... So thank you Mia...
I went to Mia Tylers myspace page. I loved the pearl she speaks in the book " Not everyone who **** on you is your enemy and not everyone who gets you out of ****is your friend.... LOVE IT.
Again Thank You Mia, for telling your story for helping others and for keeping me into your book from cover to cover..
rushed August 30, 2008
Lisa Guerci (CT, USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
What can I say? I normally LOVE memoirs...and try to read as many as I can. I suppose Ms Tyler's attempts suffer by comparison. I didn't like this book. To me the writing felt rushed and all over the place. I feel that the author treated some of the subject matter like "fluff"..even though addictions and suicide and " cutting" are ENORMOUS problems. She seemed to think her stint in rehab was more of an 'annoyance' than her dad's attempt to really get her some professional help. Lisa in CT
|
|
|
. | |
