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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Honestly, 19 Jul 2005
Ulrika Jonsson is one of those celebrities mainly known on her own territory -- namely, the U.K. That gives American readers of her autobiography, "Honest," a chance to take her as she is, without tabloids and rumors tainting it. Unfortunately, "Honest" as she is, the portrait she paints is not flattering at all.
She was born into a troubled Swedish family that disintegrated, mainly because of her father's philandering -- a trait that she began copying when she got married. Though her husband forgave her, and they soon had a son, Ulrika dumped him in favor of a muscle-bound Gladiator.
As this was going on, Ulrika's star was rising in the world, resulting in a weathergirl job, commercials, hostings and her own show. But she was in a series of bad relationships, with a crazed footballer, a cold-hearted German, and Britain's most famous coach. Then she found that her unborn daughter Bo had a serious heart defect that might kill her.
The final eighth of the book is perhaps the most compelling -- Ulrika struggling to be a single mom, without emotional support, while her daughter is undergoing one surgery after another. Despite the lackluster prose of her biography, it's a moving story that gives the heartstrings a little tug.
Unfortunately, the decisions that led her to that problem make Ulrika look dim and selfish. She apparently believes any absurd story she's told, such as "my ex-girlfriend lives with me, but only to houseclean." And it's hard to sympathize with her string of disastrous relationships, when she dumped a sweet, tender, loving Mr. Right so she could play the field with Bad Boys. Ulrika repeatedly tries to justify her infidelity by claiming that she couldn't help it -- that it was inevitable. Uh-huh, sure.
Ulrika also has the disturbing tendency to dehumanize anyone she doesn't like -- she refers to an abusive ex as "Mr. C" for a long while, and later disdainfully refers to her lover Sven's girlfriend as "the Italian." Not her name, Nancy Dell'Olio. "The Italian," like a character from a bad gothic novel.
On the flip side, she seems to retain a bizarre adoration for her abusive ex-boyfriends, including one who kicked her in the head, and another who abandoned her with a newborn baby. Additionally, there's a near-obsession with her children. At one point, she flips out because she might have to spend a week or two away from her son.
While the story about her critically ill daughter is a winner, the rest of Ulrika's story is a string of grating affairs -- affairs that a smarter woman would have avoided. "Honest" makes Ulrika seem like a real person... but sadly, it's a shallow person with no backbone and poor taste in men.
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